St. Louis, Mo., October 15, 2011 – The Washington University in St. Louis football team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 24-20 win over the College of Wooster on Saturday afternoon at Francis Field in St. Louis, Mo.
Senior Chris LaBarge had a fumble return for a touchdown, while his younger brotherTrevor LaBarge added two touchdown scores in the win. Junior Chris Castelluccio ran for a career-high 103 yards on 26 carries.
The Bears jumped out first following a 24-yard field goal by junior Eric Chalifour with 5:05 remaining in the first quarter. Washington U. took advantage off a special teams mistake by Wooster on the ensuing kickoff. Jordan McIntyre fumbled the kickoff after being hit by freshman Ryan Bednar, and then Chris LaBarge picked up the ball and scampered 11 yards for the touchdown.
Wooster (2-4) fumbled for the second time on its next possession, and Chris LaBarge recovered on the Wooster 27-yard line. Eight plays later, Trevor LaBarge scored from a yard out to push the advantage to 17-0 with 1:10 left in the first quarter.
The Fighting Scots defense put the clamps on the Washington U. offense in the second quarter, and got back into the contest by scoring 14 unanswered points. Brett Frongillo found the end zone with from one yard out to make it 17-7, and then Frongillo connected with Zack Weidtrick on a 54-yard touchdown pass just before half to cut the lead to 17-14.
Washington U. held the ball for 10:11 in the scoreless third quarter, and limited the Wooster offense to just 11 plays. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Trevor LaBarge capped a 14-play, 83-yard drive with a one-yard TD run to push the lead to 24-14 with 14:57 to play. Frongillo added a 10-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Daniels in the fourth quarter to round out the scoring.
Wooster had a 377-347 advantage in total offense, but allowed Washington U. to picked up 196 rushing yards on 54 carries. Junior quarterback Dan Burkett was 15-of-28 for 151 yards and an interception, and also ran for 67 yards on seven carries. Senior Easton Knott had four catches for 37 yards, while junior Drew Sexton added three receptions for 66 yards.
Senior Nick Hillard led the defensive unit with nine tackles, while Bednar (five tackles, forced fumble, break-up) and sophomoreNelson Nwumeh (four tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss) were around the football in the victory.
Washington University (3-3) closes out non-conference play on Saturday, Oct. 22, at Oberlin College, Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. (ET) in Oberlin, Ohio. Oberlin has lost three-straight games and is 2-4 overall, and coming off a 37-23 loss at No. 12 Wabash on Saturday.
Bear Notebook: Washington University and Wooster have split the four all-time meetings … Senior Joe Rhein made his 36th-consecutive start at center … Head coach Larry Kindbom picked up the 140th win of his career at Washington U. … The Bears had a 38:45-21:15 advantage in time of possession.