Things were looking good for Missouri Western Saturday at the beginning of the second half.

Despite having less than half the total offensive yards (80) than the sum of kicker Greg Zuerlein's three field goals (167), the Griffons had a 22-7 lead and started the ball at their own 40 yard line after Northwest kicker Todd Adolf sent the opening kickoff of the second half out of bounds.

But Western couldn't do anything with the good field position, and lined up to punt on fourth-and-seven. But instead of actually punting it away, which likely would have given the Bearcats - who had picked up just 32 yards in the seven drives since their only score of the first half - terrible field position, the Griffons tried a fake, and Reggie Jordan could only pick up three yards.

That gave Northwest the ball past midfield and energized the Bearcat sideline, which well-outnumbered the Missouri Western faithful. Four plays later, James Franklin ran 35 yards for a touchdown to bring score to 22-14.

Now mind you, Missouri Western answered with their only sustained touchdown drive of the game, a nine-play 80-yard campaign that ended in a nice reverse to Derek Libby, who ran 38 yards for a score, so the damage at the time appeared to be minimalized, but the Bearcats weren't done yet.

Now Northwest is always a strong second half team, especially in a bind, so who knows if they could have turned things around, but they did, and they scored on their next two possessions to make it a 29-27 ballgame.

Back to the fake punt. You've got a great punter. Why not try to bury the Bearcats near their own end zone. They hadn't done anything offensively since shortly after their disastrous start, so I see no good reason in calling a play that might give them a jumpstart and get things going.

Other odds and ends from this game

The Bearcats got things rolling in the third quarter, behind the legs of James Franklin, who added another rushing touchdown in the frame, but Missouri Western never did find an offensive stride. They finished with just 186 total yards - the number would have been a bit higher, but several late sacks moved it down - and were just three of 15 of third down.

Despite their woes on offense, the Griffons led 16-0 less than four minutes into the game, even though, at the time, they had zero offensive yards. Northwest got the ball first, threw a lateral that wasn't caught and was recovered by the Griffons and returned to the one yard line. Travis Partridge snuck it in on the next play. On Northwest's next drive, Trevor Adams' pass was tipped and intercepted, and after going -1 yard in three plays, Zuerlein kicked the first of his 50+ yarders. Adams then threw a pass right to Shane Simpson, who returned it 55 yards for a score, but Zuerlein missed the extra point.

The Griffons missed a huge opportunity in a rather peculiar series of events early in the second quarter when Northwest lined up to punt and the score 19-7 Western. The snap hit one of the blockers, and rolled toward the end zone. A Northwest player kicked it out of the end zone and got called for an illegal kick, giving Missouri Western the ball at the Northwest 1. But on the next player, Michael Hill fumbled the ball, giving it back to Northwest.

Western QB Travis Partridge finished just 10 for 23 for 93 yards, 0 TDs and 0 INTs. He also was credited with 13 rushes for -16 yards. Northwest QB Trevor Adams overcame his shaky start to finish a respectable 19 for 33 with a touchdown and the two early picks.

The MIAA's leading rusher, MoWest's Michael Hill had just 65 yards on 21 carries. Franklin, who broke the 1,000-yard mark for the season, ended with 111 on 15 carries and the two third-quarter touchdowns. Adams added 78 yards on the ground for Northwest.

David Bass, who I called my sure-fire MIAA DPOY, had just two tackles. He was in the backfield a few times disrupting things, but was pretty non-existent.