For the last two years, Northwest Missouri State’s football team had years that most teams would have been happy with, but the Bearcats were disappointed with. They went 7-4 and 6-5, missing out on the playoffs for the first time since 2003. As a result, they fired their football coach, Rich Wright. Wright had been a defensive mastermind, and his defenses were among the top of the MIAA, but his offense fell apart this year, getting negative rushing yardage in its first game of the year and falling flat at Bearcat Stadium in the last game against Pittsburg State.
The Bearcats have hired John McMenamin to revitalize the program. McMenamin had been on the national championship squads of 1998 and 1999 and threw for 473 yards in a game against Central once and threw for 6,225 yards in his career. Everywhere he went in both Division 2 and Division 1, his offenses were among the best in the country. He has proven himself as a recruiter as well, expanding the Wayne State roster from 55 to 120 players and turning that program around to win seven games, its first seven-win season in 11 years.
The Bearcats have the tools to get things turned around. A big area of concern this year was the quarterback position as both quarterbacks from last year graduated, but Chris Ruhnke was a bright spot for the Bearcats, completing 65% of his passes and showing a nice deep ball. One of his receivers, Luke Matthews, caught 38 passes for 727 yards, for 19.1 yards per catch, leading the conference. Will we see a return to the Air Northwest days? One of the best Bearcat football teams before the Mel Tjeerdsma era was the 1984 “Air Northwest” Bearcats forty years ago.
The coach of the 1984 Bearcats, Vern Thomsen, built his team around the passing game, but as the season progressed, he discovered that they had a pretty good running attack as well.
In their first game of the year, Northwest played Washburn, who was supposed to be really good that year. But after feeling out the Ichabods throughout the first quarter, Northwest erupted for 30 second half points for a 47-0 win. New quarterback Mark Thomsen (son of the coach) passed for 226 yards. Sylvester Butler had scores of 6 and 11 yards. Robert Wilson rushed for 70. Northwest racked up 469 yards of total offense.
The defense played well too, as Steve Savard ran back an interception for a score. John Malcuitt blocked a punt into the end zone for a safety. Kicker Pat Johnson boomed a 48 yard field goal.
In a game featuring two future Division 2 football powers, Northwest won its second game 26-0 over Grand Valley State and made the long road trip to Michigan worthwhile. They racked up 379 yards, including 215 on the ground. Thomsen ran in a three yard score. A botched Grand Valley punt led to a Pat Johnson field goal to make it 10-0 as time expired in the first half. Thompson ran in a one yard score in the third, Johnson kicked a 30 yard field goal, and Sylvester Butler ran in a score from six yards out set up by John Grispon’s pick. Northwest survived a 7 for 22 day from Thomsen.
Their third game was against Missouri Western. Like today, you can throw out the record book when these two teams play each other at anything. Northwest and Western were headed in opposite directions, with the Griffons at 0-1-1, but it was the Griffons who jumped ahead 6-3 behind the passing of their quarterback, Kevin Stephens. In came Mark Quinn to lead the Bearcats at quarterback, throwing 16 for 26 for 185 yards; with him at the helm, Northwest was seemingly in control at 17-6.
But special teams are just as important as offense and defense, as the 1984 Mizzou Tigers found out the hard way, when they let a 28-7 lead to Wisconsin slip away thanks in part to two blocked punts. A fumbled punt in the third quarter set up a Griffon score to cut it to 17-12, and then a pick at the Griffon 30 set up a 13 play drive that put Western in front 20-17 with 1:54 left in the third.
But then Quinn bounced right back and threw a 36 yard strike with 14:19 left in the fourth to regain the lead at 24-20. Then, Robert Wilson scored from four yards out to put the Bearcats in front 30-20 with 5:17 left.
But the Griffons were not done yet, going 67 yards in 10 plays and scoring with 1:48 left to cut it to 30-27. They recovered the onsides kick at their own 43, but could only get to the Bearcat 42 before time expired.
The next game, at Central Arkansas, was another cliffhanger. The Bearcats were seemingly in control after Mike Thomas, who had 20 carries for 115 yards, scored from 10 yards out. Mark Thomsen threw an 11 yard strike to Brian Shaw to cap a 16 play 98 yard drive in the second quarter. Robert Wilson rushed for 100 yards in 23 tries. After all the “Air Northwest” hype, the ground game was establishing itself as well. But after Central Arkansas scored on Jeff Fusilier’s 12 yard run with 4:58 left in the third quarter, the Bearcats had to cling by their fingernails and make a goal line stand to preserve the 14-7 win. Central Arkansas drove as far as the five to tie or win it, but then Northwest got a sack with 30 seconds left and recovered the ensuing fumble to win it to remain at 4-0.
The Bearcats beat winless Lincoln 34-19 as Air Northwest got back on track. Mark Thomsen had fumbled away a ball to kill a 79 yard drive early on and had gone 2 for 9 and a pick. But in stepped Brian Quinn, who completed six of nine passes for 113 yards including touchdown strikes to Brian Shaw and Steve Hansley. Robert Wilson, who had touchdown runs of 6 and 4 yards, added 90 yards on 22 carries. Lincoln had self-destructed with costly penalties. A missed field goal was wiped out by a roughing the kicker penalty, leading to one of Northwest’s scores, and a series of penalties that set up a first and 40 from their own five set up a fumble in the end zone recovered by Bearcat defensive end Tony Coleman.
The next game was at Central, and this was a wild game in which the Bearcats came out on top 35-34. It looked like Central was in control for much of the way after Randy Ellis ran back the opening kickoff 99 yards to the house, and they led most of the way. But Thomsen kept the Bearcats close, including a 79 yard pass to Hansley that tied it at 14 at one point. Robert Wilson, who had 15 carries for 108 yards for the Bearcats, rushed for a 65 yard score.
But the Bearcats trailed 28-20 at the half and needed a spark. They got it when Mark Thomsen threw a 49 yard strike to Steve Hansley to make it 28-26. They missed the two point conversion, and Steve Huff’s field goal put the Mules back up 31-26. But then Mike Thomas scored from two yards out to make it 32-31 and put the Bearcats in front for the first time all day.
Steve Huff kicked the Mules back in front 34-32, but Northwest got the ball back at its own 34 with 1:15 left. Thomsen went down with an injury in the fourth, but Brian Quinn marched the Bearcats down the field with a key strike to Hansley for 24 yards helping.
With five seconds left, it looked like the Mules had it won after Pat Johnson missed a 25 yard chip shot, but a costly roughing the kicker penalty gave the Bearcats new life with five seconds left. Johnson connected from 20 yards out to win the game.
The Bearcats then traveled to Central Oklahoma, where Quinn threw for three scores, including a 76 yard pass to Brian Shaw, that helped them win 28-16. At that point, they were up to 10th in the country.
The next game was a home game, a big relief after three tough road games. Southeast Missouri State, their next opponent, was winless. Sure enough, everything started off right for the Bearcats. Robert Wilson ran for a touchdown to make it 7-0. Southeast tied it at 7, but then Thomsen hit Steve Hansley with a 27 yard pass and added a quarterback sneak. Pat Johnson added a 25 yard field goal, and then Brian Quinn threw a strike to Hansley to make it 30-7.
The Bearcats were ranked eighth in the country at that point. But all of a sudden, disaster nearly struck as the game turned into an eight man track meet. It didn’t help that Northwest was flagged 14 times that game. Derrick Phillips hit Lorenzo Gathers with a nine yard strike, then Southeast recovered a successful onsides kick to set up a long pass to make it 30-21 before Northwest knew what hit them. Then, Southeast drew closer with another touchdown pass with 4:06 left to make it 30-28. With 30 seconds left, Northwest fumbled the ball away and Southeast turned to John Overby to try to win it from 57 yards out. But that kick was wide left and Northwest was still undefeated.
But the Bearcats righted the ship the next week and rose to 9-0 and fifth in the country with a 42-20 win over Northeast Missouri State (now Truman State). Brian Quinn threw for 333 yards, giving him 4,384 for his career, which was first at the time. He also became Northwest’s career leader in completions with 303 and touchdown passes with 34.
The game was not easy for the first two and a half quarters. The Bearcats nearly squandered a 14-0 second quarter lead, and the Bulldogs recovered two Bearcat fumbles deep in Northwest territory in the third trailing only 14-10. But after a pair of missed field goals, Northwest drove down and got a sneak from Quinn to make it 21-10. Kolb scored a field goal for the Bulldogs to make it 21-13, only for Quinn to hit Steve Hansley with a 17 yard scoring pass. A Bearcat fumble recovery set up a 33 yard strike from Quinn to Dan Anderson to make it 35-13.
The next game featured a game played in the bitter cold, with winds howling out of the north as high as 54 miles per hour. On the same day that Worth County lost 42-0 in Rock Port, Northwest had to play Rolla, a power running team build for these kinds of conditions. A win would give Northwest the MIAA title outright. They endured, somehow threw for 246 yards passing, and got the 14-6 win.
Brian Quinn had 17 of 29 in passing, and Dan Anderson had 8 catches for 109 yards.
Rolla actually led 6-0 after a fumbled punt snap in the first quarter gave them a short field at the Northwest 37. After they drove into the wind and scored, it looked like things might go the Miners way. But Northwest marched right back down the field, getting a six play 75 yard drive that cumulated in a throw from Quinn to Anderson from 10 yards out. Throwing into the wind, Quinn’s pass hung in the air forever before Anderson came away with it. Quinn later added a 1 yard touchdown run.
But the ride came to an end the next two games. Northwest traveled to Division I-AA Northern Iowa, and they were gashed by their rushing attack, led by Steve Harris, who ran for 275 yards that day. It was a close game for a while; Brian Quinn tied the game at 7-7 when he threw a strike to Steve Hansley for 40 yards. And Northwest cut it to 14-10 at the intermission after Pat Johnson’s 31 yard field goal with 51 seconds left in the half. But then UNI and Harris gashed the Bearcats early and often in the second half, coming away with a 48-10 win.
The Bearcats got their first ever playoff berth despite the loss. They traveled to UNO, but the Mavericks came away with a 28-15 win. Northwest threw three picks, lost two fumbles inside the UNO 10, and had two punts blocked. They trailed 11-9 at the half, only for UNO to take full advantage of the turnovers in the second half to break the game open.
Northwest had some impressive stats despite the loss. Quinn threw for 423 yards. Runningback Robert Wilson had 17 carries for 150 yards. But the world would have to wait 12 more years until Northwest would get their first ever playoff win, 22-21 over the same UNO team in the same facility in 1996.
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