Northwest Missouri will use experience to its advantage in title game
By DAVID BOYCE
The Kansas City Star
Coach Mel Tjeerdsma (center) last week led Northwest Missouri past title-game nemesis Grand Valley for another shot at the championship.
FLORENCE, Ala.| Several hours after Northwest Missouri lost the 2006 NCAA Division II football title by three points, Ben Harness spoke.From winter conditioning to spring football to practice in the fall, Harness said at a team banquet, the Bearcats pushed to try to avenge a 21-17 loss to Grand Valley State in the 2005 championship game.
“We gave everything we had to win a national championship,” Harness said after a 17-14 loss to Grand Valley in 2006.
The lesson was that sometimes your best effort is not good enough.
But, there were no regrets in Harness’ mind because Northwest Missouri gave its all.
For the returning Bearcats, the lingering pain of those championship losses has fueled their desire to reach the top of Division II football.
Northwest Missouri coach Mel Tjeerdsma is confident that when the Bearcats, 12-1, step onto Braly Field in Florence, Ala., at 11 a.m. today against Valdosta State, 12-1, his players will have the right mind-set.
“I really get a sense from these guys, especially our seniors that they were extremely disappointed two years in a row, and they don’t want that feeling again,” Tjeerdsma said.
“They are on a mission to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I like that attitude. I think that’s the way we’ve been playing, really since the Missouri Southern game.”
The Bearcats showed a heightened intensity in their 49-14 victory over Missouri Southern in their regular-season finale, and it has continued through the playoffs.
For the second year in a row Northwest Missouri went 9-0 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
But unlike last year when the Bearcats never trailed in a MIAA game, they had a stretch from Oct. 6 to Nov. 3 when they struggled to put opponents away.
A missed field goal allowed Northwest Missouri to go into overtime and beat Pittsburg State. Missed extra points helped the Bearcats escape with a two-point win over Central Missouri and a one-point victory over Washburn.
“Everybody was thinking for a while, what’s wrong and stuff like that,” senior tight end Mike Peterson said. “We had to figure out that we all needed to get on the same page, really start playing together.
“I know for a time a lot of people were a little bit hesitant about our team and even some of our teammates were thinking about it. What do you do? You got to be a man about it, correct things and have fun with it.”
The Bearcats believe those midseason struggles have prepared them for anything they might face in the championship game.
All the outside distractions that come with playing in the championship game, the Bearcats now have under control.
“The last two years will help a lot,” junior offensive lineman Tom Pestock said.
Tjeerdsma, who led Northwest Missouri to back-to-back titles in 1998 and ’99, has learned a few things from the last two years.
The previous two years the Bearcats flew to Florence on Thursday morning. This time they left Wednesday evening so Thursday wouldn’t be so hectic.
Northwest Missouri is ready, and the players know they are fortunate to be in this position again.
“This is our third year in a row to compete for a national title,” junior quarterback Joel Osborn said. “That’s all you can ask for.
“So many guys have experienced the last couple of years and just knowing what the feeling is like to lose this game. It’s a feeling of being so empty inside. It’s something we don’t want to experience again.”
NCAA DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIP
•WHO: Northwest Missouri vs. Valdosta (Ga.) State
•WHEN/WHERE: 11 a.m. today in Florence, Ala
•TV/RADIO: ESPN2; WHB (810 AM), KCXL (1140 AM)