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By David Boyce  |  Northwest Fan Photo Album

MARYVILLE, Mo. - Northwest Missouri State scored on three of its first four possessions, led by senior quarterback Brady Bolles who ran for the first touchdown and threw for the second one.
 
But as good as Northwest offense was on a rainy Thursday evening at Bearcat Stadium, the defense performed at a championship level in a 48-7 victory over Missouri Southern.
 
"We wanted to come out and get the crowd going early," Northwest coach Adam Dorrel said. "We did that in different aspects. I thought our defense played really well again. I thought for the most part we were pretty good on special teams.
 
"Offensively, we did some good things in the first half. I was pleased with the way the offense played in the third and fourth quarter."
 
Only four minutes remained in the game when Southern moved into the red zone for the first time.  The late touchdown by the Lions prevented Northwest, 2-0, from starting the season with back-to-back shutouts for the first time since1984.
 
Leading the charge on the front line was senior defensive lineman Brandon Yost who plowed inside on several occasions to toss Southern running backs for losses in a rather easy fashion. Northwest held the Lions to just 12 yards rushing in the first half.
 
"Everybody played with great effort today," Yost said. "Everybody trusted each other. Everybody did its 1/11th and that's what we really harp on. Nobody did more than what it needed to do. We all trust each other to do our job.
 
"It is awesome to see other teammates make big plays. I get so happy when Bobby Gruenloh hits the quarterback or Cass Weitl hits the quarterback or the secondary makes a big play. I am so happy for those guys because I see them in practice busting their tail every day."
 
Northwest held a 20-point lead at halftime and then put the game away midway through the third quarter. It came on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Bolles to Shane Williams, give the Bearcats a 27-0 lead with 6:09 remaining in the third quarter.
 
Bolles finished the game with four touchdown passes, matching his single-game best, which he has now accomplished three times.
 
"It was great to see all those guys make plays," Bolles said of the Northwest wide receivers. "We trust every single one of those guys out there. It doesn't matter if it is the 1s or 2s. We feel whoever is out there will make a play.
 
"We preach not to do too much. Do your 1/11th and trust we have great athletes out there. Seeing those young guys go out there and make plays was awesome to see."
 
Seeds of a blowout started on the first offensive home drive of the season for Northwest. The Bearcats did everything right except score a touchdown. Northwest used 12 plays and went 73 yards, but had to settle for a 22-yard field goal.
 
On defense, Northwest quickly stopped Southern. The Bearcats wasted little time scoring again. This time Northwest put the ball in the end zone on a 24 yard run by Bolles. The extra point gave the Bearcats a 10-0 lead with 7:11 left in the first quarter.
 
On the rushing touchdown, Bolles had to laugh when it was suggested that he looked quicker on that one run than anytime last year.
 
"I hope I didn't look slow last year," Bollles said. "It felt good. The pocket broke down a little bit. We had a guy open but we weren't able to get it to him. I was able to get out of the pocket and make a play."
 
Northwest basically used the same format in the second quarter, scoring 10 points and preventing Southern from having a legitimate scoring threat.
 
At halftime, Northwest held a commanding 20-0 lead. The only mystery remaining was how many fans would brave the torrential rain that moved in. The outcome of the game was all but certain.
 
While many students in a crowd of 7,111 left, a hearty core of several hundred students stayed until the end. They wanted to be treated to more of what the defense delivered in the first half.
 
The Bearcats held Southern to 55 yards in 31 plays for a paltry 1.8 yards per carry. On offense, Northwest had 128 yards rushing and 118 passing.
 
Northwest wasn't perfect, but close to it. The one thing Dorrel was frustrated about was the penalties. Northwest committed 11 penalties for 128 yards.
 
"We got to get that cleaned up," Dorrel said. "The pre-snap penalties, the offside and false start we got to get fixed. And certainly the personal fouls were something very uncharacteristic of our program."
 
 The Bearcats had one turnover and after it occurred, the defense responded by forcing a turnover on the very next play. Northwest picked off three passes and recovered three fumbles.
 
"I thought they played well last week," Dorrel said of the defense. "To see them come in tonight and play with that type of effort was nice. We are rolling with a lot of guys. It is not just 11 guys doing it.
 
"I thought we had some guys who stepped up and made some plays. We continued to harass the quarterback. We didn't have a lot of bust, pre-snap breakdowns. We didn't lose contain on a mobile quarterback they had. They were forcing some turnovers, which was great to see."