Bearcats prepare for road test
JON DYKSTRA/DAILY FORUM
Northwest Missouri State, led by coach Rich Wright, far left, takes the field for Thursday’s victory over Emporia State at Bearcat Stadium.
After a dominating opening night 34-0 victory over No. 4 Emporia State last Thursday in Bearcat Stadium, the No. 1 team in the nation will take its show on the road this Thursday when it travels to Topeka, Kansas, to face off with Washburn.
“You have to have a road dog mentality about it,” Northwest coach Rich Wright said.
While the Ichabods don’t come into the season with the hype surrounding them that the Hornets had last week, Washburn does offer different challenges for the Northwest defense than the ones they faced in the opener.
While Emporia State preferred a passing attack and working out of the spread offense, Washburn will try to establish a downhill running attack against the Bearcats.
“It is completely different, your challenges are completely opposite in terms of what you have to prepare for,” Wright said. “That is the one great thing about the MIAA. I feel like, by the end of the season if you have made it through the entire MIAA schedule, you are prepared to play against every type of offensive system that you can see.
“That is one of the challenges, you have to refocus and retool. You have to figure out how you are going to match up to their front because it will be a physical football game on both sides of the ball.”
Wright is eager to see how his defensive front responds to the challenge of having the Ichabods running at them to establish their offense. While Wright was pleased with how his defensive line began the game, he was critical of how they played down the stretch.
“They did some good things, but I saw a lot of things that we could do better,” Wright said. “If we did, we could’ve really dominated.”
“I was happy early, I wasn’t very happy late. … There is a certain level of performance that I demand and we are going to work towards that.”
The Ichabods split their quarterbacking duties between sophomores Logan Twehous and Blake Peterson in their 31-7 win at Northeastern State in Week One.
Twehous played the first and third quarters while Peterson played the second and fourth quarters. In the first and third quarters, Washburn scored all 31 of its points.
Despite Twehous’ success, Wright says the Bearcats will be prepared for both players.
“We will prepare for both,” Wright said. “He is a multi-sport, good athlete, both of them are. Both throw it around pretty well, but can run too.”
Running back is also a spot where the Ichabods seemed to work by committee in Week One.
While starter Mickeel Stewart led the team with 11 carries, he was third on the team in yards with just 37. Curtis Whitten had nine carries for 60 yards and Zach Willis had seven carries for 47 yards.
Ryan Peroo added six carries for 32 yards.
“They are very similar in terms of the types of backs they are,” Wright said. “It is really more about us being sound in what we are doing.”
Offensively for the Bearcats, senior quarterback Zach Martin was certainly the top story in Week One. The first-year starter threw for 314 yards on 18-for-26 passing with a touchdown and no interceptions.
“For a guy who hasn’t played in two years, I thought he did a great job,” Wright said. “The thing I looked at is he wasn’t careless with the football all night. Sometimes a guy comes into a starting role and tries to announce his presence with authority, so to speak, and he does some stupid things with the football. He didn’t do that. He took care of the ball, managed the game and didn’t try to do too much. As opportunities presented themselves, he started to take his shots.”
While the official depth chart still lists an ‘or’ with Jonathan Baker and Martin sharing the top spot, Wright says Martin earned his spot last week.
“Zach is the starter,” Wright said.
JONES INJURY
The Bearcats may be without one of their top offensive weapons with running back Emanuel Jones suffering what Wright would only describe as a ‘leg injury.’
Jones himself took to Twitter and tweeted, “Rehab. Pray. Rehab. Pray.” from his @swaggmanuel_1 account.
Jones ran the ball 10 times for 65 yards against Emporia State, including a 40 yard run. He is the team’s speed complement to Cameron Wilcox and Jordan Grove.
JON DYKSTRA/DAILY FORUM
Northwest Missouri State senior quarterback Zach Martin delivers a pass during Thursday’s victory over Emporia State at Bearcat Stadium.
