St. Louis, Mo., November 9, 2013 – The Washington University in St. Louis football team broke out of its offensive slump and pitched its second shutout of the season in a 29-0 win over Case Western Reserve University Saturday at Francis Field in St. Louis.
Washington University picks up its sixth-straight win and improves to 7-2, 2-0 in the University Athletic Association (UAA), while Case Western Reserve had its three-game win streak snapped to fall to 4-4, 1-1 in the UAA. The victory secures the Bears at least a share of their UAA-record 10th conference title.
Senior quarterback Eric Daginella completed 17-of-32 passes for 171 yards and a TD, and also ran for 66 yards on seven carries and a TD. Sophomore running back Cody Ratermann also was a spark offensively rushing for a career-high 110 yards on 18 carries and a TD.
Washington U.'s defense limited Case Western Reserve to 153 yards of total offense, including 37 yards rushing on 25 carries. Case entered the game averaging 25 points during its three-game win streak.
Case made it clear on the Bears' first possession it wanted to stop the run, so Daginella beat the Spartans through the air. He completed 6-of-7 passes for 47 yards on the drive, and led the Bears to the Case four-yard line before the drive stalled. Sophomore Alex Hallwachs nailed a 21-yard field goal to make it 3-0, capping an 18-play, 73-yard drive that took 9:30 off the clock. Washington U.'s defense limited Case to six yards on just four plays in the opening quarter.
Ratermann scored from 10 yards out to put Washington U. up 10-0 with 7:46 to play before half. The touchdown for Ratermann was his conference-leading sixth of the season. WUSTL's defense came up with a big play on fourth down late in the first half after Case QB Erik Olson was sacked by junior linebacker Fade Oluokun on the Spartan 22-yard line. Oluokun's sack led to another field goal by Hallwachs, this time a 22 yarder, which made it 13-0 with 1:58 to play before half.
The defense forced another punt by Case, its fourth of the half, which gave the Washington U. offense one more chance before half. On 3rd-and-6, Daginella avoided a sack and snuck through the Spartan defense for a 51-yard touchdown run to make it 20-0. Washington U. limited Case to 69 yards of total offense in the first half, and had the 21:35-8:35 advantage in time of possession.
Daginella pushed the lead to 27-0 with 2:29 to play in the third quarter after he found junior wide receiver Tim Bartholomew wide open for a 38-yard touchdown pass. The Bears added a safety with 7:45 to play to round out the scoring.
Washington U.'s offense had 432 yards of total offense (193 passing, 239 rushing), the third time this season the Bears have eclipsed 400 yards. Freshman wide receiver Hank Childs had six catches for 28 yards, while Bartholomew added four catches for 56 yards and a TD.
Oluokun (eight tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one break-up) and senior defensive lineman Nelson Nwumeh (eight tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, force fumble) led the Washington U. defensive unit that recorded eight tackles for loss and four sacks in the win.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. leads the all-time series with Case, 19-9, and have won the last two meetings … The Bears are 7-2 for the first time since 2010 (7-3 record) … The six-game win streak is the Bears' first since 2010 … Washington U. 57-28 (.671) all-time in UAA play … The Bears are 19-6 (.760) in the month of November since 2000 … Washington U. has won 24-straight games since 2007 when scoring 21 or more points … This marks the first time since 2000 the Bears have recorded two or more shutouts in a season … Washington U. had a 40:25-19:35 advantage in time of possession … Case was 1 of 12 on third down and 1 of 5 on fourth down.