Bearcats, Lopers set to do battle

By DAVID MERRILL Sports Editor
Northwest sophomore linebacker Nick Hess rushes Washburn quarterback Derek McGinnis during the Bearcats’ 41-7 victory over the Ichabods on Sept. 8.

he University of Nebraska-Kearney football team comes into Bearcat Stadium this weekend with an 0-2 record, but according to Northwest Missouri State University senior linebacker Jacob Vollstedt, it isn’t for a lack of effort.

“They are a spread team,” he said. “Their line is really big, especially compared to me. I’m going to be looking up at them. They’re a bunch of hard workers and they’re well-coached. They play with effort until the very end. They have two young quarterbacks, which is fortunate for us. With (senior defensive tackle) Collin Bevins up there, that might scare them a little bit.”

The Lopers have plenty of offensive linemen on their roster and the seniors seem to come in super-sized bodies. Troy Studd weighs in at 315 pounds to go with his 6-foot-4 frame while Nick Wenz stands at 6-foot-9 and 320 pounds. Luke Brown stands at 6-foot-4 and 315 pounds. Junior Jake Filsinger is a healthy 300 pounds at 6-foot-2.

Nebraska-Kearney has relied heavily on its linebackers and defensive backs to make the majority of their tackles so far this season. Senior linebacker Tyke Kozeal has a team-high 18 tackles this season. He is already the school record holder for the Lopers with 430 career tackles and 181 of those have been solo tackles.

Offensively, the Lopers have struggled to move the ball on the ground as they have just 77 rushing yards through two games. Quarterback Steve Worthing has been effective in the passing game, however. He has completed 31 of his 62 pass attempts for 387 yards and two touchdowns.

Overall, this is a Loper team that has seen hard times. Its last win came on Oct. 11, 2014 in a 34-7 win over Northeastern State. The Lopers won just three games that season and their last winning season was in 2011 when they went 10-2.

The Bearcats have put two lopsided wins on the board through the first two weeks of the season. While head coach Adam Dorrel has been pleased with his team’s chemistry and unselfishness on and off the field, he said the offense still needs to eliminate miscues. The Bearcat’s 811 yards of total offense is seventh in the conference through the first two weeks.

“The numbers are a little deceiving,” he said. “Last week, I thought we left a lot of points out there. You’re going to make mistakes and you don’t have to be perfect, but the amount of people we had running wide open last week, we got to hit those. That’s more than the quarterback. We had 33 mental errors as an offense in 70 something snaps. That’s way too many mental busts. I don’t feel like we’ve played well yet on offense.”

Family weekend

This is Family Weekend for the Bearcats and that holds a special meaning to Dorrel.

“I was very fortunate to grow up in a really tight-knit intermediate family,” he said. My dad and mom both had big families and both their families were very close. Growing up, family has always been a word that has resonated with me. When I got here, I got here early when it maybe wasn’t like that. I like to see it come full circle. To have that type of atmosphere is special.”

Family Weekend is also very important to starting center Chase Sherman and his family. Chase’s brother — Brock Sherman — graduated after last season. Brock redshirted his freshman year in 2011 before playing 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 at linebacker for the Bearcats.

During the team’s media day on Tuesday, Chase reflected on what it has been like to play so much football with his brother dating back to their days at Crete High School in Nebraska.

“It means a little bit more to me,” he said. “It’s nice knowing he’s here still and we keep it in the family and he’s always coming back down to Maryville. It’s great to experience that with a brother on the team.”

The duo won a state title together at Crete and then a national title at Northwest.

A piece of themselves

There will be plenty of pieces of the Bearcat family on the opposite sideline on Saturday. Nebraska-Kearney’s head coach- Josh Lamberson was a graduate assistant in charge of the quarterbacks from 2006 to 2008. Defensive Coordinator Ken Gordon also played at Northwest. He was part of Mel Tjeerdsma’s first recruiting class and was an All-MIAA linebacker in 1996. Assistant coach and Co-offensive coordinator Joe Holtzclaw is another former Bearcat. He played and briefly coached with Lamberson in Maryville. Holtzclaw was part of two national runner-up teams and the 2009 national championship squad. Defensive line coach Shayne Shade spent time with the Bearcats as a defensive lineman from 2007-2010. Shade was a two-time All-MIAA defensive lineman and earned All-Region honors in 2009. He was part of four MIAA title teams and the 2007 and 2008 national runner up teams. He remained in Maryville upon graduation and helped coach the team from 2012-2014. UNK linebackers and special teams coach Jake Willrich was a graduate assistant during the 2003-2004 season. Graduate assistant and assistant defensive line coach Aaron Terry was part of the Bearcats’ 2009 national championship team.

DAILY FORUM FILE PHOTO
Northwest Missouri State University linebacker Matt Connelly breaks up a play and goes for a tackle on Washburn’s Josh Wright during the Bearcats’ 41-7 win on Sept. 8, 2016.