Bearcats ready to use 1st-round bye

DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Northwest senior linebacker Brock Sherman leaps to tackle an Emporia State ball-carrier on Saturday as the Bearcats won the MIAA championship with a 44-10 win.

This week has been nothing especially new for the Northwest football team, but it can still present a unique challenge nonetheless.

After defeating Washburn in the regular season finale on Saturday, 49-13, the Bearcats earned the No. 1 seed in Super Region 3 for the Division II playoffs during Sunday’s selection show. Coming with that designation is, most importantly, home-field advantage throughout the regional bracket, but also the strange task of balancing a bye week.

While seeds two through seven clash on Saturday, Northwest will rest in Maryville while finding out who it will see in the second round between Humboldt State and Augustana University.

“From a health standpoint, it’s big. It gives a lot of guys a chance to get back and get healthy, get ready for next week,” senior left tackle Shane Smith said. “And also, whenever we can officially get our film and trade it with the other teams, we can gain that much of an advantage to start preparing for both teams. … Get to prepare a little bit extra for both of them.”

But while the bye week represents a chance for bruises to fade and scars to heal, it also forces a delicate balancing act between rest and staying in football mode.

“We’ve had a plan in place for many years (for a bye week),” head coach Adam Dorrel said after Sunday’s selection show. “It’s been a good formula for us, so we’ll keep using it. It consists of getting work done but also getting rest mentally and physically. It’s been a grind since August, and I guess you could say it’s been a grind since June for our kids. It’s important that we rest physically and mentally, but it’s also important that we start preparing for one of the two teams. You just have to find that balance.”

The Bearcats limited Washburn to just 157 yards of total offense in the Week 11 win with senior linebacker Brock Sherman racking up six tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. Sherman, along with Smith, earned All-MIAA accolades on the conference’s first team.

Sherman finished the year with 52 total tackles, 10.5 of which went for losses, helping the Northwest defense finish at the top of the league in virtually every major statistical category. He agreed that it’s tough to avoid getting antsy with the extra time between games.

“Me and Shane were just talking about how bored we are, we don’t have any film up to watch or anything,” Sherman said. “You’ve got a lot of time to just hang out, take care of bumps and bruises, and get ready for next week. … A lot of teams sometimes don’t understand how to take advantage of the bye week. I feel like we do a good job of taking care of it, taking care of our bodies, and also getting that edge on whoever we have to play. It’s always nice when you can get a win in the playoffs without playing a game.”

Northwest also secured a first-round bye in the 2013 season, which saw the Bearcats blitz their way to the program’s fourth national championship. But Dorrel said the moment of capturing a No. 1 seed still felt completely new because of the separate challenges this season provided.

“It feels really good,” Dorrel said. “To me, the thing I look at when they’re flashing all those teams up is how many good teams there are. I look at how many really good teams didn’t get a No. 1 seed, get a bye. It feels awesome. I’m proud of our kids. I think it speaks for our body of work over 11 weeks. Things weren’t always easy this year.”

On one hand, Humboldt State boasts one of Division II’s most successful running backs in Ja’Quan Gardner, who’s posted 1,996 yards on the ground on 279 attempts this season for a 7.2-yards-per-carry average. He racks up nearly 200 yards per game, while quarterback Robert Webber has tossed 18 touchdowns and 1,681 yards on 138-of-237 passing.

Augustana’s offense runs on the arm of quarterback Trey Heid, who’s racked up 3,317 yards on 211-of-318 passing with 28 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. His leading receivers are Charlie Hayes and Matt Heller, who have combined for more than 2,000 yards and 22 touchdowns.

The Jackrabbits and Vikings square off at 3 p.m. Saturday in Arcata, California. Northwest awaits the winner for a second-round kickoff slated for 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28 at Bearcat Stadium.

“It’s huge whenever you get a team to come to Bearcat Stadium and play there with the crowd and the atmosphere,” Sherman said. “You don’t get that at a lot of Division II places. It’s a huge boost for us, especially if we’re down or something and you get the crowd into it. It just gives you that extra momentum to get going.”