2016 Northwest Missouri State Football Team
The Bearcats completed back-to-back 15-0 national championship seasons in 2016. Northwest averaged 45.5 points per game and allowed only 12.0 points per contest. Northwest outscored its 15 opponents, 682-180. Northwest scored 40 or more points 11 times, including 10 times in MIAA play. Northwest took down six ranked opponents by an average scoring margin of 26.5 points per game. The Bearcats had a scoring margin of +107 in its four NCAA Div. II playoff victories. Northwest did not trail in the second half of a game all season. In the national semifinal at Bearcat Stadium, Ferris State trailed Northwest by one point at 21-20 in the third quarter, but touchdowns from Cameron Wilcox and Phil Jackson put the game away for a 35-20 victory. Northwest won its 30th straight game with a 29-3 victory over North Alabama in a blizzard in the national title contest. Northwest ranked No. 1 in the nation in total defense, scoring defense, rushing defense and red zone offense. Northwest tallied nine first-team all-MIAA performers led by Offensive Player of the Year Kyle Zimmerman and Coach of the Year Adam Dorrel.
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2015 Northwest Missouri State Football Team
Northwest captured the program's fifth NCAA Division II national championship with a 15-0 run through the competition. The Bearcats led the nation in total defense (224.0 yards/game allowed). Northwest also topped the country in sacks per game, team passing efficiency defense, scoring defense, rushing defense and third-down conversion percentage defense. The Bearcats allowed seven total rushing touchdowns. Northwest held six opponents to seven points or less in the 15-game season. Northwest rallied for a 34-30 win in week three at Central Missouri with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns – a 66-yard passing touchdown from Brady Bolles to Shawn Bane Jr. and a 7-yard score from Bolles with :34 left to clinch the win. In the national semifinal at home against No. 7-ranked West Georgia, Northwest used two late fourth quarter scores to advance to the title game. A 64-yard strike from Bolles to George Sehl with 4:29 left along with a 61-yard pick six from Bryce Enyard with 3:39 left propelled the Bearcats to the championship with a 38-23 victory at Bearcat Stadium. Northwest blitzed Shepherd in front of 16,181 fans at Sporting Park in Kansas City in the national title game, 34-7. Northwest had 11 first-team all-MIAA picks including Collin Bevins (Co-Defensive Player of the Year), Simon Mathiesen (Special Teams Player of the Year), Shawn Bane Jr. (Freshman of the Year) and Adam Dorrel (Coach of the Year).
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Jake Vollstedt (Football – 2013-2016)
An Iowa City, Iowa native, Vollstedt was a first-team All-America selection in 2016 from Daktronics, https://t.co/qCY6UOhw6W and Don Hansen. In 2016, he was named the Don Hansen National Defensive Player of the Year. Vollstedt notched a pair of first-team all-MIAA honors in 2015 and 2016. Vollstedt recorded a team-leading 122 total tackles in helping Northwest to a 15-0 record and national championship in 2015. Vollstedt racked up 17 tackles-for-loss and 13 sacks in the perfect 2015 campaign. Vollstedt topped the squad in tackles in 2016 with 140 stops as the Bearcats put together its second straight 15-0 season with the program's sixth national championship. Vollstedt ranks No. 4 in school history with 44.5 career tackles-for-loss. Vollstedt owns the school record for most tackles in a playoff game (18) against Emporia State on Dec. 5, 2015. Vollstedt played in 56 career games and was credited with 323 total tackles. In Vollstedt's four seasons at Northwest, the Bearcats went 55-2.
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Kyle Zimmerman (Football – 2013-2016)
Zimmerman capped his Bearcat football career by earning the MIAA's Ken B. Jones Award, Kansas City Sports Commission's Sportsman of the Year and the CoSIDA Div. II Academic All-America of the Year in 2016. Zimmerman, a native of Overland Park, Kan., was selected as the MIAA Offensive Player of the Year after guiding Northwest to a 15-0 record and the program's sixth NCAA Div. II national title in 2016. Zimmerman gained second-team All-America status from AP, D2CCA and Don Hansen as he passed for 3,763 yards and 37 touchdowns. In the Oct. 29, 2016, Homecoming game vs. Pittsburg State, Zimmerman set the school single-game record with six passing touchdowns and rushed for another as he was named Don Black Award recipient. He tossed at least one touchdown pass in 14 of the 15 games in 2016 and his last throw was a 13-yard touchdown pass to Shane Williams in the fourth quarter of Northwest's 29-3 national title victory over North Alabama. Zimmerman is the program's career leader in completion percentage (69.7%) as he completed 320 of 459 throws.
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Collin Bevins (Football – 2013-2016)
Bevins, a native of Creston, Iowa, earned All-America honors in 2015 and 2016 as a defensive lineman. Bevins holds the single-season and career school records for quarterback sacks and tackles-for-loss. Bevins totaled 34.0 sacks and 58.5 tackles-for-loss in 51 career games as a Bearcat. Bevins redshirted at Iowa State University in 2012 before transferring to Northwest in 2013. He appeared in 14 games in 2013 and helped Northwest to the program's fourth NCAA Div. II national title. He appeared in 10 games in 2014. Bevins was named the 2015 MIAA Co-Defensive Player of the Year and he tallied first-team AP Little All-America status as set single-season school records with 15.5 sacks and 26.5 tackles-for-loss. He gained AFCA, AP, D2CCA and https://t.co/qCY6UOhw6W first-team All-America status in 2016 as he helped Northwest to its second consecutive 15-0 season and another national title. Bevins also set the Northwest postseason record with 12 quarterback sacks in the playoffs. Bevins ranks No. 4 in MIAA history with 34.0 quarterback sacks. In Bevins's four seasons at Northwest, the Bearcats went 55-2.
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