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By David Boyce  |  Facebook Photo Album

JOPLIN, Mo. - One quarter into Northwest Missouri State's fourth game of the season at Missouri Southern Saturday evening, the Lions were looking to rock the Division II world off its axis.
 
The winless Lions bolted to a 13-0 lead against the No. 1 ranked team in Division II, shocking the Bearcats, who rode into Hughes Stadium on an 18-game winning streak.
 
For 14 minutes, Southern looked like the highly-ranked team. The Lions stopped the first couple of Northwest's drives. On offense, Southern stunned the Bearcats on a 34-yard touchdown run by quarterback TJ Fleeton late in the first quarter.
 
Four minutes later, Southern found the end zone again on a 62-yard pass play from Fleeton to Josh Hadley with 55 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The only positive play for the Bearcats was a blocked extra point on the second touchdown.
 
Still, the Lions were partying in Joplin.
 
And then the Bearcats restored order. Northwest went into halftime with a 15-point lead and carried that momentum to a 45-21 victory.
 
"I have mixed emotions," Northwest coach Adam Dorrel said. "We had adversity, which was great because we haven't had it all year. We got punched in the mouth. The thing I like about that is we didn't panic. We responded in a positive way. There wasn't guys pointing fingers and bickering.
 
"The flip side is the pre-snap penalties are unacceptable with what we are trying to do. The thing we can learn from is you are going to get people's better effort. My hats off to those guys (Lions). That is the best they have played all year. They had us on the ropes. Their kids came out and played hard. We got to learn from it. We got to be ready for everybody's best shot."
 
Northwest remained perfect at 4-0 and now the Bearcats will shift their focus to Central Missouri in an early-season MIAA showdown at Arrowhead Stadium next Saturday. The Mules are 3-1 after a double overtime loss to Emporia State.
 
By scoring 28-unanswered points in the second quarter, Northwest once again demonstrated an ability to overcome early-game adversity. Saturday was the third time in four games that Northwest surrendered the first touchdown of the game.
 
"They hit some big plays over the top on us early on that screen play and the quarterback scramble," said Northwest senior defensive tackle Collin Bevins, who had 2.5 tackles for losses and established a new career school record with 47.5 tackles for losses.
 
"We knew it was a long game, and it was only the first quarter. We had to buckle down and focus on making our adjustments. The flow came to us at the start of the second quarter."
 
The 13-0 deficit was the biggest Northwest has faced this season. The Bearcats' first response to the double-digit deficit was a 10-play, 73-yard drive that concluded with a 19-yard touchdown run by senior Phil Jackson II that came 5 seconds into the second quarter.
 
Northwest stuffed Southern in the Lions' next drive and got the ball on Southern's 40. The Bearcats needed only 2 minutes to go 40 yards. The go-ahead drive ended on a 1-yard touchdown run by junior Cameron Wilcox. The extra point by senior Simon Mathiesen put the Bearcats ahead 14-13 with 11:15 remaining in the second quarter.
 
Four minutes later, Northwest was back in the end zone on a 42-yard touchdown pass from senior Kyle Zimmerman to junior Jordan Bishop. The Bearcats finished their second-quarter scoring on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Zimmerman to junior Jordan Grove with 3:35 left in the first half.
 
"Coach talks about adversity all the time," said Zimmerman, who completed 27 of 35 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns. "It struck early in this game. We were talking about it on the sidelines that we just had to make a play. We had to stick together.
 
"We had a lot of guys who said we have to make a play here, make a play there. Once we started rolling, you knew the defense would put the clamps on as they always do."
 
Northwest received the ball at the start of the third quarter and set the tone for the rest of the game. The Bearcats went on a 10-play, 86-yard drive that ended on a 4-yard touchdown run by Jackson for a 35-13 lead. Northwest ran the ball on seven of the plays, including the first four plays that all went for first down.
 
"We wanted to bury them," said Northwest offensive coordinator Charlie Flohr. "We felt we were running the ball with a lot of success. We always talk about the most important drive of the game is the first drive of the second half. Our guys have really bought into that. We told the guys what we were going to do the first four or five plays and they executed."
 
Wilcox, who finished with a team-high 104 yards rushing said the offensive line played their tails off.
 
"It was a lot of fun running behind them," Wilcox said. "We have put an emphasize on getting our run game started. We have been lacking in that area. With the help of AD and the offensive line, we punched them in the mouth."
 
The best thing that Southern did to help Northwest in the future was to score on a 72-yard touchdown reception with 53 seconds left in the third quarter. The Lions closed to 35-21, forcing Northwest to play its starters in the fourth quarter for the first time this season.
 
"We hadn't played four quarters all year," Zimmerman said. "We are going to start seeing tougher competition. It was a testament to those guys over there. They had a great game plan for us at the start of the game. They really came out and hit us in the mouth.
 
"I think the adversity was good for us tonight and to be able to respond tonight and trust each other and trust the coaching staff was huge for us."
 
Northwest responded to the challenge by increasing its lead to 38-21 with 11:24 left in the game on a 41-yard field goal by Mathiesen.
 
The Bearcats went back to playing their stellar defense and got the ball right back to the offense. Behind the running of Wilcox, the Bearcats powered their way down the field again on an eight-play, 66-yard drive that Wilcox finished with a 2-yard touchdown run. The score gave Northwest a commanding 45-21 lead with 5:43 left in the game.
 
Northwest wasn't perfect, but the run game was the best it has been all season. The Bearcats rushed for 314 yards as a team.
 
"I am really proud of our kids," Flohr said. "We came in stressing that we really needed to and wanted to run the ball and we were able to do that."