By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Washburn University football coach Craig Schurig gave his Ichabods high marks overall for its performance last week at Central Missouri, but WU fell just short in a 31-28 loss and will try to bounce back in Saturday's 1 p.m. Homecoming game against Nebraska-Kearney.
Topekan Tre Richardson had 11 catches, two TDs and 264 all-purpose yards in last Saturday's 31-28 loss at Central Missouri. [File photo/TSN]
"It was really a well-played game,'' Schurig said. "Central Missouri played well, we played well and we did all the things that you need to do to win a game and a number of guys stepped up their play.
"We had numerous opportunities to take the lead (late) and did not but I was proud of the way our kids responded, particularly our defense in that fourth quarter. We kept giving ourselves a chance.''
Washburn is 2-6 overall, 2-5 in the MIAA, while Nebraska-Kearney (4-4, 2-4) lost to No. 14-ranked Emporia State 42-35 as the Hornets scored the go-ahead touchdown with 4:45 left in the fourth quarter.
Nebraska-Kearney took a 27-21 decision over the Ichabods in last year's meeting in Kearney.
The Washburn Ichabod football team had three turnovers in its final three drives of the game as the Ichabods came up on the short end of a back-and-forth contest.
Highland Park product Tre Richardson finished with 229 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 11 catches with 172 yards after the catch as he averaged 20.8 yards per catch, not counting an 87-receiving yard TD pass that was called back with an Ichabod penalty.
Richardson's 229 receiving yards is third on the Ichabod single-game chart trailing only Sam Sissom's 231 yards against Colorado Mines in 2005 and Troy Slusser's 252 yards against Emporia State in 1988.
Richardson's 264 all-purpose yards against Central Missouri was the most by an Ichabod since James Brania-Hopp had 258 against Emporia State on Oct. 27, 2018.
Richardson is eighth in the nation and first the MIAA in all-purpose yards, averaging 152.4 yards per game, and the Highland Park product is also 14th in receiving yards with 737 and 13th in receiving yards per game with 92.1.
"The more we got the quarterback situation figured out (after an early-season injury to starter Sam Van Dyne) the more I got used to it, the more they tried to get me the ball,'' Richardson said. "I'm starting to get used to it and the numbers are starting to go up.''
Maury Sullivan had six catches for 53 yards and one score while Tyler Bowden had 10 carries for 33 yards.
Van Dyne was 18 for 23 for 330 yards, completing 78 percent of his passes with three TDs.
On the defensive side of the ball safety Jordan Finnesy had a career-high 16 tackles with 11 solo stops to lead the Ichabod defense. Washburn Rural product J.C. Heim, a freshman linebacker, had a career-high 10 tackles.
The Ichabods had a season-high 452 yards of total offense compared to 389 for the Mules as the Ichabods tallied 350 passing yards. The Mules came into the game averaging more than 500 yards a game.
The Lopers wraped up 530 yards of offense in the loss to Emporia State while allowing the Hornets to roll up 580 total yards of offense, including 564 passing yards.
UNK's Isaiah Harris rushed for 134 yards on 13 carries for the Lopers with three touchdowns while averaging 10.3 yards per attempt against ESU. Harris leads the team with 63.4 yards per game with six touchdowns.
Reagan Jones is 107 of 207 passing with 11 touchdowns and two interceptions, averaging 197.9 yards per game, while Reggie Anderson has a team-high 19 catches for 351 yards and three scores.
The Ichabods trail the all-time series with the Lopers 18-13 as the Lopers have won the last three in the series. Washburn's last win in the series Nov. 16, 2019 in a 57-41 win in Kearney.
The Ichabods will wrap the home slate against Central Oklahoma next Saturday on Senior Day before finishing the season on Nov. 16 at Northeastern State.
