By David Boyce – Northwest Athletics
MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Northwest Missouri State football team saw the MIAA title slip away midway through the fourth quarter on a big pass play by Fort Hays State.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Northwest gave up a 66-yard touchdown play when Fort Hays quarterback Jacob Mezera connected with Harley Hazlett over the middle, and Hazlett sprinted into the end zone.
The score put Northwest behind 10 points with 9:25 left. Backup quarterback Jonathan Baker came in for Northwest and put together a gutsy drive that mixed his scrambling ability with a couple of nice passes.
Baker led a touchdown drive that helped pull the Bearcats to within three with 3:19 left.
“I appreciated coach Wright for believing in me there and letting me come in and see what I can do,” said Baker, who completed 12 of 19 passes for 111 yards.
Northwest defense forced a three and out, putting the ball back in the hands of the Bearcats at their 22 with 1:39 left.
“I am proud of the fact that they fought,” Northwest coach Rich Wright said. “It reflects their character. We didn’t play a clean game by any stretch, but they played hard versus a week ago when I was disappointed at times at their effort. We just came up short.”
Unfortunately, Northwest couldn’t complete the comeback and lost 13-12. An interception by Fort Hays with 1:05 left sent the Bearcats to their second straight loss. Still, there was plenty of drama in the final 20 seconds.
Northwest got the ball at its 37 with 9 seconds left. Northwest completed a pass to Jordan Bishop to the Fort Hays 44 and the Tigers were called for targeting. Unfortunately, Jarrod Bishop, Jordan’s twin brother ran onto the field and was whistled for an unsportsmanlike penalty so the ball stayed at the 44 instead of moving to the 29 and setting up a potential game-winning field goal.
“We get the targeting call and are going to get a 15-yard penalty and have a chance to kick a field goal,” Wright said. “His brother made a mistake. You can’t lose your composure in that situation. He negates the 15-yard penalty by creating a 15-yard penalty of his own. That is part of understanding the moment. It is something I addressed with him right afterward. Not that we would make it or not make it, but you have an opportunity.”
It left Northwest with one opportunity for a Hail Mary touchdown pass. Fort Hays intercepted the pass near the goal line to end the game.
Northwest dropped to 8-2. Fort Hays improved to 10-0 and left Maryville with the MIAA crown.
The Bearcats will play for their playoff lives next Saturday at rival Missouri Western. Northwest needs to win and then wait for selection Sunday to learn if it is one of seven teams in its region to make the Division II playoffs.
“I am not going to focus on the playoffs next week,” Wright said. “We are going to focus on Missouri Western because that is all we are guaranteed. This could be our final football game. We are going to treat it like our last football game, and it is going to get our full attention.”
Like the previous week, Northwest struggled on offense. The only time when the Bearcats put together a good drive occurred after Fort Hays took a 13-3 lead with under 10 minutes left.
Faced with a 10-point deficit, Baker took over and engineered a 14-play, 75-yard drive the ended with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Baker to Quincy Woods. It was the first touchdown since the first quarter of last week’s game for Northwest.
“I felt we needed to make a switch,” Wright said. “Zach was pressing a little bit. I decided I wanted to give Jonathan a shot and he did a great job executing when we needed it. It is a credit to him and his preparation the last 10 weeks.”
The Bearcats tacked on two more points with 13 seconds left when Fort Hays purposely took a safety to have a free kick.
Because of stellar defense by both teams, the only offense of consequence came from the placekickers. Less than a minute into the second quarter, Northwest freshman Parker Sampson booted a 28-yard field goal in his first collegiate attempt and gave the Bearcats a 3-0 lead.
Fort Hays immediately responded on its next drive. The Tigers moved the ball 34 yards, setting up a 48-yard attempt from senior Brandon Brown. He easily nailed the long field goal with at least 10 yards to spare. His game-tying field goal came with 10:59 left in the second quarter.
For the rest of the second quarter, neither team came close to scoring again. Fort Hays had the best opportunity. In the Tigers’ next drive after their field goal, they started at Northwest’s 47. But they could only move the ball four yards and was forced to punt.
Statistically, Northwest narrowly won the battle, picking up five first downs and 125 total yards. The Tigers had three first downs and 75 yards of total offense.
— Northwest Athletics —