PITTSBURG, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods knocked off Pittsburg State for the third time in a row and the fourth in the last five trips to the Jungle topping the Gorillas 40-23 improving to 5-5 while Pitt State falls to 7-3 on the season. The Ichabods will wrap up the regular season on Nov. 10 hosting Nebraska-Kearney at 1 p.m. in Yager Stadium in the final home game for 15 Washburn seniors.
After the Gorillas took a 3-0 lead with a 34-yard field goal with 6:53 left in the first quarter, the Ichabods came back to go in front when
Mitch Schurig hit
Marcus Meier in the back of the end zone on a 2-yard pass with 2:21 to play putting Washburn up 7-3. The drive was set up by an interception by
Corey Ballentine.
The Ichabods held the Gorillas to a three-and-out and on the first play from scrimmage Schurig hit
James Brania-Hopp on a 56-yard touchdown strike pushing Washburn out to a 14-3 lead right before the first quarter ended. Brania-Hopp finished with 116 yards receiving and 221 yards in kickoff returns for 337 all-purpose yards setting an Ichabod single game record. The previous record was 331 set by Vershon Moore in 2014.
After an Ichabod turnover, Pitt State cut the lead to 14-10 after an 18-yard touchdown reception and would give the Gorillas a 17-14 lead with 7:44 to go in the half. Washburn tied the score on a 29-yard field goal by
Perry Schmiedeler as the teams entered the half knotted at 17-17.
The Ichabods forced a turnover on the Gorillas' opening drive of the second half when
Derrick McGreevy forced a fumble giving the Ichabods the ball at the Pitt State 20. The drive stalled, but Schmiedeler hit a 30-yard field goal staking the 'Bods to a 20-17 lead with 10:58 to go in the third quarter for the only points of the frame.
In the fourth quarter, Schurig connected with
Michael Lickteig on a 6-yard score as Washburn went up 26-17 with 13:20 to play. A 22-yard field goal by the Gorillas cut the lead to six at 26-20. Another field goal with 7:12 to play in the game by Pitt State trimmed the lead in half at 26-23, but on the ensuing kickoff, Brania-Hopp returned the kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown as the Ichabods would go up 33-23. The 99-yard kickoff return was the was the third-longest in school history behind a pair of 100-yard returns by Fletcher Terrell vs Central Missouri in 2005 and Cary Williams against Missouri Southern in 2007.
The Gorillas then turned it over on downs and Washburn used the short field as Schurig found
Austen Hubert on a 10-yard touchdown pass finishing off the scoring with the Ichabods taking the 40-23 win.
Schurig finished 17 of 34 passing with four touchdowns with 235 yards through the air.
Garret Barnett-Kruger, who moved to running back from linebacker this week, led the Ichabods with 44 yards. With his 116 receiving yards, Brania-Hopp moved his single season yardage mark to 1,108, which is seventh on the Ichabod single-season chart. He also moved his career receiving total to 2,111 yards which is sixth all-time at Washburn becoming only the eighth Ichabod to go over the 2,000-yard plateau.
Defensively, McGreevy led the Ichabods with 14 tackles and one tackle for loss with the forced fumble which set up an Ichabod field goal.
Austin Tillman had 12 tackles with one for loss and
Landen Urban had seven tackles and one for loss. Overall the Ichabods had eight tackles for loss for 17 yards.
The Ichabods were outgained 431 to 325 by the Gorillas as Pitt State had 19 first downs compared to 13 for Washburn while the Ichabod defense held the Gorillas to 3 of 17 on third down conversion attempts.
