Playmakers Abound for Northwest Missouri

By David Boyce

Anything can happen in overtime. Northwest Missouri definitely wanted to avoid it last Saturday in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals at No. 1 ranked Central Washington.

But the Bearcats appeared headed that direction when Central Washington scored a touchdown with six seconds remaining in the game.

And then Bearcat playoff magic once again struck.

"I was standing on the sidelines when they were lining up for it," Northwest Missouri junior quarterback Blake Bolles said. "I was saying to myself, ‘come on Roach get in there and block this thing.' Sure enough, he did."

The newest mythical play in Bearcat lore came in the form of senior defensive tackle Tyler Roach.

"It was probably the best feeling I've ever had," he said. "It was really cool."

Once again somebody on Northwest Missouri's football team stepped up at a critical point in the game and made a game-winning play.

The blocked extra point preserved Northwest Missouri's 21-20 victory over Central Washington and sent the Bearcats to their fifth straight semifinal game.

Northwest Missouri, 12-1, will take on California (Pa.), 11-3, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Bearcat Stadium, which will be televised on CBS College Sports. The winner moves on to the national championship game Dec. 12 in Florence, Ala.

Don't be surprised if another hero emerges for the Bearcats on Saturday.

During these amazing playoff runs over the last five seasons somebody always seems to step up when the outcome could swing against Northwest Missouri.

It's no accident that a different Bearcat is ready to do something special when a play is needed.

"We have a lot of players who can make big plays," Northwest Missouri coach Mel Tjeerdsma said. "A lot of teams don't have that. They have a few big-play guys.

"A little bit of it goes with our philosophy that we talk about all the time. If you do your job maybe the opportunity to make a big play will come so you have to be ready for it. More importantly, you just have to do your job."

That's exactly what happened at Central Washington. It wasn't just Roach doing his job that made the block possible.

"Roach gets a lot of credit but those other guys - Josh Lorenson and Kyle Sunderman - were in there pushing, too, just trying to get a crease and Roach got his hands on it," Northwest Missouri senior safety Myles Burnsides said.

That's the way the Bearcats operate. The offensive players know if they are struggling, somebody on defense is going to do something extraordinary to turn the game.

The feeling carries throughout the team. It doesn't allow for finger pointing when one unit is having an off day.

"The defensive guys don't worry about what the offense is going to do and the offensive guys don't worry about what the defense is going to do," Bolles said. "Everybody just trusts that their teammate is going to make the play that they need to make to allow us win the football game. I think that is what got us to this point."

But sometimes it takes tough love and the raw truth from the coaches to charge the Bearcats up to championship level.

"The coaches instill in us the feeling of want," Roach said.

Against Central Washington, the Bearcats found themselves trailing 14-7 at halftime.

Tjeerdsma had few words for his team during the break.

"Coach T told us at halftime against Central Washington that if we lose today then this would be the most underachieving team in the last five years because every other team has made it to the national championship," Roach said.

"If we lost that game we would be underachieving by two games and that got a lot of people excited and ready to go. The offense came out and basically won the game for us in the second half."

For 97 percent of all Division II football teams, the way Northwest Missouri won against Central Washington would be satisfying enough and everything afterward would be a bonus.

The Bearcats savored the win on Sunday. But when they woke up Monday morning, Roach said, the focus was solely on California (Pa.).

"We got to get to work to get to where we want to go," Roach said.

The Bearcats know what they are after and there is really no need to state the ultimate goal.

To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, e-mail dboyce@themiaa.com.