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Northwest Missouri Cruises Past Abilene Christian
By David Boyce
MARYVILLE, Mo. -- In one respect, Northwest Missouri State didn't play up to its playoff-caliber sharpness. The Bearcats committed a season-high four turnovers against Abilene Christian.
But Northwest Missouri is so good that those miscues didn't prevent it from hammering Abilene Christian 35-10 in the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs Saturday afternoon at Bearcat Stadium.
"I'm thrilled with the win," Northwest Missouri coach Mel Tjeerdsma said. "We put a lot of preparation into this thing. We knew that Abilene Christian was good on defense.
"If we hadn't made so many mistakes offensively with turnovers we probably could have scored a few more points."
The defense did its thing by keeping the Wildcats out of the end zone until a garbage touchdown with less than three minutes left in the game.
"I'm extremely proud of our defense," Tjeerdsma said. "They answered the call every time.
"To me the most impressive thing on defense was the way they responded after turnovers. That's the sign of a real mature defense and that's what we have here."
When the offense wasn't acting like it was Christmas Day it could pretty much do what it wanted.
Senior LaRon Council rushed for two touchdowns and caught another one, sophomore wide receiver Jake Soy caught seven passes for 141 yards and junior quarterback Blake Bolles broke off a 71-yard touchdown run.
It all added up to Northwest Missouri making its sixth straight appearance in the quarterfinals. The Bearcats, 11-1, will play at Central Washington on Nov. 28.
Northwest Missouri could actually start thinking about its next game in the third quarter.
The Bearcats started the third quarter leading 14-3 and helped themselves when senior outside linebacker Evan Wilmes forced a fumble on Abilene Christian's first drive.
Junior Aldwin Foster-Rettig recovered for Northwest Missouri at the Wildcats 17.
"That gave us a jump start in the second half," Tjeerdsma said.
Northwest Missouri needed only 49 seconds and three plays to score on a 1-yard run by Council that put the Bearcats up 21-3.
"I think it was our relentless effort," Northwest Missouri senior defensive lineman Sean Paddock said. "We knew those guys would start wearing down. We just kept coming after them and eventually they might break and they did."
The rest of the game was simply icing on the cake for the Bearcats, who tacked on two more touchdowns.
The tone for the Bearcats' rout was set early.
Northwest Missouri took the opening kickoff and quickly marched 77 yards in eight plays and scored a touchdown on an 8-yard run by Council.
The Bearcats needed only 2:14 to score. They made it look so easy that a blowout seemed inevitable.
But Abilene Christian took its turn on offense and milked the clock using a ball-control drive that ate up 6:11 on the clock. The Wildcats settled for a 29-yard field goal.
Miscues really hurt the Bearcats in their next drive. A holding call erased a touchdown. Northwest Missouri eventually had to punt.
Abilene Christian once again controlled the clock, putting together a 15-play drive that moved the ball to the Northwest Missouri 1.
The 15th play, though, wasn't successful. The Wildcats fumbled at the goal line. Still, Abilene Christian used 8:12.
"That was a huge momentum play," Tjeerdsma said. "We could have been down 10-7. We didn't score on that possession. We scored on the next one. That was a 14-point swing."
A little later in the second quarter Northwest Missouri gave itself a cushion when Bolles faked a handoff to Council that completely fooled the Abilene Christian defense.
Bolles rolled to the left, got a good block and raced 71 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest run from scrimmage for the Bearcats this season and it gave Northwest Missouri a 14-3 lead with 5:10 left in the second quarter.
"I was just excited to see him run like that," Council said. "He's actually getting healthy. To see him open up like that was really nice."
Northwest Missouri went into halftime with an 11-point cushion despite having the ball nearly nine minutes less than the Wildcats.
Abilene Christian simply failed to turn time possession into points.
Key play: Trailing 7-3, Abilene Christian missed an opportunity to take the lead when it fumbled on the Northwest Missouri 1 early in the second quarter. The Wildcats came away with no points despite consuming eight minutes, 12 seconds on the drive.
Offensive star: Northwest Missouri sophomore wide receiver Jake Soy was unstoppable on single coverage. Soy caught seven passes for 141 yards.
Defensive star: Northwest Missouri senior outside linebacker Evan Wilmes forced a fumble at the start of the third quarter with the Bearcats leading 14-3. Northwest Missouri got the ball at the Abilene Christian 17 and quickly increased its lead to 21-3.
To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, email dboyce@themiaa.com.
