By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Thursday night's MIAA season-opening football matchup between a team that made the NCAA Playoffs a year ago and a team that was winless had all the makings of a rout.
And Washbun University made sure there were no surprises, with the Ichabods opening up a 31-0 lead on the way to a 45-3 romp at Yager Stadium.
Washburn senior star James Letcher Jr. scores the Ichabods' first touchdown of 2022 on a 69-yard reception. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
James Letcher Jr. (13) is congratulated by his Washburn teammates after a 69-yard touchdown Thursday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Ichabod senior All-American James Letcher Jr. set the stage for the night when he turned a short pass from sophomore quarterback Kellen Simoncic into a 69-yard touchdown at the 11:11 mark of the opening quarter (Kameron Lake kick).
"I'm looking forward to not getting tackled this year so it was a great night for me,'' Letcher said. "I didn't get tackled too much on offense but we're going to work on the special teams. I'm trying not to get tackled on those either.''
Lake kicked a 28-yard field goal and Simoncic completed a 13-yard TD pass to Washburn Rural product Collin Wilson to make the score 17-0 Washburn at the end of the first quarter.
Sophomore Tyler Bowden scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns on runs of 5 and 14 yards before Lincoln got on the scoreboard with three seconds left in the first half on a 30-yard field goal from Javier Moreno.
Simoncic, making his second career start, completed 15 of 21 pass attempts for 351 yards and three TDs, adding a 17-yard TD pass to Peter Afful at the 11:45 mark of the third quarter.
Letcher said he and the rest of the Ichabods have a lot of faith in Simoncic.
"I've got a lot of confidence in him,'' Letcher said. "He's been working hard this spring and summer and you can see through his play that he has a lot more confidence in himself.
"I'm super-excited to see him grow throughout the season and see how much of a better player he becomes for us.''
Jared Taylor came on in relief of Simoncic with 5:56 left in the third quarter and hit redshirt freshman Cole Keller for a 3-yard TD pass with 5:14 left to complete Washburn's scoring.
Letcher had five catches for 177 yards and a TD, all in the first half, while Afful had four grabs for 104 yards.
Washburn had a balanced rushing attack, led by Taylon Peters with 19 carriess for 36 yards. Redshirt freshman Jaylon Walker added 32 yards on five carries while Washburn Rural product Hunter Browning had 30 yards on four carries and Bowden 27 yards on four attempts.
The Ichabods finished with 585 total yards on 68 plays while Lincoln finished with 250 yards on 74 snaps.
Washburn senior linebacker Grant Bruner (43) had a game-high 10 tackles in the Ichabods' 45-3 MIAA win over Lincoln Thursday night. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
"The bend-don't-break philosophy definitely helps,'' said WU senior linebacker Grant Bruner, who had a game-high 10 tackles, including seven solos. "We gave up a lot of yards, they were able to drive the ball on us a little and we had some penalties and missed tackles, but I was glad to see us when we got down towards the end zone make a couple of stops and force some turnovers.''
Washburn will go on the road for the first time next Thursday, traveling to Central Misssouri.
WASHBURN 45, LINCOLN 3
Lincoln (0-1, 0-1) 0 3 0 0 -- 3
Washburn (1-0, 1-0) 17 14 7 7-- 45
First quarter
Washburn -- Letcher 69 pass from Simoncic (Lake kick), 11:11.
Washburn -- Lake 28 FG, 6:57.
Washburn -- Wilson 13 pass from Simoncic (Lake kick), 2:44.
Second quarter
Washburn -- Bowden 5 run (Lake kick), 11:40.
Washburn -- Bowden 14 run, 3:48.
Lincoln -- Moreno 30 FG, 0:03.
Third quarter
Washburn -- Afful 17 pass from Simoncic (Lake kick), 11:45.
Fourth quarter
Washburn -- Keller 3 pass from Taylor, 5:14.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing -- Lincoln: Vaughn 10-22, Allen 11-19, Brown 3-8, Ealy 1-7, Johnson 2-6, Lomax 1-4, Brake 4-2, Valencia 2-(minus)-5. Washburn: Peters 10-36, Wallker 5-32, Browning 4-30, Bowden 4-27, Carter 2-15, Mitchell 3-11, Afful 1-6, Simoncic 1-3, Dillard Jr. 1-3.
Passing -- Lincoln: Vaughn 18-29-1, 170 yards; Brake 4-9-0, 20, Valencia 1-3-0, (minus)-3. Washburn: Simoncic 15-21-0, 351; Taylor 8-16-1, 71.
Receiving -- Lincoln: Johnson 7-72, Allen 6-36, Ingoli 5-76, Bell 2-(minus)-4, Brown 1-3, Ealy 1-2, Lomax 1-2. Washburn: Letcher 5-177, Afful 4-104, Brown 4-42, Wilson 2-27, Browning 1-18, Brehm 1-11, Mitchell 1-10, Simmons 1-9, Hamilton 1-8, Cummings 1-7, Lynch 1-6, Keller 1-3.
Punting -- Lincoln: Cunningham 8-40.8. Washburn: Zeller 3-54.3.
Tackles -- Lincoln: Mosley 5 solo-3 assists-8 total. Washburn: Bruner 7-3-10, Ross 4-2-6, Altenor 4-2-6.
Attendance -- 5,750.
