Northwest Missouri State football tops Central Missouri in top 25 matchup

MARYVILLE, Mo. (KQTV) - The #14 Northwest Missouri State football team took down #24 Central Missouri 42-20 at home.

Mason Shorb was banged up during the week so sophomore Zechariah Owens had to play the entire game at quarterback. Feeling not one hundred percent himself, Owens fought through it and finished with 175 yards passing on 12 completions and had 2 touchdown passes to sophomore tight end Trevor Spady. Owens also added 59 yards rushing on 12 attempts.

Sophomore running back Quincy Torry had 99 yards rushing on 12 carries and scored 3 touchdowns. The offense racked up 454 total yards on former Bearcat head coach Rich Wright's defense on UCM.

On defense, the Bearcats collected 3 second half turnovers. Senior defensive back Baruch Hasabu collected an interception in the fourth quarter that he brought back 37 yards for a touchdown. Junior Elijah McFadden also added an interception. Redshirt freshman defensive lineman Jack Jansen added a strip sack and junior Nathan Baudry had the recovery. The defense held UCM to just 29 yards rushing.

It was a bounce-back performance for the Bearcats, who suffered the team's first defeat of the season two weeks prior.

"Anytime you lose, you got to find a way to overcome that and come back the next week and just keep fostering that belief in that. You know that you're going to be fine and do well and I think our kids did that," said head coach John McMenamin. "They came out and when you get a stop and then you score it's like you get a little wind at your back and the kids took advantage of it. It's a big game and they were excited to play. It's a good football team and so I was just really, really impressed with the execution of both sides of the squad today."

Northwest Missouri State improves to 4-1 on the season and next plays at Fort Hays State on Saturday, October 17th at 7 pm.