NORTHWEST
MISSOURIAN
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021
MARYVILLE, MISSOURI
NWMISSOURINEWS.COM
VOL. 110, NO. 15
@THEMISSOURIAN
BYE-SONS
JON WALKER | NW MISSOURIAN
Northwest football senior wide receivers Imoni Donadelle (left) and Kaden Davis (right) wave toward Harding’s sideline after Davis scored a game-sealing touchdown during the No. 3 Bearcats’ 28-9 win over No. 7 Harding Nov. 27 at First Security Stadium in Searcy, Arkansas. Davis finished with four catches for 82 yards and two touchdowns, marking his third multiscore game this year.
’Cats rout Harding to reach quarterfinals JON WALKER Sports Editor | @ByJonWalker
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EARCY, Ark. — As Braden Wright trotted onto the field with 2 minutes and 32 seconds left in the first half, he was hoping to put an end to the dry spell that plagued the Northwest football’s offense for nearly every moment prior to that one. The junior quarterback was tasked with leading the Bearcats down the field in an attempt to put points on the board to flip the script on Harding’s 9-7 lead. And if Wright and company found a way to muster as much as a field goal, history would’ve sided with Northwest, a program that entered the contest 37-0 when leading at halftime under fifth-year coach Rich Wright. Braden Wright provided more than a field goal try, eventually connecting with senior wideout Kaden Davis for a 13-yard touchdown with six seconds left before both programs headed toward the locker room. History repeated itself, too, and the
No. 3 Bearcats punched their ticket to the NCAA Division II quarterfinals with a 28-9 win over the No. 7 Bisons Nov. 27 at First Security Stadium. “We always talk about landmarks,” Rich Wright said in the aftermath of the 19-point triumph. “Last week was Thanksgiving — that was our landmark — and the next one was to play into December, so we have the opportunity to do that now.” That 11-play, 80-yard drive to end the first 30 minutes of action never seemed likely, at least not based on the Bearcats’ struggles up to that point. They were held to a meager 31 yards of offense before they took the field for their final drive of the first half. That was in part due to Harding’s stifling defense, which prevented Braden Wright — who was starting his first game since Northwest’s Week 1 win over Fort Hays after undergoing emergency surgery in Week 2 — from ever finding a rhythm in his own offense. The Bisons (11-2) sacked him four times through-
UP NEXT Northwest @ Ferris State 1 p.m. EST Dec. 4 Big Rapids, Michigan
out the game — a trio of them in the first half, including one during the scoring drive to give the Bearcats (11-1) a 14-9 lead into the break. “Their front seven did a good job. I was uneasy,” said Braden Wright, who was 10-for-16 with 231 yards passing and three touchdowns. “I pride myself on being evasive in the pocket, and they were getting home to me. A lot of that was my fault; I was being indecisive with the ball. Really, it was just settling in. Naturally, that happens throughout the course of a game. … This was my first start since Sept. 2. I never want to make an excuse, but I just let that get to my head.”
SEE BISONS | A4
No. 3 Northwest preps for Michigan-bound trip, rematch against top-seeded Ferris State JON WALKER Sports Editor | @ByJonWalker
The Northwest football program has been here before. The Bearcats met with Ferris State in November 2018, defeating Grand Valley State in the first round before making the 10-hour trek and returning to Maryville with a 27-21, season-ending loss courtesy of the Bulldogs. They did it in December 2019, too, beating Harding in the first round and Lindenwood in the second before making the 10-hour trek and returning to Maryville with a 25-3, season-ending loss courtesy of the Bulldogs. And after capturing a second-round victory over Harding Nov. 27 in Searcy, Arkansas, one that followed a 50-21 beatdown of Central Washington Nov. 20 in Bearcat Stadium, the Bearcats are packing their bags for a trip on the road to redemption. “Two years ago, when we went up to Ferris and got beat, I was OK with it, because — I wasn’t OK with it, but I was in the sense that they were a better football team than we were,” Northwest football coach Rich Wright said Jan. 16,
2020, roughly five weeks removed from the program’s most recent loss to Ferris. “Walking away from that game this year, I didn’t feel like they were a better football team than we were. That doesn’t sleep well with me.” Despite Wright’s latest trip to Top Taggart Field leaving unwelcomed afterthoughts, he and the No. 3 Bearcats will have a chance to avenge their losses when they, once again, make the 10-hour trek to play the No. 1 Bulldogs in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals Dec. 4 in Big Rapids, Michigan. “Really don’t look at it in terms of what happened in 2019, other than the fact that everything’s a learning experience,” Wright said Tuesday afternoon at the Northwest Athletics Media Luncheon. “Changing the narrative is gonna be to get more than six first downs in the football game. … I feel like we’re a much different team this year going into this game, but, ultimately, you’ve gotta go up there and prove it.”
SEE REMATCH | A4
JON WALKER | NW MISSOURIAN
Northwest football seniors linebacker Brody Buck (50), defensive lineman Sam Roberts (98) and linebacker Sam Phillips (43) record a tackle during the 28-9 win over Harding Nov. 27.
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