NW Missouri State football wins Division II national championship

“It really showed late in the playoffs”.

Shepherd (13-0) and Northwest Missouri State (13-0) will meet for the title Saturday in Kansas City, Kansas.

Northwest Missouri State had 10 sacks and held Shepherd (13-1) to a championship-game record minus-39 yards rushing and only 97 yards of the total offense. Northwest Missouri finished with 462 yards of offense.

Brady Bolles capped up his stellar season completing 20 out of 27 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown.

Even with Northwest intent on establishing its running game, Bolles played a factor this time.

Still, the game figured to be highly competitive.

Saturday’s victory at Sporting Park was the Bearcats’ fifth national championship and their first since 2013. The Bearcats led 24-0. “They got on the board and then we had that unfortunate interception and that got us down quite a bit”.

“Right now I don’t feel real good”, Brown said. We had trouble blocking them. We kept playing hard today. While WVU hadn’t played for a national championship since 1993, instate rival Marshall competed at the highest level of NCAA Division 1-AA.

The second turnover really hurt Shepherd because it occurred just before halftime.

When Shepherd tried to pass, Northwest Missouri teed off against quarterback Jeff Ziemba.

In other words, the Northwest Missouri State defense was expectedly stout as the offense took a few drives to find its footing.

“They didn’t need any help, and we gave them some”, Shepherd coach Monte Cater said. “But at the end of the day, we still lost so it didn’t mean anything”. Their closest game was a thrilling 34-32 semi-final win over perennial Divison II power Grand Valley State in Shepherdstown last Saturday.

Grove scored two touchdowns.

Bolles threw a one-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to put the Bearcats up 14-0. Defensive end Collin Bevins had four sacks to break the school season record with 15 1/2.

“When we had a chance to see them on film, they’re a very, very good defense”, he said. “It was a great team game”. “They have four big guys and they’re great at what they do. This is a punch in the stomach, but we’ve got a young football team and we’re going to get ready for next year”.