Sept. 26, 2009 – Northwest Missouri retained “The Ol’ Hickory Stick” in convincing fashion on Saturday afternoon in
The #6 Bearcats (4-1/3-0 MIAA) wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard as Tyler Shaw caught a 14-yard pass from Blake Bolles as Northwest scored on their first possession.
Shaw then recovered a blocked punt in Truman’s endzone just over a minute later to put Northwest up 14-0.
Northwest opened up the scoring in the second quarter. LaRon Council capped off a 10-play 95-yard drive with a four-yard plunge and then on the next Northwest possession, Bolles connected with Jake Soy for a 64-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage.
Shaw added to his big day with a 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the first play of the second half.
From there, the Bearcats used seven running backs and two quarterbacks and cruised to their eighth straight Hickory Stick victory over the Bulldogs.
Truman (1-4/0-3 MIAA) managed just 92 yards of total offense with 47 rushing and 45 passing.
Taylor Breen was 4-of-17 with one interception in his first collegiate start. His longest pass of the day was 18-yards to Anthony Brown.
Vanness Emokpae had 33 yards on the ground while Anton Bernard carried the pigskin 13 times for 29.
Bolles was 13-of-22 for 226 yards and three touchdown passes. Soy caught two TD passes of his five total for 135 yards. Council added 56 yards rushing on just 15 attempts.
Game Notes: This was the 89th meeting between the two orginal MIAA members with the Bulldogs still holding a 54-31-4 advantage…Northwest has won the oldest trophy in Division II for the 29th time since it came into play in 1931, the Bulldogs have 42 stick victories…The Bulldogs crossed midfield just once in the first half and three times in the second…Truman had the ball 36:10 to the Bearcats 23:50…Truman was 4-of-19 on third down attempts while Northwest was 7-of-12…Caleb Roberts made his debut for the Bulldogs at quarterback and was 0-1…Michael Elliott led Truman with 10 tackles…Luther Eta had an interception and a return of 21 yards in the first quarter.