Emporia State senior Scott Schoenfeld doesn’t know what it’s like to beat Northwest Missouri State.
In that regard, he’s in good company.
“I don’t think anybody here has won against Northwest,” the ESU tight end said. “It’d be nice to get one for all of us.”
Perhaps only trainer John Baxter can claim to be on a winning sideline against the Bearcats.
With the streak standing at 11 straight games, coach Dave Wiemers has never beaten Northwest. Neither has ESU assistant Chet Pobolish, who played for the Hornets from 1995-98.
It won’t be any easier this season. Northwest enters as the No. 2 team in the nation with a perfect 5-0 record. Not only that, the Bearcats have not trailed once this season.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Bearcat Stadium in Maryville, Mo.
“They have one of the best teams I’ve seen in our league in awhile,” Wiemers said, “but we’re pretty good too.”
The Hornets proved last week they could compete with the best, falling 59-57 in quadruple overtime to the 13th-ranked Pittsburg State Gorillas. In that game, ESU racked up 452 yards of total offense and scored eight touchdowns.
“We ought to be confident going in,” Wiemers said, “and if not, something’s not right with us.”
The game should present an entirely different challenge from a week ago.
Northwest enters with one of the top defenses in the nation. The Bearcats rank first in the MIAA in rushing defense, allowing just 75.8 yards per game, and first in turnover margin (+7).
In addition, Northwest has not allowed a 100-yard rusher this season.
ESU, meanwhile, enters as the second-best rushing team in the conference, averaging 215.8 yards per game. The Hornets also are ranked third nationally in points (45.4) and sixth in total offense (293.4 yards).
Something’s got to give.
“We’ve done a lot of good things statistically,” Schoenfeld said. “We just need to start getting some more wins.”
Wiemers said the key for ESU will be to get its rushing game going, though it might be a more difficult task than in weeks past.
Running back El Ray Henry — who ran for a career-high 139 yards and three touchdowns last week against Pittsburg State — was listed as “highly questionable” by Wiemers because of recurring back problems.
Leading receiver Jermaine Barnett is also expected to miss Saturday’s game after suffering an ankle injury last week.
Amazingly, ESU has not scored a rushing touchdown against Northwest in the last seven games. Brian Shay was the last to do so for the Hornets back in 1998.
On offense, Northwest has stayed mostly conservative in its first few games, making it so that other teams must beat its defense.
It’s worked so far, as the Bearcats have had success jumping on the opposition early. Northwest has scored first in its last six games and also in 10 of its last 11.
Wiemers said he would like nothing more than to put some early pressure on the Bearcat offense.
“We’d love to get ahead,” Wiemers said, “and see if we can force them to do some things they haven’t been doing here early on.”
Running back Xavier Omon leads Northwest with 105.6 rushing yards per game, which ranks second in the conference. He needs just 52 yards to put himself in the top-10 on the MIAA all-time rushing list.
Wiemers said ESU still was showing some carryover in practice from last week’s heartbreaking loss to Pittsburg State.
“We’ve kind of laid around either feeling sorry for ourselves or we’re just disappointed,” Wiemers said. “We’ll be fine. We’ve just got to get to Saturday.”
Once there, Wiemers believes his team should have a legitimate shot against another ranked opponent.
“If we play to our capabilities, we’ll be in another one in the fourth quarter,” Wiemers said, “and we’ll see if we can get it to go our way this time.”