Bearcats demoralize second straight opponent

EDMOND, Okla.—On its first visit to Oklahoma in 21 years, Northwest Missouri State made itself feel right at home.

Even more dominant than they were the week prior against Northeastern State, the No. 8 Beacrats obliterated Central Oklahoma for a 70-7 win Saturday at Wantland Stadium.

Northwest scored the game's first 42 points, including 35 in the first half, and answered UCO's only touchdown in the third quarter with 28 straight points.

The 63-point margin of victory topped a 66-6 win over Northeastern State as their largest of the season.

Northwest also set a new-season high for points, scoring eight times on offense, once on defense and once on special teams.

The Bearcats (5-1, 4-1) have now won four straight games by an average of 46.3 points heading into their clash with No. 1 Pittsburg State (4-0, 4-0) Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.

UCO (1-5, 1-5) hadn't been beaten by more than 28 points all season after facing the likes of Pittsburg State, Emporia State and Missouri Western over the first five weeks.

Named the MIAA's Offensive Player of the Week Monday, Northwest Missouri State quarterback Trevor Adams threw a career-high five touchdown passes on a season-low 12 attempts. His only blemish was a second quarter interception.

Adams hit Tyler Shaw for a pair of 61-yard strikes within the opening two minutes of the game and the two connected once more on a 43-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

Shaw's three touchdown catches give him seven in the last four games. He also broke his career-high for receiving yards set two games prior at Nebraska-Kearney with 175 on four catches.

MIAA Special Teams Player of the Week Jordan Simmons matched Shaw's three touchdown total, scoring on a 27-yard reception, a 1-yard run and a 90-yard kickoff return. He had three catches for 51 yards and ran the ball eight times for 36 yards.

Northwest ran for 218 yards as a team, averaging better than five yards per carry.

Billy Creason and back-up quarterback Tyler Seals each had touchdown runs. Kohlman Adema-Schulte led the Bearcats with 53 yards on eight carries.

Defensively, Northwest held a fourth straight opponent to less than 14 points and a second straight to just a single touchdown.

The Bearcats also came with up three interceptions of UCO quarterback Adrian Nelson, the last of which was returned 49 yards for a touchdown by safety Nate DeJong.

That was Northwest's third defensive touchdown of the year.

Brandon Dixon picked off his fourth pass of the year in the opening quarter, and twin brother Brian Dixon nabbed his second.

The Bearcats now have 11 interceptions and 17 take-aways, including 10 over the last three games. During that span, Northwest is plus-9 in the turnover battle.

Defensive lineman Matt Longacre added two more sacks to his new team-leading total of six. Defensive end Ricky Bailey also came up with a sack.

Nelson was just 16-35 passing for 119 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions. He was UCO's leading rusher with 73 yards on 13 carries.

UCO's Josh Birmingham, the MIAA's leading rusher entering play, had just 17 yards on 10 carries.

The Bronchos' only touchdown came on a 17-yard pass from Nelson to Sam Johnson with 6:58 left in the third quarter.

UCO averaged just 3.3 yards per play compared to 8.8 for Northwest.

It took Northwest just 53 seconds to get on the board as Adams hit Shaw for the first of two 61-yard touchdowns.

The second one came with 13:03 left in the first.

Back-to-back touchdowns by Simmons made it 28-0 with 11:49 left in the second quarter.

Adams hit tight end Vincent Defeo for a 3-yard score at the 6:54 mark, sending Northwest to the half with a 35-0 lead.

DeJong's INT return set off the second half scoring.

Simmons followed UCO's lone scoring drive of 15 plays and 75 yards with his fourth career kick-off return for a touchdown, setting a Northwest and MIAA career record.

The third Adams to Shaw connection made it 56-7 going to the fourth.

In the fourth quarter, Billy Creason scored on a 7-yard run and Seals reached the end zone from 27 yards out. Both drives covered 73 yards and featured all running plays.