Although Western football put up an impressive fight, it was not enough to walk away as the champion against No. 2 ranked Northwest Missouri State University.

The Griffons traveled to Maryville last Saturday afternoon for a head to head meeting with the NWMSU Bearcats. The Griffs were defeated 24-21 by the undefeated Bearcats.

The loss moved the Griffons to a 3-1 season record, and 1-1 in the MIAA. NWMSU is 4-0 as of now, and stand at 2-0 in MIAA play.

The two teams took the field at in an electrically charged Bearcat Stadium filled with 8,900 fans. The noises generated from the sea of green mixed with portions of golden and black were of NFL magnitudes. Head coach Jerry Partridge feels this aspect might have been a factor that contributed to the loss.

“I think another big factor was the crowd noise,” Partridge said. “It’s hard when you don’t get to play in this atmosphere all the time to respond. It’s easy to play when everybody is for you.”

The Western men fed off of this energy in the early stages of the game and were able to hold Northwest to a short four play series. The Griffs blocked an attempted punt, and MWSU junior Chauncey Mayfield, came up with the recovery for a first down at the Bearcats 30-yard line. Although Western was revved up, they were not able to capitalize on the field advantage. The Bearcats put a stop to Western’s charge by ending a 4-8 conversion. The two opponents battled up and down the field for the full 15 minutes with no results.

At 9:50 in the second quarter Northwest was the first team to break through the defensive line with a completed six yard pass to NWMSU Josh Gannan. The Bearcats did not leave the score at 7-0 for too long. Northwest broke through again with a one yard run by star running back Xavier Omon to set the score at 14-0 with only 3:06 remaining in the half.

Western had to work fast into order to retaliate with a 34-yard completion to senior Jarrett Brooks from senior Jeremiah White in a halfback option play. Sophomore Dustin Strickler secured the 14-7 game score for the first half with the point after kicked.

The third quarter was a grueling match, which began with Western going three and out on a series. The Griffs were not able to get the punt off, leaving Northwest only 13 yards away from the end zone. Omon set the score 21-7 with a one yard run.

Northwest’s Omon picked up 144 rushing yards while Western’s own star running back, all-American White, was held to a mere 44 yards. White has rushed for 100 yards or more in each game this season. Partridge feels that there was a combination of factors that went into White’s performance including the number of people they put on the scrimmage line, missed openings and failed blocks.

Senior Leon Douglas feels that the reason Omon broke through their line of scrimmage so many times is because they weren’t tackling as they should have been.

“There were periods time in the game where he was just almost gliding through our defense,” Douglas said.

Even though White was not at his peak performance and Omon was on fire, the Griffs mustered up enough energy to drive the ball 79 yards within nine plays. Senior Matt Landess connected a 25-yard pass to junior Joey Harris. Harris was able to catch the ball off of a Northwest defender’s back, while Strickler brought in the point after for a tied 21-21 score.

The Griffon defense worked hard to keep the Bearcats out of the end zone. Safety Mayfield lead the way with a career high 11 tackles, nine of which were solo efforts. Senior John Mathew Fisher did his part by chalking down nine tackles, including six solos. Senior Michael Cobbins set his record at seven tackles, while senior linebackers Siraaj Muhammad, Douglas and junior Seth Hane got six tackles a piece.

Due to the efforts of the defense the Griffons and Bearcats ended the third quarter with a tied score. The fourth quarter was a full on fight for the victory. The teams went back and fourth with three and out series until the Bearcats got within range to kick a 41-yard field goal to set the score to 24-21 with only 4:16 remaining in the game.

The final stages of the game were nearing and Western had possession. With only 4:05 minutes left in the game the men attempted to drive the ball 79 yards. Unfortunately, after a few failed plays, the Bearcats intercepted a pass intended for freshman wide receiver, Andrew Mead. The Griffs were unable to recover due to the fact that there was only a little over a minute left in the game when Northwest began their drive.

The loss was difficult for the players to swallow as they walked off of the field, but all thoughts were focused on how to learn from this experience. Douglas felt this was the best way to cope with the loss.

“It’s just one game,” Douglas said. “We have seven more games so it’s a bright future ahead of us. We just have to take this and file it in the back and just remember how we played, and we can get better.”

Partridge feels that the loss is a disappointment, but the team should not dwell too much over the defeat. The team needs take this loss and learn from it.

“What are we going to do from here?” Partridge said. “Are we going to let this game beat us over and over again or are we going to rise up and keep that as the one lost? We got some tough games on our schedule still [and] it starts next Saturday with Truman [State University].”

The Griffons have plans to review all of the films from the game in order to repair the breakdowns the team had offensively and defensively. Western will make their next appearance at Spratt Stadium playing against Truman State on Sept. 30, at 2:00 p.m. The game is also considered the Family Day and the Hall of Fame game, in which four players will be inducted.

View video of the Northwest/Missouri Western game: Multimedia; Flash slideshow of the game