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By David Boyce  |  Northwest Football vs. Emporia State  |  Thursday, Aug. 31  |  7 p.m.  |  Bearcat Stadium
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MARYVILLE, Mo. - For first-year head coach Rich Wright, it seems like yesterday when he sat with fifth-year senior Caleb Mather and his parents and talked about coming to Northwest Missouri State.
 
Mather, a native of Maryville, was coming off a season in which he helped the Spoofhounds to an undefeated, Missouri Class 3 state championship in 2012. Mather earned Class 3 defensive player of the year honors, and that garnered him attention from Washburn.
 
Northwest, though, had one huge advantage to get the defensive tackle, who now stands 6-feet-1 and weighs 278 pounds.
 
"Maryville is such a close, tight-knit community," Mather said. "They always come out and support you, not just football, but every sport. They are with you when you are up and with you when you are down. It is a cool place to be. You will always have fans."
 
The connection to the Maryville community helped Wright in his recruitment of Mather. At the time, Wright was the defensive coordinator at Northwest.
 
"Because football is such a big deal in this community, we reap the benefits of having a strong high school program here," Wright said. "Obviously, having tradition ourselves, a lot of those kids have grown up rooting for Northwest Missouri State and someday wanting to play here."
 
A lot has happened since Mather showed up on Northwest campus in 2013 as a teenager. He has progressed from a freshman who recorded two tackles in 2014 to All-MIAA honorable mention selection last year with 36 tackles to one of the anchors on the defensive line his senior year.
 
As for Wright, he moves from defensive coordinator the previous six years to head coach.
 
When Northwest kicks off its season 7 p.m. Thursday evening against Emporia State at Bearcat Stadium, the moment will be emotional for Mather and anyone who has rooted for Wright through the years.
 
"I will be excited," Mather said. "Getting out there for the last home opener is going to be a lot of emotions going through my head. I am just excited to be out there and be with my teammates and play a good game."
 
Wright, not for one second, can allow himself to get caught up in his first game as head coach. Northwest, ranked No. 1 in the AFCA preseason top 25, is taking on the Hornets, who ranked No. 4, and returns a high-caliber quarterback in junior Braxton Marstall.
 
Emporia State wants revenge. Northwest has beaten the Hornets the last two years in the Division II playoffs on the road to back-to-back national championships. Emporia State is 22-5 in the last two seasons, and four of those losses have come against Northwest.
 
"It is obviously a neat deal and something I always wanted to be a part of," Wright said of his head coaching debut. "Maybe I will have a better reflective moment after the fact, but as of right now, I am trying to get our kids ready defensively and overall as a football team. It is my No. 1 objective."
 
Mather is glad the Bearcats have a tough opponent to open the season.
 
"We don't want to ease into the season," Mather said. "We want to fire on all cylinders. We always want to play our best."
 
Wright has watched Mather grow as a football player in the previous four years. The first year and a half, Mather observed and learned what it took to be successful on the line.
 
During that period, Wright saw that Mather was an intelligent player who took time to think about the position he played.
 
"The difficult thing about playing on the defensive line is everything almost has to be a reaction because you are so close to contact," Wright said. "You have to trust where to go. It took him a little time to get that, but once he did, he turned into an outstanding football player."
 
Mather said Wright molded him into a better player. He taught him always to bring your A-game.
 
"If you are always on your A-game, it will transfer into all aspects of my life," he said.
 
Mather learned much more from Wright than technique and how to succeed on the football field. He showed his players that he wasn't just a football coach. He was a family man. Wright often invited the defensive players over for dinner with his wife and two daughters.
 
"He is showing us what it is like not only to be a football coach but to be a dad and a husband," Mather said. "He is showing us the right way to do it. It has been a good experience, giving us an example of how to be a man."
 
Those lessons are building blocks that will help Mather when he graduates from Northwest in May with a degree in middle school science education. Mather came to Northwest with a strong foundation. He regularly made the MIAA Academic Honor Roll.
 
He is close to turning that success in the classroom into a real-world job. Mather will spend next semester student-teaching. And by this time next year, he will be in a classroom, teaching middle school students some of the things he learned from teachers through the years.
 
"I have had a lot of good teachers," Mather said. "I want to follow in their footsteps and impact kids in a positive way.
 
"I am excited to get out there and start life in the real world. But I have mixed feelings. Being out in the real world is going to be a lot different than being in college and playing football."
 
And nothing compares to playing football for a program the caliber of Northwest that has an enthusiastic and loyal fan base. The 2017 season fires up Thursday in the most anticipated Division II season-opener in the country.
 
"The biggest thing I want our team to have is to embrace the moment and play hard now," Wright said. "Look at it as a game, nothing more, nothing less. It is one game in the season, but it has to have our full attention.
 
"I want them to draw on the emotion that our crowd will create for a Thursday night game and school just starting. It has been a long road back here. The kids have worked extremely hard to get to this moment. I want them just to go out and play hard and together with a lot of energy. If we execute the way we are capable of and make sure we take care of the football, I think we will like our outcome."