ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Carthage College Red Men dropped a game in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin for the first time in 2018, falling on the road in St. Louis to Washington University, 51-31.
 
The loss sends the Red Men to 1-2 on the season and to 1-1 in the CCIW, while the conference's newest member goes to 2-1 on the year and to 1-1 in the league.
 
"We did not play very well today and that is on me," said head coach Dustin Hass.  "I have to do a better job getting these guys ready to play a football game.  We didn't execute and committed a number of stupid penalties and let one get away from us today… I told the guys that we are going to watch the film and they are going to see us beating ourselves more than them beating us.  Too many missed tackles, too many missed assignments and we didn't execute."

Five turnovers, including three interceptions, and a number of mental mistakes that led to penalties that took the points off the board and extended Wash U drives doomed the Red Men in the loss, despite outgaining the hosts 540-356 and running 28 more plays on offense.  The Red Men were flagged 11 times for a total of 102 yards on the day.
 
Carthage opened the game with an impressive scoring drive on their first possession 70 yards on nine plays and was capped off by a Kyle Friberg 10-yard touchdown pass to Tommy Bazarek in the back corner of the end zone, giving the Red Men an early 7-0 lead.  However, the Bears owned the quarter, scoring 25 straight points over the final 7:35 of the first quarter to give Wash U. a commanding 25-7 lead through the first 15 minutes.
 
The Red Men were able to win the second quarter and cut into the large hole before halftime.  Carthage started the second quarter scoring with Friberg's second touchdown pass of the day, connecting with Evan French for an eight-yard reception and French's first touchdown of the season.  Following another Wash U. touchdown, Lance Unland knocked through a 22-yard field goal and Lafayette McGary followed up with a two-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 24-32.  A key play setting up the McGary touchdown was 55-yard pass from Friberg to Bret Patton to put the Red Men deep in Bears territory.  A Wash U. field goal before the half sent the Red Men into the break down 11, 35-24.
 
Friberg finished 17-30 for 226 yards with two touchdowns and two picks but missed most of the second half due to injury.  Patton finished with 100 yards on six catches, followed by French with eight catches for 90 yards and Bazarek with five for 61.  Patrick Murphy and Lafayette McGary each had five receptions as well.  Billy Dury passed for 134 yards on 12 completions and Colton Klein went 5-7 for 48 yards.  McGary led the Carthage running game with 17 carries for 60 yards, followed by Pooler with 12 carries for 46 yards.
 
A scoreless second half was snapped early in the fourth quarter, when Washington University added another touchdown to extend the lead back to 18 points, 42-24.  After another Wash U field goal and with the Red Men trailing by 21 in the fourth, a kickoff return for a touchdown, which would have cut the Bear's lead to 14, was negated on a holding penalty that brought the ball back to the Carthage 19 yard line.
 
Defensively, sophomore Kevin O'Boyle led the Red Men with eight total tackles including six solo and three for a loss.  Emmet Trost, Amani Dennis and Djogi Bumba each recorded seven tackles and Dennis intercepted a pass for the third straight game, giving him four on the year.  Malik Thigpen, Jacob Simar, Brandon Holy and Gabe Villa each had a sack, and Simar forced a fumble, which was picked up by Kameron Stubblefield.
 
Wash U added a pick six late, and Colton Klein rushed 12 yards up the middle in the final seconds to put the final points on the board in the 31-51 defeat.
 
Wash U quarterback, Johnny Davidson led the Bears with 297 passing yards and four touchdowns on 25-40 attempts.
 
Carthage will return home for their next game, as the Red Men host Elmhurst College on Saturday, September 29th as part of the 2018 Carthage College Homecoming weekend.  Kickoff next Saturday is set for 1:00 p.m. from Art Keller Field.

Looking ahead, Hass noted, "We started off the season talking about taking everything one day at a time and that it is a process.  We aren't going to win a CCIW championship the first day we show up for fall camp.  We have to get better every week and every play, but we will take the loss and it will hurt and it will sting.  Our guys will not be very happy about it, but we will come back tomorrow ready to work and ready to get better."