Ichabods comeback falls short in regional semifinal

Nov. 19, 2005

Box Score | Season Stats

TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods season came to an end in the second round of the NCAA Playoffs with a 42-32 loss to Northwest Missouri. The Ichabods finished the season 9-3 while the Bearcats advance to the NCAA quarterfinals against Pittsburg State who topped West Texas 41-3.

The Ichabods were down early as the Bearcats scored touchdowns on their first four drives as the Ichabod were shutout until the 9:54 mark of the second quarter as Jordan Brill hooked up with Aaron Gardiner for a 45-yard touchdown pass capping a 5-play, 68-yard drive cutting the Bearcat lead to 28-7. The Bearcats would scoring on the following possession as Xavier Oman ran 70 yards to put Northwest up 35-7.

Washburn then came back with a 75 yard drive with Trent Hearn finishing the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with 4:51 left in the second quarter. The Ichabods added three more points on a 35-yard Connor Sabel field goal with :16 left in the first half cutting the Bearcat lead to 35-17.

Northwest took the opening possession of the second half and drove 83 yards in 11 plays for their final touchdown of the game at the 11:03 mark of the third quarter.

Brill and Mike Odupitan connected with each other for the final two touchdowns of the game. The first was a 30-yard strike and the second was a 15-yard reception that pulled the Ichabods within 10 at 42-32.

For the game, the Bearcats outgained the Ichabods 494 to 372 as the Bearcats racked up 311 yards passing, the Ichabods passed for 296. On the ground, Northwest had 183 yards of rushing compared to Washburn’s 76.

Brill was 16 of 29 for 296 yards and 3 TD’s, hitting Odupitan for five receptions and 118 with the two TD’s to the senior. Hearn finished the game with 61 yards rushing and his season with 1,203 yards snapping a 22-year old school record held by Dino DeLisa who rushed for 1,185 during his sophomore season in 1983.

Game Notes:

The Loss for the Ichabods . . .

• dropped the Ichabods to 468-533-44 in its football history.

• was the Bearcats' sixth straight win over the Ichabods in Topeka.

• ended the Ichabods' season at 9-3.

• dropped the Ichabods to 0-3 in all-time national championship playoffs games.

• dropped the Ichabods to 3-4 in all-time postseason games.

• dropped the Ichabods to 6-20 all-time against the Bearcats.

• was the Ichabods' first NCAA Playoffs loss.