With Wrights roaming sidelines, Bearcats win fourth straight
JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Northwest Missouri State coach Rich Wright, right, and his daughter Grace Wright watch the action in Topeka during Saturday’s first half.
TOPEKA, Kan. — Northwest Missouri State preaches family. Anyone who has spent any sort of time around the football program is very familiar with coach Rich Wright’s family. His wife Sarah and daughters Grace and Kate are mainstays around the program.
Both Wright’s daughters have known nothing except their father as a Bearcat football coach. Wright has shared stories about taking the job in Maryville with Sarah six months pregnant with Grace in 2004.
Kate Wright was a part of the Spoofhound Homecoming Court this weekend, and she and Sarah Wright had a rare missed Bearcat game as they celebrated Homecoming, and Rich Wright was on the road with the Bearcats during the Spoofhound Homecoming coronation.
For years, Grace Wright was in the same boat, rarely missing a Bearcat game. Coach’s eldest daughter caught his passion for football as she is now a Student Assistant in the Scouting and Recruiting Department at Kansas State. Her duties in Manhattan have meant less Bearcat trips over the last few years, but the Wildcats had a bye week this week and that meant a treat for the Bearcat head coach with his daughter on the sideline for a trip to Topeka.
“With about a minute and a half left in the game, I looked over at her and I said, ‘it is pretty special to have my daughter on a college football field with me,’” Rich Wright said. “It was awesome. They had the bye week this week so she went home early in the week and then ended up coming down to the game before she heads back to Manhattan.
“I missed a lot with my kids when they were growing up. But there are also some perks, so it was fun having her down on the sideline.”
The family enjoyed a 51-34 victory on the road over Washburn with Wright’s other ‘kids’ putting together one of their most complete showings of the season. It is the most lopsided loss of the season for the Ichabods and a bigger blowout than top-10 ranked Pittsburg State or Colorado School of Mines produced in Topeka.
Northwest started early as Washburn had starting quarterback Sam Van Dyne available for the first time all season. The Bearcat defense opened the game with a 3-and-out.
The offense, after struggling mightily last week, was sharp immediately — moving right down the field and eventually cashing in with red-zone quarterback Henry Martin throwing to Zach Atkins for a 3-yard touchdown.
Two rushes for no gain and an incomplete pass for Washburn gave the ball right back to Northwest and the Bearcats went marching again with Chris Ruhnke hitting Luke Mathews for gains of 13 and 27 yards before finding Andrew Bradley for an 8-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead just 11 minutes into the game.
Northwest turned two Washburn turnovers early in the second quarter into a pair of field goals and a 20-0 lead.
The game felt over at that point, but Van Dyne was able to collect some momentum and convert a pair of third-and-10s with the second being a 13-yard touchdown. Then one of the wildest bounces one will ever see in a football game occurred as Ruhnke was hit by a free rusher and the ball squirted halfway down the field before a Washburn player scooped it up and returned it to the 2-yard line.
Washburn eventually turned it into a touchdown, and what felt like a blowout was a 20-14 game at halftime.
“The kids responded in the second half,” Wright said. “The offense came out and really lit it up. We gave up a couple explosive plays and I told you guys all week that they have some skill guys and that’s what we couldn’t do.”
The ground game got Northwest back in command early in the third quarter with freshman Te’Shaun Porter picking up chunks on the ground and Wentric Williams III converting a 1-yard touchdown. The ensuing kickoff was fumbled, and Tank Young burst loose for a 23-yard touchdown and a 34-14 lead.
“He didn’t wrap up good enough, I spun off of him and just ran basically,” Young said.
Washburn battled back with an 85-yard touchdown pass from running quarterback Keller Hurla to Tre Richardson. Then a facemask penalty on a third-down sack gave the Ichabods a scoring chance and they made good on it with a 9-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 34-28 with 4:15 left in the third quarter.
The Northwest offense was on point in the fourth quarter with Mathews making a highlight reel catch to open the quarter for 24 yards with a defender attempting to lay him out. Porter took the next play into the end zone for his first career touchdown from two yards out.
“That kid just continues to make big plays,” Wright said of Mathews.
After a Washburn 3-and-out, Northwest set itself up for a 28-yard field goal, but it was missed. The defense immediately forced another 3-and-out and this time Noah Gustella was true from 38 yards to push the lead to 44-28.
A pass interference call sparked the next Washburn drive for a touchdown, but they missed a 2-point conversion and the Bearcats led 44-34 with 4:16 left.
Northwest needed just one play to put the game on ice as Young broke loose for a 45-yard touchdown with a spectacular Mathews downfield block giving him the space to the end zone.
“Mainly just to get in a groove of the inside zone and outside zone and us switching our backs, us talking to each other, and us just being on the same page — that is mainly what it was today,” Young said. “Just the little things and doing the little things correctly.”
Washburn turned the ball over with Carter Edwards’ second interception of the game and Northwest took kneel downs despite Washburn using timeouts to force a punt, but Northwest got one more stop to stamp a 51-34 win.
“We got to play complimentary football,” Edwards said. “Offense has to do its job, defense has to do its job and special teams — then the rest will follow suit. We have to continue building on that each week.”
Young finished with 12 carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns while Ruhnke had 219 yards passing. Mathews had four catches for 94 yards.
The Bearcats (4-2; 4-1 MIAA) have the opportunity to play for first place in the MIAA next Saturday with a road trip to undefeated Central Oklahoma (5-0; 4-0 MIAA).
“A lot of people didn’t believe in us, and now they can’t believe it is us,” Edwards said. “We are going to keep working hard and keep showing what we got. We are from Maryville, a big blue-collar place. … Just blue-collar, strap the boots on, we are going to go to work and put our nose on the grindstone and keep going. That is what we pride ourselves on.”
