By MATT PIKE
The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats get a bye week to recover after their first loss of the season, falling to Central Oklahoma 19-14.
The Bearcats scored all their points in the first half and fell victim to four turnovers. However, a good defensive effort still gave them a chance to win the game, holding the Bronchos to two field goals in the second half.
Head Coach John McMenamin credits his defense and says it was a tremendous job by them in the second half of the game.
"All that went wrong, you still had a chance to win at the end of the game," McMenamin tells reporters. "We get a turnover and you drive down and we've got a shot at the endzone, backup quarterback comes in and leads that down, so there's enough good things you've just got to put it all together."
McMenamin says what it comes down to is playing good complementary football on both sides of the ball.
"Early on the offense played really well, we had almost 200 yards in the first quarter, and defense was getting its footing and that's great, quarterback is a three-year starter and is a good player and made some really good plays, some really good throws, and that's what good players are going to do, our guys understood that" McMenamin explains.
"Then they settled in and played a really physical game, I think there was zero doubt we were the most physical team, but I just don't think we did a good enough job protecting the ball or making a few plays when it counted to help us get back to where we needed to."
Now the Bearcats settle in for a bye week and get a chance to focus on themselves and prepare to bounce back with a home matchup next week against Central Missouri.
Linebacker Eli Bertz calls it a give and take having a bye after coming off a loss for the team.
"Because obviously you want to get back on the field, because losing sucks, but I feel like this week's going to be beneficial for us," Bertz says. "Just looking back at the film, making corrections, and then ultimately coming out better and just moving on to next week."
Following the bye week Northwest will host currently ranked No. 21 Central Missouri at 1:30pm on October 10th.
Interview
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.