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By David Boyce  |  Facebook Fan Photos

MARYVILLE, Mo. - Junior quarterback Brady Bolles walked into the locker room at halftime a bit upset despite Northwest Missouri State holding a 10-point lead over Central Missouri.
 
He told his teammates that the only team beating Northwest was Northwest.
 
Even though the Bearcats were in better shape on the scoreboard against Central than the previous two years, Bolles knew Northwest, ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division II, needed to end mistakes that prevented it from stretching its lead.
 
The Bearcats came together in the third quarter like a tight family responding to adversity. Northwest scored two touchdowns and took a 24-point lead into the final quarter.
 
A few errors in the fourth quarter allowed Central Missouri to briefly close the gap, but Northwest had a big enough cushion to come away with a rather easy 37-15 victory on beautiful Saturday afternoon. It was the perfect result for most of the 9,068 fans at Bearcat Stadium on Family Weekend.
 
Northwest actually dominated the first half, racking up 257 totals yards compared to just 25 yards in 30 plays for Central.
 
"Going into half, we had a drive going, but we shot ourselves in the foot in the red zone," said Bolles, who completed 18 of 30 passes for 285 yards. "We didn't have the killer instinct going into half. That was a big drive there. We can't have that when we get in the red zone."
 
Northwest head coach Adam Dorrel likes getting that type of leadership from his quarterback.
 
"It is great hearing him talking like that because at that position, when a guy has that much confidence it filters in, not just your offense, but I think it filters in the rest of your team," Dorrel said.
 
The game started well for Northwest. Bolles scored on a 1-yard touchdown run less than 5 minutes into the game.
 
The Bearcats buried the Mules on defense throughout the first quarter. In fact, it was so dominating that after Northwest muffed a punt and gave the ball to Central at Northwest's 39, the Bearcats stuffed Central.
 
Northwest got the ball back at its 19 and drove to Central's 9 and on a pass play, Northwest fumbled the ball in the end zone.
 
In spite of the errors, Northwest built a 14-0 lead on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Bolles to Korey Jackson with 10:07 left in the second quarter.
 
The Mules finally scored with 7:49 left in the second quarter on 15-yard touchdown pass from Hayden Hawk.
 
Northwest tacked on a 22-yard field goal with 25 seconds left to take a 10-point lead into halftime. It should have been more.
 
The Bearcats played mistake-free football in the third quarter. The offensive play of the game came with 10 minutes left in the third quarter. Bolles pitched the ball to redshirt freshman quarterback Randy Schmidt, who rolled right and then fired a strike to senior Jason Jozaites for a 36-yard, touchdown pass, giving Northwest a 24-7 lead.
 
"We have been working on it all week," Schmidt said. "He told me to go in there and give it a chance. Being a quarterback makes it easier. If it is not there, I'm told to run the ball. I am comfortable doing both. It was a nice route by Jason."
 
 A few minutes later, Northwest went on a 12-play, 88-yard touchdown drive that ended on a 1-yard run by Robert Burton.
 
The Bearcats remained stellar on defense in the third quarter, limiting Central to 39 yards in 10 plays. It resulted in a 31-7 lead for Northwest at the end of three quarters.
 
"Our defense played incredible the whole game," Bolles said. "They held Central, which is a good team, to 15 points. "Anytime you do that, it is going to give us a good chance to win."
 
Northwest wasn't quite as crisp in the fourth quarter, but the outcome was never in doubt.
 
One exciting development for Northwest was the play of several sophomores. On offense, wide receivers George Sehl and Quanzee Johnson excelled with several important catches to keep drives going.
 
"It felt really good," Sehl said. "I caught my first passes as a Bearcat today. We have some good senior receivers that do a good job leading us. I just try to follow what they do."
 
Sehl finished with four receptions for 48 yards and Johnson caught two passes for 59 yards. They saw more action Saturday because of an injury to senior wide receiver Bryce Young.
 
"Until a kid does that in a game, it is like he can't move forward in his athletic career until he does it in a meaningful game, not back-up time," Dorrel said. "Those kids played in meaningful times today. I was so proud of those kids."
 
On defense, sophomore defensive tackle Collin Bevins had 2.5 sacks and finished with five tackles.
 
Bevins said the defensive unit came in wanting to stop the run and force them to throw the ball.
 
"That really played into our favor," Bevins said. "We played a couple of games where teams like to run so we didn't have many opportunities to get sacks. Coming out, we knew they were going to throw the ball. It felt good to get my first sack of the year."
 
The play of the sophomores should definitely excite Northwest coaches and fans. The future looks as bright as Saturday's sunny present.
 
"I feel we are going to be pretty well off for the next few years," Bevins said. "I'm excited to see where we go from here.