Division II Football Championship 2015: Shepherd vs Northwest Missouri St. Recap

The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats ran away to a 34-7 win over the Shepherd Rams on Saturday, capping a 15-0 season and capturing their second Division II title in three years. 

The Bearcats were victorious in quintessential fashion, riding their top-ranked defense to another remarkable performance.

NMSU held the Rams to just 97 yards of total offense, forced nine punts and scored on a pick-six in the second quarter, as ESPN College Football showed:

NMSU forced a fumble on the first play from scrimmage, then ran to a 24-0 halftime lead and only once let off the gas, allowing a 21-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter from quarterback Jeff Ziemba, who was sacked 10 times. 

On the other side, Bearcats quarterback Brady Bolles was 20-of-27 with 233 yards and a touchdown, but he also had an individual high mark, setting a distinguished school record that was held by his older brother, per Northwest Athletics:

Running back Jordan Grove finished with five catches for 104 yards with a long of 74, adding in two goal-line touchdowns, and tailback Phil Jackson tallied 109 yards on 21 carries.

NCAA Division II shared a video of Grove's first score:

Grove, Bolles and the Bearcats put their heroics on display in front of a record crowd for a D-II title game, according to Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star:

In January, head coach Adam Dorrel thought the Bearcats would struggle to a 7-4 record this year, though his team wasn't buying it, per Dave Skretta of the Associated Press.

"To be honest, we were like, 'Did you believe that? 7-4?” Bolles said earlier this week. "But we kind of took it to heart. We bought in. We said, 'You know what? We're not going to be 7-4. We're going to be better than that.’"

Last year, the Bearcats went 10-2 and won the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association title, but they lost in the first round of the playoffs, falling below their lofty standards, having won five D-II titles since 1998.

But since Dorrel’s decree in January, the Bearcats have been so dominant that they haven’t trailed since Oct. 31, and they've won every game since Week 4 by at least two touchdowns.

Their current run is borderline dynastic, and they’ll lose only nine seniors next year, which should position them for more title runs.

Postgame Reaction

Dolles said the postgame celebration was particularly special given how many NMSU fans were in attendance, per David Boyce of BearcatSports.com.

"It felt like a home game at a different field,” Dolles said. "Like I've been saying the whole year, we have the best fans in D II hands down."

Kurtis Seaboldt of 810 WHB added that what amounted to a hometown crowd seemed to enjoy this title ceremony in particular:

SportsCenter also shared a graphic highlighting the win:

Dorrel held high acclaim for his defense’s remarkable effort, but he had to be reminded of their specific sack figure reaching double digits. 

“Is that right? We had ten sacks?” Dorrel said, per Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star. “That was just phenomenal."

Shepherd coach Monte Carter deserves great credit for leading the Rams to their best season in program history. But he also admits his team did themselves no favors on Saturday, per the AP (h/t USA Today):

"

They didn't need any help, and we gave them some. We couldn't have started any worse than we did. But [Northwest Missouri] is a heck of a football team. We never really could get into any rhythm, and they had a lot to do with that.

"

It was a historic year for Shepherd despite falling short of its ultimate goal, as Saturday’s title game was the Rams’ first since transferring to D-II from NAIA in 1994. 

Shepherd was an underdog in each playoff game will lose just 10 seniors this offseason, and under Carter, should continue to compete for championships.