‘MAGIC AT ARROWHEAD’
JON DYKSTRA/DAILY FORUM
Northwest Missouri State senior quarterback Zach Martin throws a first half touchdown pass to senior running back Jordan Grove on Saturday in Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Northwest beat Central Missouri, 24-20.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Some years the ‘Fall Classic’ in Arrowhead Stadium fails to live up its ‘Classic’ moniker, but 2017 certainly wasn’t one of those.
The 24-20 victory by Northwest Missouri State (5-0; 5-0 MIAA) over Central Missouri (3-2; 3-2 MIAA) will go down as a tale of two games. For the first 57 minutes of football, the teams flexed their defensive muscle and played the field-position game for a majority of the game, but in the final minutes when both offense found their backs against the wall, a different game began.
The Mules took possession of the ball with 3:07 left on the clock, trailing 17-13 and 84 yards to go to try to win the game.
The Mules don’t have a lot of big-game experience among them, however, if any player can have the ‘clutch gene’ in their blood, it is junior quarterback Brook Bolles — the brother of former Northwest Missouri State national championship quarterbacks Brady and Blake Bolles.
On a third-and-10, Bolles slipped out of a potential sack and heaved a pass downfield that found receiver Kyle Echols for 50 yards.
“They pretty much ran man the whole game and we knew that our guys were a little faster than their guys and better, so we tried to pick on a few guys on their defense,” Bolles said. “When it came down to it we had to make big plays and sometimes that was on the fly.”
A short pass to Echols and then a pass interference got the ball down to the Northwest 15-yard line.
After a short running play, Bolles picked up a first down with his feet and got to the 4-yard line.
The Mules then quickly called timeout instead of letting the clock continue to tick with 38 seconds left. That wound up being a decision that will haunt the Mules.
On the next play, Bolles hit Kyrion Parker for a 4-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left.
“It was one-on-one coverage with K.P. and like I said before, we knew our guy was better,” Bolles said. “We just threw it back-shoulder and let him go up and get it.”
Trailing 20-17, it was up to the Bearcat offense, who had one successful drive to that point the entire day. One of the scores for the team had been an interception return by safety Jacob Gassman and the Bearcats had a field goal after cornerback Anthony Lane strip-sacked Bolles deep in Mule territory — the offense had negative-4 yards on the field goal drive.
Safe to say, the offense had little reason to be confident, but nonetheless, they oozed it.
“Northwest is a really special place and our kids really believed that they were going to win that football game,” Northwest coach Rich Wright said. “We battled and gave up a touchdown, but our offensive kids — I could hear them bend me — ‘We’re going to score.’ … It is a testament to our kids and their grit and determination.”
The drive started from the Bearcat 32-yard line with 30 seconds left and Northwest clinging to one timeout.
Senior quarterback Zach Martin found junior receiver Shawn Bane, Jr., across the middle to begin the drive for 14 yards.
“The biggest thing with those drives, is getting the first first-down and getting the chains moved,” Martin said. “It is magic at Arrowhead.”
The Bearcats sprinted to the line of scrimmage to conserve their lone timeout, but one of the Mule pass rushers was down on the turf and Central Missouri was charged an injury timeout.
The Bearcats needed a big play if they were going to get into field goal range for Brett Garner, but they hadn’t been able to connect deep all day even with their receivers getting some separation.
“I think the ball flies a little bit farther at Arrowhead,” Martin said joking about his over-throws. “I put a few out there, but I’m grateful we had more chances.”
The drive prior, Kennedy Sykes and Bane had each dropped potential long touchdowns from Martin.
With the game on the line, Martin and offensive coordinator Charlie Flohr dialed up the speediest receiver on their team and gave Bane his shot at redemption.
“All my teammates were saying, ‘Hey, it is coming back to you.’ I had my head down a little bit, but I made up my mind that I can’t let it snowball,” Bane said. “Once they called my number, I just tried to make a play.”
Bane didn’t disappoint, he hauled in a 47-yard bomb from Martin and set the Bearcats up at the Mule 7-yard line.
“Big-time players make big-time-plays,” Martin said. “My man 13 (Bane) made a big catch and I told him he is going to get another opportunity and he cherished it.”
Martin rushed forward and spiked the ball with 12 seconds left and the stunned Mules called for timeout.
A timeout wasn’t going to slow the Bearcats, whose offense felt juice for the first time all day and weren’t about to settle for a field goal and overtime.
Coming out of the timeout, Martin found senior Jordan Bishop over the middle for a 7-yard touchdown with seven seconds left on the clock.
“Nothing else matters, but a win,” Bishop said.
After the game, Wright was asked if Bishop was the primary receiver on the play, Wright declined to answer initially, but Bane shook his head violently next to him.
Whether it was Bane, Sykes, Bishop or Quincy Woods as the first read, only one thing that Bishop did mattered.
“He got open and that it what counts,” Wright said.
Two Bolles incompletions ended the game and the Bearcats escaped with their 35th consecutive victory.
DOMINANT DEFENSE
While the final minutes belonged to the offense, none of the heroics would have been possible without another great defensive game by the Bearcats.
The first defensive highlight came in the first quarter when with 7:44 left, Jacob Gassman had a 30-yard pick-six to open the scoring.
“It was great to have the momentum shift, get the crowd on our side and set the tempo for the game,” Gassman said.
The defense set up another score in the fourth quarter with cornerback Anthony Lane — still playing with a club on his hand from a surgically-repaired thumb — had a strip-sack to set up a field goal.
The other score was a 10-yard Martin pass to senior running back Jordan Grove with 12:48 left in the second quarter.
QUOTABLE
“As a little kid, who doesn’t dream of playing in the NFL when you are playing little league,” Grove said. “This may not be the NFL, but we are in a NFL venue. It is super loud and our fans are awesome. It is a crazy experience and something I will cherish forever.”
UP NEXT
The Bearcats will return home next Saturday to host Central Oklahoma.
Central Oklahoma is coming off a 53-52 win over Emporia State this week.
JON DYKSTRA/DAILY FORUM
Northwest cornerback Anthony Jones tackles safety Jacob Gassman after Gassman’s pick-six in the first half of Saturday’s 24-20 win over Central Missouri in Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
JON DYKSTRA/DAILY FORUM
Central Missouri quarterback Brook Bolles releases the ball before Northwest Missouri State senior defensive end Bobby Gruenloh wraps him up on Saturday in Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Northwest beat Central Missouri, 24-20.
