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Washburn Rallies to Defeat Colorado Mines, 34-29
GOLDEN, Colo. (WU Sports Information) -- The
No. 10 Washburn Ichabods survived five turnovers while racking up
611 yards in total offense in a come-from-behind 34-29 win
over Colorado Mines in the season opener. The win was the
sixth straight over the Orediggers in the final game in the
series. The Ichabods will be in action next weekend in Yager
Stadium against No. 7 Abilene Christian with a 6 p.m. kick
time.
After the Orediggers jumped out to a 7-0 lead, Washburn quickly
knotted the score at 7-7 on a 30-yard touchdown strike from Dane
Simoneau to Joe Hastings covering 75 yards in three plays. However
84 seconds later the Orediggers regained the lead with a
75-yard touchdown pass. On the ensuing kickoff, Washburn gave
up a team safety as the Orediggers lead grew to 15-7.
On the Ichabods opening drive of the second half, they marched 60
yards in 11 plays capped by a 37-yard field goal by Steve
Ivanisevic. The Ichabod defense would then force a three-and-out
and would go on an 80-yard drive in six plays capped by a SImoneau
to Brody Schuler touchdown pass covering eight yards. The Ichabods
would go for two and Cooper carried it over from the left side for
the score.
Washburn's defense again forced a punt after three plays and the
Ichabods Vershon Moore rushed for 18-yards putting Washburn up
25-15 with 2:41 to go in the third quarter.
The Orediggers scored on their next possession on a 9-yard
touchdown pass from Clay Garcia to Jerrod Doucet cutting
Washburn's lead to 25-22.
Ivanisevic stretched the lead to six with a 27-yard field goal with 13:34 to go in the game and the Ichabods holding on to a 28-22.
The Orediggers scored on their next possession wrapping up a
64-yard drive in four plays taking a 29-28 lead with 12:02 to
go. On the Ichabods' next possession, Simoneau was picked off
for the second time on the afternoon, but the Washburn
defense held. The Ichabods would take the lead after the change of
possession and drive 80 yards on 11 plays putting Washburn up 34-29
with 3:46 to go in the game after the two-point conversion
failed.
WIth the Orediggers looking to go ahead for the game-winning drive,
CSM reached the Ichabod 33 before Jahmil Taylor sacked Garcia and
the fumble was recovered by Marty Pfannenstiel with 2:13 to go in
the game.
Washburn would then run out the clock converting two third down
plays to wrap up the game and the five-point victory.
The Washburn defense limited the Orediggers to 323 total yards
while holding CSM to nine net rushing yards on 20 attempts.
Michael Hollins led the Ichabods with eight tackles with five solo
stops along with two tackles for loss and a sack adding a forced
fumble. Jared Brawner finished with seven tackles. Taylor recorded
six tackles including a sack and a tackle for loss and Michael
Wilhoite had four solo tackles with two sacks for six yards and a
forced fumble.
The Ichabods finished with 611 total yards with 300 coming through
the air for Simoneau who completed 21 of 28 attempts with two
touchdowns and the two picks. His favorite target was Joe
Hastings who recorded a career-high 201 yards on 13 receptions
becoming the first Ichabod to go over 200 receiving yards
since Sam Sissom did against Western Washington on Sept. 9,
2006.
Moore finished with 218 yards on 24 carries and one touchdown.
He averaged 9.1 yards per carry during the game. Cooper
finished with 81 yards on 16 carries as the Ichabods recorded
50 rushing attempts for 311 net yards averaging 6.2 yards per
carry.
