The Northwest Missouri State University football team scored a touchdown with seven seconds left in the 2017 Fall Classic at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., to defeat Central Missouri, 24-20, on Saturday.
– The Mules scored a touchdown with 34 seconds left in the fourth quarter to take a brief 20-17 lead.
– Northwest marched down the field and scored with seven seconds left on a seven yard catch from Jordan Bishop to give the Bearcats a 24-20 lead.
– With the win, Northwest improves to 5-0 on the year while Central Missouri falls to 3-2.
– The Bearcats have now won at Arrowhead Stadium 11 times in 14 games.
– Northwest, ranked No. 1 in the latest AFCA rankings, has now 35 consecutive games.
Key Northwest Statistics
– The Bearcats had 330 total yards (111 rush, 219 pass) while the Mules racked up 381 yards of total offense (72 rush, 309 pass).
– Northwest forced two interceptions and recovered a UCM fumble that led to a field goal.
– The Bearcat defense held UCM to just 5-of-18 on third down conversions and recorded six sacks that added up to 30 yards lost.
– Each team had 16 first downs on the day. Northwest had 10 through the air, five on the ground and one by penalty.
– Quarterback Zach Martin completed 17-of-39 passes for 219 yards and a two touchdowns. He completed passes to six different receivers.
– Shawn Bane Jr. recorded seven catches for 139 yards. He has two 100+ yard games this year and 11 in his career.
– Jordan Grove caught three passes for 19 yards and a score. He also carried the ball seven times for 13 yards. He has now caught 14 career touchdown passes.
– Jordan Bishop had four catches for 40 yards and had the game winning catch in the fourth quarter.
– Brody McMahon was the Bearcats’ leading rusher, carrying the ball 10 times for 65 yards.
– Ben Althoff had a career-high 12 tackles with a pass breakup.
– Jacob Gassman and Jack Richards each had interceptions. Gassman returned his pick 30 yards for the first score of the game.
– Anthony Lane had a career-high eight tackles to go along with a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup.
– Samuel Roberts, Austen Eskew, Lane and Bobby Gruenloh each recorded sacks.
– Matt Thorman was called upon to punt 10 times. He landed five of those punts inside the 20 and had a long of 47.
Northwest Scoring Drives
– In the first quarter, UCM got the ball on their own seven after a Thorman punt. The Mules had a big play called back on a facemask penalty that would have put the ball near mid field. After a short rush and a QB sack by Roberts, Gassman wrestled a pass away from a UCM receiver and returned it 30 yards for a pick-six score, making it 6-0 Northwest.
– The Bearcats’ offense got on the board early in the second quarter, driving 73 yards on eight plays. Northwest faced just one third down on the drive and Martin converted that attempt on a five yard pass to Grove that took the ball to the UCM 10 yard line. On the ensuing play, Grove caught a Martin pass for a 10 yard touchdown. After the PAT, the Bearcats held a 14-0 lead with 12:42 left in the second quarter.
– Lane came on a corner blitz and stripped the ball from UCM’s quarterback Brook Bolles and recovered the ball on the Mules’ 13 yard line. Five plays later, Brett Garner converted a 34 yard field goal to give Northwest a 17-13 lead with 9:07 left in the fourth quarter.
– After Central Missouri took its lone lead of the game in the fourth, Northwest drove 68 yards on four plays to score the decisive touchdown. After Grove returned the kickoff 15 yards to the 32, Martin connected on back-to-back passes with Bane on strikes of 14 and 47 yards, respectively. The 47 yard catch set the Bearcats up on the seven yard line. One play later, Martin found Jordan Bishop just past the goal line for the winning score. Garner added the extra point to make it a four-point lead. After the Bearcat kickoff, UCM was unable to connect on a pair of passes as time expired.
Up Next
– Northwest will host Central Oklahoma on Saturday, Oct. 7, at Bearcat Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m.
— Northwest Athletics —
MANHATTAN, Kan. – With a career-high tying four field goals to help Kansas State earn a 33-20 win over Baylor on Saturday, Wildcat senior place kicker Matthew McCrane has been named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week, the conference office announced Monday.
