Northwest Missouri State football battle the Northeastern Riverhawks on homecoming
Oct. 21—The No. 14 Northwest Missouri State Bearcats are coming off a game winning field goal against Washburn Oct. 15, winning 32-30 to avoid back-to-back losses.
The Bearcats will look to defend its 16-game home win streak, the longest active streak among NCAA Division II, in their homecoming match up against the Northeastern State Riverhawks on Saturday.
Northwest has suffered losses to Central Oklahoma and Pittsburg State this season, meaning the Bearcats cannot afford to drop another game or their record of 17 consecutive playoff appearances could be in trouble.
"Our backs are against the wall, but it's never like we don't want to absolutely destroy the team we're playing," quarterback Mike Hohensee said. "We want to win every single game. It just really boils down to how we prepare and how we focus throughout the week, making sure we're ready to go."
The 'Cats have been dealing with multiple early season injuries, including missing seven starters last week against the Ichabods. One player to return from injury was Hohensee, who passed for a career-high 366 yards and connected on four touchdown passes.
The Bearcats have been relying on its second string to make big plays, and Wright knows having to go deeper on your bench could prove to be beneficial later in the season.
"We just haven't played with the same 11 people since Week One, that's been the one struggle this year," Head coach Rich Wright said. "So far for us, it's just getting back to healthy and it's going to help hopefully down the stretch."
The 1-6 record of Northeastern shouldn't be glanced over, as Wright knows the Riverhawks can be a dangerous team.
Senior wide receiver Dashawn Williams leads Northeastern State with four touchdown catches and has 27 receptions. Northeastern gave sophomore quarterback Ben Ward the starting job last week, but there's a possibility of seeing two, or even three quarterbacks thrown out on the field in Grant Elerick and Jacob Frazier.
On defense, Mike Lucas took over in August and is a well-seasoned coach with 30-plus years of coaching at the NCAA Division I college level. Junior defensive back Jordan Lamotte leads the NSU defense with 44 tackles.
"They're playing a mixture of four, two and 30 front, so you know that can create some issues because it's different calls and it's different schematics depending upon what front they come out with," Wright said. "They got a couple of talented guys in the back end.
Despite the outside noise and pressure of making the playoffs, the Bearcats are on the trend of getting healthy, and Wright wants to show what this team can really be.
"It's just another week. What I want to see us do is just play to our ceiling," Wright said. "Now as we start to trend back to healthy, I think we've got a lot to prove as a football team, you know, both offensively and defensively. Let's see where our ceiling is because frankly, we're running out of time."
Calvin Silvers can be reached at calvin.silvers@newspressnow.com.
