Bostwick’s Bearcats make statement with top-15 victory
JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Northwest coach Rich Wright leads his team onto the field against Emporia State on Saturday in Bearcat Stadium.
MARYVILLE, Mo. — It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Well, that goes for ugly football too, and Northwest Missouri State coach Rich Wright knows one man who was watching Saturday afternoon’s 14-9 victory over No. 11 Emporia State and saw a masterpiece.
“I told them after the game — I said the guy upstairs would be really proud of the effort that you guys put in today,” Wright said.
Wright is referring to his mentor and former Bearcat defensive coordinator and head coach Scott Bostwick, who passed away in 2011. Bostwick died before redshirt freshman safety Holden Zigmant was even in first grade, but Zigmant wore a ‘SB’ red Bearcat paw on his chest on Saturday and says that legacy is not lost on him.
“We talked about Scott Bostwick a lot this week — and being able to play with that family mindset,” Zigmant said. “We talked earlier in the week about who we are playing for. We wrote it down and gave it to Coach Wright.”
The Bearcats crushed the Hornets in most categories on the stat sheet — out-gaining them 331 yards to 216. The game’s big difference was mistakes with Northwest committing seven turnovers and fumbling another ball that created a safety. Emporia State committed just one turnover.
“No way,” Wright said when asked what he’d say if someone told him pregame that they’d turn the ball over seven times and still win. “No way. … We were really good defensively today. We were able to overcome all those mistakes, but we can’t continue to make those and expect to win football games down the stretch. Those are some things that need to be fixed, but I’m going to enjoy the win today.”
Northwest (3-2; 3-1 MIAA) also committed 12 penalties while Emporia State was called for just five. The great equalizer was the defense though — and time and time again, the defense came through.
“It was a pretty good day at the office for those kids,” Wright said. “This is a good offense. They gave up 55 yards rushing and 161 passing. That’s not bad.”
The Bearcats forced a 3-and-out to open the game and the offense immediately found success with Tank Young breaking off runs for six and 20 yards. The Hornet defense stood tall there and forced a 44-yard field goal which hit off the upright and missed.
The teams traded punts until Northwest junior Chris Ruhnke was sacked and fumbled — giving the Hornets the ball on the Bearcat 18. Northwest forced three incompletions and the Hornets missed a 35-yard field goal.
“It doesn’t matter where we are on the field, we are going to have the same mentality every single time,” Zigmant said.
Dominic Myers fumbled on the second snap for Northwest — giving the Hornets the ball on the 19. Emporia State gained three yards before having to kick a 33-yard field goal, which was blocked by Langden Kitchen to keep the game scoreless.
“We didn’t panic,” Wright said. “That was the one thing we didn’t do. We didn’t play well offensively today. I think everyone knows that. But nobody panicked.”
Northwest’s offense came back to life with a 40-yard pass to Luke Mathews sparking it. The Bearcats got down to the 15 yard line, but Emporia State’s Danarius Hollywood intercepted Chris Ruhnke in the end zone on an under-thrown ball.
Northwest forced another 3-and-out and punt, but Myers fumbled the punt and Emporia State recovered on the 12-yard line. The Hornets finally cashed in on a short field with a third-and-9 hookup between Gunnar Gundy and Tyler Kahmann for an 11-yard touchdown.
Northwest answered with the short passing game. Jake Weber had a 21-yard catch, Young had a 14-yard catch and Jamar Simpson had a 37-yard catch. Henry Martin came in for the team’s red-zone package and tied the game with a 4-yard touchdown run.
The teams traded interceptions then traded punts before Emporia State pinned Northwest on its own 1-yard line. Young fumbled in the end zone and the Bearcats recovered for a safety to put Emporia State up 9-7 with 1:45 left in the half.
The second half began horrifically for the Bearcat offense with back-to-back false starts before they even got a snap off. Punts dominated the half until Emporia State took over at midfield. Northwest made a goal-line stand and stopped a fourth-down throw to Kahmann.
“Literally, you guys are going to laugh, I made one call today,” Wright said. “It was ‘Husker check,’ that was all we played. … The keys to the car weren’t driven through me. That was all during the week. It was driven through the players making the calls on the field.”
Punts began to steal the show again. Northwest mounted the next real drive with Ruhnke hitting Weber for 10 yards and setting up a 55-yard field goal attempt from long-range specialist Cole Lammel, but the ball landed short of the goalposts.
The offense had a semblance of rhythm though and capitalized with the defense forcing a 3-and-out. Ruhnke found Mathews for 16 yards then John Giagiari for 33 yards. With a third-and-10, Ruhnke found Mathews for a 29-yard touchdown as Mathews made an unbelievable adjustment to the throw.
“What a phenomenal catch by Luke Mathews,” Wright said. “He was open breaking into the post and Chris threw it the other way. For him to adjust and come back to it was unbelievable.”
Mathews ran the route flatter because they practiced it as a red-zone play, but Ruhnke threw a more traditional post route from 29 yards out. It didn’t matter though as Mathews tracked it down with 11:05 left in the game.
“You guys don’t know how I made that catch, and I don’t know how I made that catch either,” Mathews laughed. “… The route concept that we put in was supposed to be a red-zone concept. I think we ran it on the 30-yard line. So all week, Coach (Ryan) Gent was putting it in our head to keep the route flat, almost like a dig. So I brought it flat, and Chris threw it high. … I turned around, looked up and it was basically in my arms at that point.”
Eleven minutes is a long time in a game, but the Northwest defense wasn’t giving up this lead. Emporia State got three more possessions and the last one was the closest to finding the end zone with a fourth-and-12 from the Bearcat 16 resulting in a throw to the end zone to Kahmann, but Shane Fredrickson broke it up with 39 seconds left to seal the win.
“Shane is my boy,” Zigmant said. “I just remember being a freshman and him taking me under his wing. He is a brother to me. … Being able to have him as my other safety is just amazing.”
The win moves Northwest into second place in the MIAA standings behind just undefeated Central Oklahoma (4-0; 3-0 MIAA). Northwest plays Washburn on Saturday, who beat Missouri Western 24-16 this week, then travels to Central Oklahoma the following week.
“We are still a work in progress,” Wright said. “We are not where we need to be yet, but at least we are trending in the right direction and we have a bunch of kids in that locker room right now who believe.”
