The Washburn University Ichabods fell short to the Northwest Missouri University Bearcats for the Homecoming football game. The battle between the teams ended 52-31 with the Bearcats on top.
The Bearcats started strong in the first quarter with a touchdown followed by an extra point to put seven points on the scoreboard. The Ichabods came back with a field goal by junior place-kicker Trenton Brehm, making the score 7-3.
By the end of the quarter, the Ichabods took the lead 10-7 after a touchdown from Tyce Brown, junior wide receiver, followed by another extra point from Brehm.
The Ichabods didn’t stay in the lead for long though, as the second quarter ended 35-10 with the Bearcats retaking the lead.
During halftime, President JuliAnn Mazachek, Mr. Ichabod and former Top Bods, Analisa Chavez-Muñoz and Dylan Grospitch, took the field to crown the 2023 Ichabods of Honor. Phillip Canady, senior finance and marketing major, took first place with Luiz Alcantara, senior psychology major, in second and Chloe Chaffin, senior political science major, in third.
Shortly into the third quarter, the game was stopped for a lightning delay. The game was paused for 30 minutes leaving the teams and fans to wait inside for the game to resume.
Some members of the crowd gave their thoughts on the game so far. Shannon Bowman, freshman forensics major, was upset with the referees.
“The refs suck because they’re not calling things. They’re not calling PIs [pass interferences],” Bowman said.
Erin Sprouse, mother of players Grayson Sprouse, sophomore quarterback, and Lincoln Sprouse, redshirt freshman wide receiver, thought it was unfortunate the Ichabods were losing and were looking to the coaches to better support their team.
“It stinks that we had a lightning delay, stinks that we’re losing and I wish the coaches would re-evaluate their coaching,” Sprouse said.
She thought the coaches could have rotated and shuffled the players more to help the Ichabods’ gameplay.
The game continued with the Ichabods adding seven points to their score after a touchdown from Percy Mitchell, senior running back. The Bearcats also had a touchdown, extending their lead and ending the third quarter 42-17.
During the fourth quarter, the university record for the longest touchdown pass was broken. Sam Van Dyne, freshman quarterback, passed to Maury Sullivan, freshman wide receiver, setting the record with a 98-yard touchdown pass. The original record was set in 1988 by former Ichabod football players Barry Griffiths and Troy Slusser, who had a 95-yard completion pass.
With a field goal, the Bearcats added three points to their score. Ending the game, Van Dyne threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Bell, making the score 45-31 with the Bearcats still in the lead.
The game ended 52-31 with the Bearcats taking the win. After the game, the Ichabods wrapped up with the Lord’s prayer. Craig Schurig, head coach, encouraged the team to come to practice ready to work. Schurig thought that the team showed fight, though there were a few mistakes made.
“We show fight, it’s just we do crazy dumb stuff to get us in holds. You can’t allow a blocked punt with nine seconds left and somehow we do and that takes all the momentum,” Schurig said. “We came out in the third quarter and scored, so it was like OK, we negated that score.”
Schurig felt in the end the team had made some good plays on offense and defense, but ultimately the Ichabods were overpowered.
Currently, the Ichabod football team has a total of 132 players, many of them being freshmen. Some believe that this may be affecting how the team plays. Domonic Neal, sophomore law enforcement major and audience member, believes that this could be affecting how the team plays.
“You need experience at this level and currently, we don’t have it. So, maybe in about three years we’ll be good,” Neal said.
Mitchell also considered the amount of freshmen on the team and how that affects their gameplay.
“Having a lot of freshmen playing is rough, you know, they’re still in the plays, still getting after it physically, getting in the weight room, getting a little bigger, a little faster,” Mitchell said.
Going into the game, Mitchell was aware that the Bearcats would be a tougher opponent with their run defense. He’s looking forward to coming back for their next game.
“It [the game] was a hard one. I mean, we had weather conditions. We played good, could have played better, but we’ll come back better next week,” Mitchell said.
The Ichabods next game will be in Edmond, Oklahoma, Nov. 4 against the University of Central Oklahoma at 2 p.m. Their final game will be in Yager Stadium at 1 p.m. Nov. 11 on senior day. The Ichabods will go head to head with the Northeastern State University Riverhawks.
To learn more about upcoming games and stats, visit wusports.com.
Edited by Jeremy Ford and Jayme Thompson
