TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod football team opened a new era starting the 2025 season with a 20–17 win over Truman State on Saturday afternoon at Yager Stadium in Topeka as head coach Zach Watkins picked his first win in his head coaching debut. The Ichabods will return to MIAA action next week at Yager Stadium hosting Northwest Missouri at 1 p.m. on Sept. 6.

The former MIAA foe Bulldogs (0-1) struck first, marching 68 yards in nine plays before quarterback Dylan Hair found Jackson Overton for a 23-yard touchdown. Truman added to its early lead later in the opening quarter on a 32-yard field goal from Vinni Calvaruso to go up 10–0.

Washburn answered in the second quarter behind the arm of quarterback Justin Lewis. He connected with Chase Allen-Jackman on a 16-yard touchdown to put the Ichabods (1-0) on the board. A 37-yard field goal by Aidan Battle, tied the game at 10–10 midway through the second half, and with less than a minute left in the half, Lewis and Allen-Jackman connected again, this time from 27 yards out giving Washburn a 17–10 halftime advantage.

The defenses controlled the third quarter as neither team was able to break through. Early in the fourth, Washburn extended its lead when kicker Aidan Battle drilled a booming 51-yard field goal, one shy of the school record of 52 set in 1972 by Russ Hill against Northern Colorado and Charles Goodnight against Emporia State in 1985. The boot stretched the  Ichabod margin to 20–10.

Truman State came right back, putting together a 13-play, 75-yard drive capped by a one-yard touchdown run from Denim Cook with just under six minutes left cutting the lead to three, but the Ichabods ended the game with a 12-play drive converting three first downs to run out the clock giving the Ichabods their seventh-straight win over the Bulldogs in the series and their first since 2012.

Statistically, the Bulldogs edged Washburn in total offense, 333 yards to 315, holding the ball for more than 34 minutes. Truman also controlled the ground game with 136 rushing yards, 86 of those from Cook, while the Ichabods were held to -37 negative yardage on the ground.

Washburn's success came through the air as Lewis completed 33 of 42 passes for 352 yards and two touchdowns. Lewis, in his Washburn debut, completed at one point 20-consecutive passes breaking an MIAA and a Washburn single game record. Allen-Jackman hauled in nine passes for 127 yards and both scores, while D.J. Bell added nine catches for 98 yards. Truman's passing attack produced 197 yards, with Overton leading the receivers with 70 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, the Ichabods were led by L.J. Minner, Jr. and J.C. Heim with 11 tackles each. Minner added a fumble recovery and Kamble Haverkamp had seven tackles, all solo stops with three tackles for loss for 18 yards and two sacks.

Notes:
• Ichabod head coaches are now 23-16-2 in their first game on the Washburn sidelines … prior to today's win, the last Ichabod head coach to win his Washburn debut was Dennis Caryl in 13-7 win at Missouri S&T on Sept. 1, 1990.
• The last time the Ichabods were held to negative rushing yards was on Nov. 20, 2021 in a first-round NCAA playoff loss to Harding (-2 yards).
• Justin Lewis' 33-completions is third on the Ichabod single-season chart.
• Aidan Battle's 51-yard field goal was the longest by n Ichabod since Justin Linn hit a 51-yard attempt at Nebraska-Kearney on Sept. 5, 2013.