ASHLAND — There will be a new Division II national champion this fall.
Ashland University’s miserly defense made sure of it.
The third-seeded Eagles overcame five turnovers and a pair of blocked punts to knock off No. 6 seed Northwest Missouri State 21-18 in a Super Region Three quarterfinal at rainswept Jack Miller Stadium.
AU (11-1) will host No. 7 seed Harding in a second-round game on Nov. 25. The Bisons (9-3) upset second-seeded Indianapolis 27-24 in a game twice delayed by inclement weather.
The same weather system that made a mess of things in Indianapolis forced the start of Saturday’s game between the Eagles and two-time defending national champ Bearcats to be pushed back by 15 minutes because of lightning in the area. Conditions quickly deteriorated after kickoff as the deluge caused water to pool in several place on Martinelli Field’s artificial surface.
“It was two great defensive football teams and the kind of day, weather-wise, that would play into the hands of a great defensive football team,” AU coach Lee Owens said. “I told our team afterward that was as good a defensive effort that I can remember here.
“When you have five turnovers and a couple blocked punts, you don’t very often win football games. It doesn’t happen. Thank goodness we played great defense today.”
The Eagles took advantage of a Northwest Missouri State special teams miscue to take a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The Bearcats were forced to punt from deep in their own territory, but the snap slipped through punter Matt Thorman’s hands and AU took over at the NWMSU 13 yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Travis Tarnowski tossed a 13 yard scoring strike to tight end Michael Schweitzer.
Tarnowski threw just his second interception of the season on AU’s next possession and the Bearcats took advantage of the short field. Kicker Parker Sampson booted a 22 yard field goal early in the second quarter to cut AU’s advantage to 7-3.
Ashland running back Keishaun Sims fumbled on the ensuing possession and again the Bearcats capitalized. Quarterback Jonathan Baker scored on a 3 yard keeper and Northwest Missouri led 10-7.
The Eagles responded with a five-play, 58 yard drive to take a 14-10 lead. Tarnowski hooked up with Logan Bolin for a 23 yard gain then found Jamie Hence behind the NWMSU secondary for a 21 yard touchdown.
“How I thought it was going to play out is how it played out, at least with the weather conditions early. It was pretty sloppy,” Northwest Missouri State coach Rich Wright said. “We had talked all week about how turnovers were going to be big in the game. Miscues with special teams and things like that were going to have an impact.”
AU put together its best drive of the afternoon after dodging another special teams bullet early in the third quarter. Return man Dale Irby muffed a punt inside his own 10 yard line but miraculously emerged from the scrum with the ball at the AU six. Tarnowski then engineered a six-play, 94 yard drive capped by a 29 yard touchdown pass to Kamaron Green.
The Eagles took a 21-10 lead into the fourth quarter when things really got interesting. Tarnowski threw his second interception of the afternoon early in the fourth, but the Bearcats gave it right back when AU’s Kevin Bourne forced a fumble and teammate Toney Peters pounced on it.
Before the hearty AU fans were done celebrating the takeaway, AU running back Luke Ogi coughed it up and Northwest Missouri State’s Edward Rickey recovered at the AU 37. Two plays later, quarterback Zach Martin hooked up with running back Jordan Grove for a 35 yard touchdown and a two-point conversion run cut AU’s lead to 21-18 with 7:42 remaining.
On the first play of AU’s next possession, Tarnowski threw his third interception and the Bearcats were in business at the AU 43. Tarnowski threw just one interception during the regular season in 317 attempts.
“I never like to turn the ball over. I did a good job of that all season long,” Tarnowski said. “Today it got away from me a little bit and I don’t like to do that to our defense.
“It’s a little more calming knowing how good our defense is and knowing how well they were playing.”
Northwest Missouri’s final three possessions ended in a turnover on downs, an interception and another turnover on downs. AU had a punt blocked and turned the ball over on downs before eventually running out the clock.
“Bad things are going to happen,” said senior defensive end Austin Utter, who had five tackles and 1.5 sacks. “We always say handle the chaos. Just do your best to make it work and handle the adversity.”
AU managed just 270 yards of total offense, was 3 of 13 on third down conversions and turned the ball over on downs twice in addition to the five turnovers — and still found a way to beat the two-time defending national champion.
“In a weather game it’s going to be really important that we win the field position battle. It didn’t happen,” Owens said. “Don’t turn the ball over. It didn’t happen. Be sound in special teams. It didn’t happen.
“So all those keys to victory didn’t happen … but we played great defense.”
