Northwest Missouri State Again the Team to Beat

By David Boyce

One assumption that comes without embarrassment is picking the Northwest Missouri football team as the prohibitive favorite in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.

As expected, the Bearcats were first in the coaches' and media polls Monday afternoon at the Downtown Marriott in the MIAA Football Kickoff Weekend.

"They deserve to be No. 1. They have proven it. They are the team you got to beat," Washburn coach Craig Schurig said.

"They've had some close games, but they always seem to figure out a way to do it. It is good coaching, good players. They make the plays when they have to make them."

Northwest Missouri enters 2009 on a winning streak in MIAA regular-season games nearly as impressive as reaching the NCAA Division II championship game four straight years.

The Bearcats have won their last 28 MIAA regular-season games and that number stretches to 31 when you include the playoffs.

"Everybody is aware we have won a lot of conference games but we certainly don't talk about it because we know how delicate that is and how easy it is to lose one," Northwest Missouri coach Mel Tjeerdsma said.

"Our focus has to be each week going out there and being ready because every week in the MIAA is going to be a tough week."

The MIAA is definitely not a conference with one major star and the rest playing bit parts in the Bearcats' show.

Annually, the MIAA sends two and sometimes three teams to the Division II playoffs. Last year Pittsburg State and Nebraska-Omaha also made the 24-team field.

The Gorillas finished the year 11-2 and their only two losses were to Northwest Missouri. Pittsburg State was just one play away from knocking the Bearcats out of the playoffs.

But Northwest Missouri senior quarterback Joel Osborn avoided a sack on fourth down late in the game that led to the game-winning drive for a 38-35 win in the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs.

"They just believe," Missouri Western coach Jerry Partridge said. "Those kids just find ways to make plays.

"They have done a great job of finding quarterbacks who are winners. They always have the quarterback who can make the play when they have to have the play made. They always have good lines, good running backs. They have everything."

And yet, there were several times last year that the Bearcats were very close to losing. Missouri Western led Northwest Missouri early in the fourth quarter in Maryville. The Bearcats won 42-35.

Northwest Missouri escaped with a 20-13 win at Central Missouri and a 24-21 victory at Washburn.

"I think the thing people overlook so much with Mel and his football program is they have done a sensational job recruiting," Central Missouri coach Willie Fritz said. "Obviously, they do a very good job coaching. Their kids do a great job playing.

"But they have done a very, very good job recruiting. I'm sure he would be the first one to tell you great coaching helps you a lot more when you have great players. I've always been impressed every year with some of the players they have gone out and got."

Still, it really is quite remarkable how the Bearcats find ways to consistently win close games against quality conference opponents who desperately want to beat Northwest Missouri.

"We really don't think much about that," Tjeerdsma said. "Our whole thing is prepare and prepare for whatever is ahead of you. We just don't spend much time looking back.

"You hope to learn something from your mistakes and even from your successes. For the most part, when you focus on preparation for your coaches and players then those other things take care of themselves."

Everything appears to be in place for Northwest Missouri to have another successful season. The Bearcats return eight starters on defense, including senior free safety Myles Burnsides, who was national defensive player of the year last season.

The Bearcats lost a talented group of offensive linemen and Osborn. But junior quarterback Blake Bolles saw action in all 15 games last season and appears poised to continue the tradition of strong quarterback play at Northwest Missouri.

"It will be interesting to see if he's the guy who can make the play with his arm as much as their other guys," Partridge said. "I'm sure he can or they wouldn't have recruited him.

"He's the best athlete out of all of them, and that's saying a lot considering Josh Lamberson was a great athlete."

The Bearcats' long MIAA winning streak will be tested the first week of conference play when they face Pittsburg State Sept. 12 in the Fall Classic at Arrowhead VIII.

"We have just about everybody back on defense, but on offense we are almost starting over," Tjeerdsma said. "We are blessed to have a great running back in LaRon (Council). Even though he wasn't a starter I think it is great to have Blake Bolles back.

"I just think each year it is how your kids respond and which young player steps up and makes an impact."

During much of the1990s it was Pittsburg State who went years without a loss in MIAA play. Coach Chuck Broyles knows how difficult it is to win that many conference games in a row.

From 1989 through 1997, Pittsburg State lost just three conference games and tied another. Broyles was the head coach for the Gorillas for all but the 1989 season.

Despite all the success the Gorillas had last season, Pittsburg State fans are quick to remind Broyles that the only two losses came against the Bearcats.

But Broyles said no team can become obsessed with just beating Northwest Missouri.

"What you have to do is prepare for the season just like you always do. You can't put every bit of your time playing Northwest Missouri because if you do you probably won't win the other ones," Broyles said.

"Fans don't want to hear this. We were 11-2 last year and we lost both games to Northwest Missouri. They don't like that a bit. I don't like losing to Northwest Missouri either.

"There are two, three teams who are capable of beating Northwest Missouri. Hopefully, somebody will get that done."

As impressive as this current winning streak is for the Bearcats, they still have a ways to go to equal the 41-game conference winning streak by Northwest Missouri from 1997 to 2001.

"The one thing about that stretch there is our 2000 team rolled through the conference and that was kind of the end of that streak," Tjeerdsma said. "We won four more in 2001 and then we lost some close games."

The Bearcats finished 6-3 in the MIAA in 2001. That should give hope to all the MIAA teams this season.

"Three years without a conference loss in this day and age with the way the conference is really is an impressive mark," Schurig said.

"Someone has got to knock them off. Hopefully, we can do it this year."

On Wednesday: A look at the hours of preparations put in by MIAA football officials to prepare for the season.