GAMENOTES - GAME10 - NWMSU

SBU vs. Northwest Missouri State gamenotes

#3 Northwest Missouri State

October 30

Bolivar, Missouri

1:30 p.m.

The Series
Northwest Missouri St. University - Southwest Baptist
This is the 17th meeting between the two Bearcat schools in the MIAA. The green-clad Bearcats have won the last nine contests. SBU came away with two straight victories over NWMSU on October 23, 1993, 21-17, and on October 22, 1994, 21-14. The 1994 victor came in Bolivar and was SBU’s last win over NWMSU. The only other SBU victory against Northwest Missouri State was on Nov. 16, 1991 when the Bearcats of Bolivar defeated NWMSU in Maryville, 23-21.

NWMSU Head Coach Mel Tjeerdsma is 9-1 against the Bearcats of SBU while SBU’s Ray Richards is 0-3. Last years 26-24 loss to NWMSU was their closest game vs. NWMSU since their last win in 1994.

The Coaches
Northwest Missouri St. University - Mel Tjeerdsma
In his 11th year at NWMSU, Tjeerdsma has been a master mind for the football program. He won back-to-back national championships, been named the MIAA Coach of the Year seven times, and won or tied for seven MIAA Championships.

He came to NWMSU 10 years ago and turned a winless program, 0-11 in 1994, into a powerhouse in NCAA Divison II. Prior coming to NWMSU, he spent 10 years at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. AC is a NCAA Division III university in the American Southwest Conference. He guided AC to three TIAA Titles and two trips to the NAIA playoffs.

He has a career record of 156-67-4 in 20 years of coaching prior to this season.

Southwest Baptist - Ray Richards
Ray Richards begins his fourth year at SBU. He has led the Bearcats to a 12-21 record in three years and was 6-5 in his first season. The 2001 season was the first winning season in 10 years at SBU and because of his accomplishment he was named the MIAA “Coach of the Year."

Richards came to SBU from NCAA Division I University of Louisiana-Monroe. He spent two years there as the defensive backs coach. Prior to ULM, he was at Southeastern Oklahoma State for 10 years. He has also made one more stop at the NCAA Division I level as he was a graduate assistant at Texas Tech for one season.

Graduating from Northern Michigan in 1981, Richards helped NMU to the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1980.

The Teams
Northwest Missouri State University
The Bearcats pulled off a 45-42 win over winless Truman State in Kirksville. Xavier Oman ran in the winning touchdown with 00:24 left in the game for the win. TSU had scored with 3:01 left in the game for their first and only lead but could not hold onto the lead as NWMSU took the Hickory Stick win.

Oman rushed for 169 yards while Jamacia Rector caught seven balls for 106 yards.

Southwest Baptist
Taking a 20-6 lead into the lockerrom at halftime, SBU never saw the endzone again as Missouri Southern scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to take a 26-22 win. SBU was up 22-0 at one point in the first half.

Scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter, SBU took a 7-0 lead on a JoJo Rawls 77-yard run at the 10:43 mark. Deon Boykin then made it 14-0 on an eight -yard touchdown run with 2:14 left in the first quarter. He added his second td of the day in the second quarter on a three-yard run for the 22-0 advantage.

MSSU picked up the momentum just before halftime as they took a 12-play, 62-yard drive to the endzone with only 00:17 showing on the clock.

The second half started off going SBU’s way as the Bearcats picked off a Tedaryl Mason pass at the Southern 22-yard line. SBU then missed a scoring opportunity as Ryan Smith’s 34-yard field goal was wide right.

MSSU scored all their points within a seven minute time span in the fourth quarter. Colin Bado had two rushing touchdowns and then Wentric Williams picked up one-yard run. Bado scored the winning touchdown with 6:21 left in the fourth quarter.

SBU showed way they are one of the top teams in the nation when it comes to turnover margin. SBU took the ball away from MSSU six times in four interceptions and two fumbles. SBU then turned the ball over three times.

Rawls ran for his first career 100-yard game as he lead the SBU rushing attack with 142 yards. Nick Smart was the leading receiver with six receptions and 54 yards. Ulexis Williams had two interceptions while Zack Porter and Michael Pearl each had a pick, too.

“Raw"licious
Freshman JoJo Rawls had a career day against Missouri Southern and has now put himself on the MIAA map as a running back to watch. He rushed for a career-high 142 yards on 15 carries. He also busted open a 77-yard run for a touchdown. He now has 388 yards rushing and is averaging 5.4 yards per carry.

Against Washburn, he scored a career-high three touchdowns and now has six touchdowns on the year

NFL Watch
In his final season at SBU, senior L.V. Hill is being watched by the NFL scouts. Early on in spring practice, through summer, and now two-a-days, several NFL scouts have come to see what L.V. Hill is about. L.V. is a 6’5", 300 pound, offensive tackle that use to play tight end. Last year, he moved from tight end to strong tackle in the middle of the season because of injuries on the offensive line. Since that move, he has not left and was awarded 2003 all-MIAA honorable mention at the tackle spot.0

Earlier this season, the SBU Sports Information Department received a call from ESPN’s Mel Kiper on L.V. Hill. Mr. Kiper was just asking for L.V.’s information.

Specs on L.V. Hill
4Squat 545
4Bench 400
4Clean 300
440 5.19
4Broad 9 ft.
4Pro I 5.2

Kirven Released from Team
Due to violating team rules, junior Marco Kirven has been dismissed from the football team earlier this week. He was suspended from both the Emporia State and Missouri Southern games and then was released this week.

Kirven had ran for 618 yards in seven games played this year. Last year, he rushed for 1,351 yards and fell just 40 yards shy of breaking the all-time season rushing record. For his career, he will leave SBU with a total of 2,618 yards. He was on pace to break Lester Baker’s career rushing record of 3,892.

Watchful Eyes
Ulexis Williams has had a eye for the ball this season. In the game against MSSU, he intercepted two balls and returned them a total of 18 yards. He now has five interceptions on the season for 128 yards. It is the second time in his career he has had two interceptions in one game.

For his career, he now has 13 interceptions.

No Second Half
For the third week in a row, SBU has taken the lead into the lockerroom and then came out only to lose in the second half. This past week, SBU had a 16-point lead at halftime only to see it lost in the fourth quarter.

The week prior, SBU came away with a 20-13 lead against Emporia State and then did not score any points in the second half. The streak started with Washburn as SBU had a 14-7 lead at half only to see it go away in the fourth quarter for a 38-35 loss. They did score 21 second half points and was the last game in which the Bearcats did score in the second half.

Smart Jumps Back into Top 10 MIAA
Freshman Nick Smart has been an added surprise to the SBU offense this year as he has become the top receiver on the team. Originally recruited as a quarterback, Smart has now caught 44 balls for 479 yards. That puts him at an average of 4.89 catches per game. That average is good enough for seventh in the MIAA.

Lyons Leaves Team
Junior Demitric Lyons has chosen to leave the team for undisclosed reasons. He had caught 92 yards receiving on 12 balls caught. Last year, his first year at SBU, he had 28 receptions for 379 yards. He redshirted the 2002 season and played one year at West Texas A&M in 2001.

Taking the Ball Away Again
After having a terrible take away game against Emporia State, SBU was right back to their old tricks against MSSU. In the game, they took the ball away six times and only turned the ball over three times.

SBU intercepted four balls, one short of tying the SBU record for interceptions in a game, and forced two fumbles. With the game, SBU now has a +11 turnover margin.

This margin puts SBU tied for ninth in the nation. SBU had been as high as third in the nation earlier this year.

Rushing Attack
Averaging 223.1 yards per game rushing, SBU is tied for 22nd in the nation. They have 2,008 rushing on the year on 394 attempts. They need just 78 yards to break the season record for rushing yards in a season, 2,085, that was set last year.

SBU is tied for 22nd with CMSU. The Bearcats are third in the MIAA behind NWMSU and PSU.