St. Louis, Mo., October 27, 2012 — Freshman Alex Hallwachs tied a school record with three field goals to lead the Washington University in St. Louis football team to a 15-3 win over Carnegie Mellon University in the University Athletic Association (UAA) opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Francis Field in St. Louis, Mo.
Prior to the contest, Washington U. honored its 13 seniors who played their final game at Francis Field. The Class of 2013 has an overall record of 20-18 (.526), including a 7-3 mark in 2010.
After being shutout in the first half, Hallwachs was the story for the Bears in the third quarter. He attempted all four of his field goals in the quarter – connecting on kicks of 33, 46 and 41 yards. Hallwachs is the fourth player in school history to make three field goals in a game.
Washington University's defense shut down the high-powered offense of Carnegie Mellon for the game and limited them to a season-low 226 yards of total offense. The Tartans entered conference play leading the league in total offense (443.9) and scoring (34.4). Carnegie Mellon was limited to 82 yards of offense in the second half.
Junior linebacker Peter Lowery led the defensive unit with eight tackles, while sophomore defensive back Chris Seager added six tackles and junior defensive lineman Nelson Nwumeh had six tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and one sack. Junior defensive lineman Seth Wight added five tackles, two tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble. As a team, Washington U. had nine tackles for loss, five break-ups, four sacks, two forced fumbles and one interception.
Washington U.'s offenses was limited to 126 yards of total offense in the first half, and were hampered by a pair of interceptions. WUSTL had an eight-play, 50-yard drive and drove down to the CMU 27-yard line midway through the first quarter, but junior quarterback Eric Daginella was picked off in the end zone by Shea Sealey to halt the drive.
On the ensuing drive Carnegie Mellon drove the ball 79 yards on 16 plays to the WUSTL one-yard line, but Zachary Erra-Hernandez fumbled on the goal line. The Tartans got on the scoreboard first with a 25-yard field goal by Connor Young with 25 seconds left in the second quarter to make it 3-0 at half. CMU had a 144-126 advantage in total offense in opening half.
Washington University's offense took the opening kickoff in the third quarter down to the Carnegie 17 yard-line, but Hallwachs' 33-yard field goal was wide left. On the ensuing play, junior Seth Wight sacked CMU quarterback Rob Kalkstein and forced a fumble that was picked up by senior William Small. Four plays later, Hallwachs connected from 33-yards out to tie the score at 3-3.
The Bears defense forced CMU's fifth punt of the game, which resulted in a career-long 46-yard field goal by Hallwachs with 2:49 left in the third quarter to make it 6-3. Senior Trevor LaBarge highlighted the scoring drive with a 37-yard reception, in which LaBarge hurdled a CMU defender to pick up extra yardage.
Washington U.'s special teams came up with another big play as junior John Hagemann snuck through the CMU defensive line and blocked a punt that was recovered by freshman Quincy Marting on the Tartan 21-yard line. Four plays later, Hallwachs drilled a 41-yard field goal to push the lead to 9-3.
Kalkstein orchestrated a drive for CMU down to the WUSTL 31-yard line on the ensuing drive, but Marting picked off Kalkstein on the six to keep it a six-point game. The interception for Marting was the first of his career.
Washington U. sealed the victory with a long touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. On 3rd-and-8, Daginella connected with sophomore Ryan Lubatkin on a bubble screen and he did the rest of the work going 43 yards to extend the lead to 15-3.
Daginella connected on 12-of-26 for 171 yards and a TD in his fourth career start. Senior Drew Sexton (three catches, 48 yards), LaBarge (two catches, 53 yards) and Lubatkin (two catches, 50 yards) led the receiving core for Washington U. The Bears also had a ton of success running the football, picking up 157 yards on 39 carries: senior Chris Castelluccio (17 carries, 58 yards), Daginella (nine carries, 52 yards) and sophomore Zach Lonneman (nine carries, 47 yards).
Kalkstein, who entered the contest with the top NCAA Division III quarterback rating at 205.7, was 16-of-30 for 128 yards and one interception. Junior wide receiver Tim Kitka was the lone bright spot on offense for CMU, with six catches for 56 yards.
Washington University (3-5, 1-0 UAA) continues conference play with a road game at Case Western University on Saturday, Oct. 27. Kickoff is set for Noon (ET) in Cleveland, Ohio.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. has won 11 of the last 13 meetings between the two teams to tie the all-time series 15-15 … The Bears were picked as the co-favorite along with Case Western to win the UAA title … Washington U. is 54-27 (.667) all-time in UAA play, and 17-6 in UAA openers.