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By David Boyce  |  Facebook Photo Album

HAYS, Kan. - For the first time all season, Northwest Missouri State football team faced real adversity in a game. But the mark of their greatness, the Bearcats still found a way to win their school record 25^th straight game.
 
Despite losing All-American wide receiver Shawn Bane Jr. in the second quarter and senior quarterback Kyle Zimmerman throwing his first two interceptions of the season, Northwest came away with a 28-7 victory over Fort Hays State on a warm Saturday afternoon at Lewis Stadium.
 
"I think we can learn from it. I think we can grow from it," Northwest coach Adam Dorrel said. "The thing I told the players is on the ride home, reflect and see how was your attention to detail and your preparation.
 
"This game was good in one sense, but the other sense it was disappointing because I don't think we played with a lot of energy, especially offensively. It was frustrating as a coach because you want to get better this time of the season. I don't want to take anything away from Fort Hays. I thought they played well."
 
Zimmerman, though, showed his warrior spirit. After the game, he had a bandage across the bridge of his nose and two cotton puffs up both nostrils from a broken nose he suffered early in the third quarter.
 
"You got to give your hats off to those guys," said Zimmerman, who completed 20 of 32 passes for 174 yards and one touchdown. "They showed toughness on the defensive side and the scheme they had in today. They played us tough.
 
"But we didn't have the energy we needed to have when we came out here. Coach talked about it all week that they were a physical group. I don't think when we first came out, we matched their intensity. That kind of kicked us. Once we started getting it going in the fourth quarter and matched their intensity, we started going a little bit."
 
One reason why the No. 1-ranked Bearcats, 10-0, have won so many games in a row is one unit will pick up the other unit during times of struggle.
 
Northwest showed why it has one of the strongest defenses in Division II. The defensive unit scored 90 seconds into the game on a pick-six play by Northwest senior Kevin Berg.
 
"We knew coming out they were going to be a tough opponent," Berg said. "Our front seven got plenty of pressure on him and I was able to bend down and get that. We want to get off to a good start and create a little adversity for the other team."
 
As it turned out, Northwest needed those early points.
 
The Bearcats finally met up with a defense that punched back. Northwest managed just one scoring drive in the first half.
 
Despite a 14-0 lead, Northwest went into the locker room in a somber mood for good reason. With just under 2 minutes before halftime, Bane injured his leg on a nice punt return to Fort Hays' 48. But like they did much of the first half, the Tigers forced a 3-and-out. Northwest mustered only 128 yards of total offense in the first half.
 
Given the way the Tigers played tenacious defense, it was a good thing that Northwest brought its A-level defense. The Bearcats held Fort Hays to 79 yards of total offense in the first half.
 
"I was very pleased with them," Dorrel said. "I thought they played lights out from start to finish. I thought they harassed the quarterback the whole day. They did a lot of good things on defense."
 
It didn't help Fort Hays that it lost its starting quarterback, Jacob Mezera in the Tigers' second series of the game. He never returned.
 
After a couple of 3-and-outs by Northwest, the Bearcats cranked up their offense. Thanks to great defense, Northwest only had to go 35 yards to get into the end zone again. The Bearcats capped the six-play drive with a 3-yard touchdown run by Phil Jackson II with 3 minutes remaining in the first quarter.
 
At this point, Northwest was on its way to another easy victory. Fort Hays had other ideas. The Tigers stuffed Northwest's offense the entire second quarter. In the second quarter, Zimmerman threw his first interception of the season. It came on his 285^th pass of the season.
 
"He showed his toughness," Dorrel said. "He is a heck of a competitor. He has to learn to keep his composure. I thought he did late in the game and made a couple of real crucial throws."
 
Fort Hays, was unable to take advantage of the turnover or favorable field position. A couple of times the Tigers started in Northwest's territory and came away with no points.
 
"This was a blast," said Northwest senior defensive tackle Collin Bevins. "We knew they were going to try to run the ball every snap. We like being challenged like that.
 
"It was a fun four quarters to play. This was the first game our 1s played a full four quarters. It was really good for us to get a game like that under our belts and fight for four quarters."
 
The Bearcats also blocked two field goals in the first half, keeping Fort Hays off the scoreboard.
 
Northwest continued to struggle in the third quarter and was once again denied entry into the end zone. Zimmerman briefly was knocked out of the game in third quarter, but missed just one play.
 
The Bearcats responded to the stiff challenge in in the fourth quarter by showing their championship mettle. With 13 minutes left in the game, Northwest started at its 36.
 
Northwest grinded out a 9-play, 64-yard drive that concluded with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Zimmerman to senior tight end T.J. Schieber. Simon Mathiesen's extra point gave Northwest a 21-0 lead with 9:53 left.
 
"It was just nice to score," Schieber said. "We needed to score on offense. We were stagnant on offense. We don't care on offense who scores. My number was called and I was able to score.
 
"It was a great ball by Zimm. He put it on me. He is a tough kid. We believe in him. He does a great job for us."
 
Fort Hays generated a little drama by scoring a touchdown with 7:55 left in the game, making it 21-7.
 
Five minutes later, the Bearcats finished off the Tigers on an 18-yard touchdown run by Cameron Wilcox.
 
"It felt amazing, but I couldn't have done that without Myles McIntyre and the entire offensive line," Wilcox said. "They played their butts off today."
 
The 21-point win didn't reflect just how competitive this game was from start to finish.
 
"We needed this," Wilcox said. "It was a team effort, a team victory. We kept telling ourselves we are in this fight. Basically, we never settled like our motto."