Despite the chill of the air Saturday afternoon, the Washburn football team was anything but cold as it bolted past the Fort Hays State Tigers in a 28-10 contest.

The Ichabods played like two different teams, starting with an offensive spectacle in the first half and a defensive show stopper in the second half. Entering halftime with a 28-7 lead over the Tigers, the WU defense allowed only a field goal afterward.

The Bod offense exploded onto the scoreboard, scoring on the second play of the game with a 68-yard touchdown scamper by senior tailback Ra’ Shawn Mosley. Mosley collected 85 of his 106 rushing yards in the first half and also caught three passes for 31 yards.

“It was kind of surprising,” said Mosley. “I didn’t expect it to happen so fast, but it showed that I had worked a little bit on my speed this week and I got to showcase it. I have a little bit more work to do, but it felt good to put seven on the board so early.”

Head coach Craig Schurig said that he felt that the key to making the offense a consistent unit was to cut down on loss of yardage plays, which plagued the Bods throughout the ballgame. He believes that getting Mosley in better situations can only help the tailback demonstrate his abilities.

“Obviously he got off to a great start,” Schurig said. “He ripped off a big run early. He is an explosive running back and so the more touches he has, the more chances he has of ripping off those good runs. We just have to get more consistent with our run game so he can get more touches.”

Capitalizing on the success of the run game, senior quarterback Jordan Brill opened up the Tiger secondary for 297 passing yards on 18 of 32 attempts. Senior receiver Jake Lebahn was responsible for 124 of those yards, pulling down four receptions and averaging 31.0 yards per catch while setting a career high in yardage.

Brill also threw a pair of touchdowns, hitting sophomore fullback Nathan Gaswick for a 17-yard score, as well as throwing a 12-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide out Drameagon Powers. The latter of the scores was part of an eight play, 63-yard scoring drive that began and ended with a Powers reception.

“Drameagon Powers really stepped up and made some plays,” said Schurig. “We’ve been missing that, and he really stepped up and did it. Jake Lebahn had some nice plays, so that was good to see. We came up with some nice plays with the receivers.”

The defense, which did a good job of bending without breaking in the first half, became impenetrable during the second half. As Washburn’s highlight reel offense died down after halftime, the defense picked up the slack by forcing punts and making several fourth down stops for turnovers.

Sophomore linebacker Zach Watkins, who led the Washburn defense with 14 tackles, said that they needed to improve their physicality and tackling.

“We had a couple of drives that they really drove it down our throats, but we held strong, and they had two missed field goals,” said Watkins. “We had one breakdown with the touchdown, but other than that the defense played well.”

Coach Schurig said that he thought the team did well overall, but would need to improve in the future to take on tougher opponents. He said that while many of their mistakes could be credited to FHSU’s game plan, they still need to work toward correcting them.

“Defense has just been solid all year,” said Schurig. “In our three games they’ve been extremely strong and we can still improve in some of the things they’re doing. Offensively we just have to get a lot more consistent. When we put a full game together we’re going to be tough to beat.

“We’re probably going to have to do it next week.”