12-23-13

Title Town 2.0Maryville football teams go 60-0

By JASON LAWRENCESports Editor

The City of Maryville finished out 2013 without a blemish on its record a perfect 60-0 with the Bearcats fourth national title victory last Saturday afternoon.I think its pretty cool that Maryville went 60-0 this year in football from junior high all the way up to our University, Northwest head coach Adam Dorrel said. I dont know if any other town in America can say that. Thats pretty cool. It means a lot to me.Northwest came out strong and put up the most points in the Division II national title game since 2000 with its 43-28 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C).The defense set the tone early, forcing a three-and-out, which gave way to the offense that wasted little time putting a score on the board. Senior quarterback Trevor Adams capped a six-play, 59-yard drive with a 29-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Reuben Thomas, who broke a couple tackles and raced into the end zone on fourth down.The way they were playing, really allowed us to take some chances early and really be aggressive, Adams said.The defense quickly forced another three-and-out and RS-freshman kicker Simon Mathiesen banged home a 28-yard field goal to give Northwest a 10-0 lead, only the defense wasnt done. Usually when you play and option team, it may take you a few series to get the speed, get the flow of the option and I thought our defense just came out and did some great things early, Dorrel said.Senior defensive tackle Bryant Hummel recovered a Lenoir-Rhyne fumble at the 15 yardline and three plays later, senior running back Billy Creason, who ran for a team-high 79 yards, somersaulted his way into the end zone to give Northwest the most points scored in the first quarter of a national title game since 1983.I thought we did some really good things in the first quarter, Dorrel said. I thought we executed at a really high level. One of our goals as a football team today was to try to get and early lead. Weve found weve had success with that against triple-option teams weve played in the past.Lenoir-Rhyne wasnt going away that easy, though, as they found some holes around the outside and capped a nine-play, 75-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown dive by Chris Robinson, to cut the Bearcat lead to 17-7.It was just a momentum thing, said Bears quarterback Josh Justice, who came on in the second half for the injured Teverrius Jones. They got the momentum first and thats what made them look comfortable.On Lenoir-Rhynes second drive of the second quarter, which began at its own 11, negative plays backed the Bears up to their own one yardline and Northwests special teams came through with its 11th blocked kick of the year as RS-freshman safety Kevin Berg came through to block the punt out of the back of the end zone for a safety.I thought special teams were huge today, Dorrel said. We had a goal today to score points or block a kick and we did both on the same play.Northwest bled the last 5:56 of the first half off the clock and Mathiesens 20-yard field goal banged off the left upright and through to give the Bearcats a 22-7 lead at halftime.Hummel, who finished with six tackles and a sack, recovered his second fumble on Lenoir-Rhynes first possession of the third quarter and said it was his best game ever.I think it was. It definitely was my best gave ever, Hummel said. Our whole game plan was to stop the dive and make them be two-dimensional on the outside. Thats what we did and when they had those miscues, I just took advantage of it.Adams, who completed 15-of-25 passes for 277 yards, and Thomas connected again to open the third-quarter scoring with a 30-yard touchdown, where Thomas snuck behind the Bears defense.I know Im playing with the most efficient quarterback in Division II, so if I run my routes to the best of my ability, hell put the ball right there on the money, said Thomas, who finished with five catches for 92 yards.Thats when Justice came in for the Bears and on his second play in the game hooked up with Greyson Wells on a crack route, which he bobbled before catching, for a 59-yard score to keep Lenoir-Rhyne within striking distance at 29-14. It was only the Bears third pass attempt and first completion of the game.Sophomore quarterback Brady Bolles, who ran for 55 yards, got in on the action in the fourth quarter, scoring on a four-yard keeper after Adams connected with senior wide receiver Clint Utter for 37 yards on the play before.But Lenoir-Rhyne just wouldnt go away and let the Bearcats breathe easy, as they came right back on a pitch to running back Corron Boston, who found Wells running alone behind the Bearcat defense for a 34-yard touchdown, cutting the Northwest lead to 36-21 with 8:35 to play.Northwest whittled away nearly six minutes of clock and Adams hit junior wide receiver Jason Jozaites on a corner fade route for a 17-yard score and the Bearcats final score.Justice ran in a score with 1:04 to go in the game, but it was too little, too late as Northwest kneeled out the clock to claim its first national title since defeating Grand Valley State 30-23 in 2009.Its every teams goal at the beginning of the year, but to achieve something this great is an unbelievable feeling, said junior linebacker DJ Gnader, who finished with a game-high 12 tackles. I really cant describe it. It was the best way to send the 12 seniors out.