By David Boyce – Northwest Athletics
MARYVILLE, Mo. – Regardless of the close score, the numerous injuries, a couple of miscues on offense or the pressure of having the second longest winning streak in Division II history, there is never a sense of panic from the 2017 Bearcats.
Locked in another grind-it-out game, Northwest Missouri State kept fighting on offense until it put together an impressive 11-play, 80-yard drive for a put-away touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
The 3-yard touchdown run by freshman Jordan Thompson gave Northwest an 11-point lead and paved the way for a 17-10 victory Saturday in front of 7,021 fans at Bearcat Stadium for Military Appreciation Day.
“This was awesome just to honor all the guys who have served and those serving now,” said Northwest junior linebacker Ben Althoff. “It is a big deal to us. We have a lot of teammates on this team who have family or friends who are serving. We wanted to honor them today.”
Northwest, ranked No. 1 in the AFCA top 25, improved to 6-0. The Bearcats increased their winning streak to 36 straight.
“I am proud of our guys,” Northwest coach Rich Wright said. “I was telling our guys we live under the microscope. There are no style points for winning football games.
“That was gutty effort today. We were missing a lot of pieces. The way those kids hung in there for four quarters and battled, I was proud of them. We lost a couple of more receivers today. We are finding ways to win. As long as we do that, once we get back healthy, we will have a chance.”
Once again, defense ruled the day for the Bearcats, who got two sacks from senior Caleb Mather and one sack each from Althoff, junior Austen Eskew and senior Bobby Gruenloh.
“We knew they have a great passing attack,” Althoff said. “You saw that at the end. They have some dangerous guys on the perimeter. We tried to limit that as much as we could and prevent the quarterback from running around.”
Given many opportunities, the Bearcats responded on offense when they led only 7-3. The 80-yard drive started with a 13-yard pass to senior Jordan Grove.
“We were struggling to get drives going the whole game,” said Grove, who caught six passes for 104 yards. “To finally get in a rhythm helped us the rest of the game.”
Sophomore running back Brody McMahon followed Grove’s reception with a six-yard run. A couple of more runs produced a first down.
The next chuck-of-yards play was a 31-yard pass from Martin to freshman Alec Tatum that put the ball at Central Oklahoma 15. Four plays later, Thompson ran it in from three yards to make it 14-3 with 11:36 left.
“It was big,” said Martin, who completed 22 of 43 passes for 292 yards and no interceptions. “We knew we could do it. We finally put it together. We were moving the ball in the fourth quarter pretty well. That was great to see compared to last week when we shut it down in the second half.”
After a defensive stop, Northwest put together another solid drive that resulted in a 29-yard field goal by junior Brett Garner that extended Northwest’s lead to 17-3 with 4 minutes, 18 seconds left.
“Our offensive line played great,” Martin said. “That (Central Oklahoma) is a good football team. I was happy we could get away with a win.”
Northwest needed the cushion. The Bronchos, who battled hard all game, went on a 10-play, 69-yard drive and scored a touchdown with 1:34 left.
“It is just a great experience to be on this team,” Mather said. “We always want to play our best on defense no matter who we are playing. We always want to get to the quarterback and get pressure on him.”
Northwest went into halftime ahead 7-3, but it could have been more if it wasn’t for several dropped passes of 10 or more yards throughout the first half.
The Bearcats trailed in the first half for the first time all season. Central Oklahoma took a 3-0 lead with 6:41 left in the first quarter on a 42-yard field goal by freshman Alex Quevedo.
Meanwhile, Northwest managed one first down on its first three possessions, and that came on a 20-yard run by freshman Jordan Thompson on the third drive.
The defense kept giving Northwest opportunities. On the fourth drive, Martin hit Grove on a 43-yard pass play, but that drive stalled and the Bearcats had to punt.
Finally, on their fifth drive of the game, the Bearcats held on to passes and marched down the field. The key play was a 21-yard pass completion to junior Kennedy Sykes. Martin hung in the pocket and took a punishing hit just before throwing the football.
Martin followed that completion with an 11-yard pass to Haden Bryant and a 26-yard pass to Sykes that put the ball at the 6. Two plays later, sophomore Brody McMahon punched it in from three yards out. The extra point gave Northwest a 7-3 lead with 10:46 left in the second quarter.
The defense made sure the Bearcats went into halftime ahead. When Mather was asked why the defensive has been consistently good this season, he gave an easy to understand his response.
“We play hard,” he said.
— Northwest Athletics —
WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The Missouri Western women’s golf team shot a 310 on Monday and they’re in fifth place after the first round in the Midwest Classic at Mules National Golf Course. MWSU is just four strokes back of first place.
