By STEVEN SPEARS
Managing Editor

(KANSAS CITY, Mo., digitalBURG) — After a first half that saw Central go nearly point for point with top-ranked Northwest Missouri State, the Mules were brought to a complete halt with both sides of the ball unable to make plays.

The Mules took the field Saturday, Oct. 1, at Arrowhead Stadium as the top passing offense and first down leader in the MIAA. The stats didn’t seem to matter to the top-ranked Bearcat defense as they limited the Mules to 285 total offensive yards, making it Central’s worst offensive showing of the season.

“I think everybody in that locker room – coaches and players and everybody – were embarrassed about what happened today,” head coach Jim Svoboda said in a news conference. “And if they’re not, then they probably shouldn’t be in the locker room.”

Central had a strong showing in the first half, racking up 48 yards rushing and 160 passing yards, but senior quarterback Garrett Fugate’s two passing touchdowns couldn’t stop Northwest from taking a 21-14 lead heading into halftime.

The Mules were unable to recover from the deficit and were outscored 21-3 in the second half, with the lone score coming from a Billy Greco field goal following an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when Central was on first and goal at the 2.

Svoboda said for the Mules to be at the 2-yard line and not score was preposterous.

“That can’t happen,” he said. “That can’t happen. You get the ball in the end zone.”

Fugate said the Bearcats made some changes at halftime that helped limit the Mules’ offense.

“Northwest made some really good adjustments and we just couldn’t piece together a couple of those drives,” Fugate said. “We had a turnover in the red zone, which obviously hurts, and then had some penalties on the 2-yard line and that’s two times we probably should have scored when we didn’t.”

Svoboda said Central didn’t have the ball much in the second half and couldn’t seem to slow down the Bearcat offense.

“It was like torture watching them wham it down the field and convert those third downs,” he said. “That was a key thing. We simply didn’t run very many plays in the second half offensively.

“(The Bearcats) play hard. They make you earn everything and sort of wait for you to make a mistake. There wasn’t anything that we didn’t get or new blitz or new wrinkle that confused us. They just whipped us.”

Svoboda said the Central defense had trouble stopping Northwest from making plays. The Bearcats ended the game with 488 total offensive yards and six touchdowns.

“(Northwest) had a nice blend of things,” he said. “I thought coach (Adam) Dorrel did a good job calling plays, mixing it up. It had us off balance most of the game.”

Safety Diaron Rhodes led the Mules defense with 11 tackles against Northwest’s No. 1 scoring offense. He said the biggest challenge was mental.

“We felt like we had the physical guys and the physical capabilities to come in there and play with them,” he said. “They just had a really good game.”

The Mules entered the fall classic with a 51 percent third-down conversion rate, coming in second in the MIAA and more than 4 percentage points ahead of Northwest. Roles were reversed Saturday as Central went 4 for 13 and the Bearcats converted 10 of 14 third downs.

Svoboda said the difference in third down conversions between the two teams was a big one.

“They just kept converting and (we) couldn’t get them off the field,” he said. “When that happens you have limited chances so you got to give them credit for playing a physical ballgame, for controlling the ball and controlling the line of scrimmage, converting a lot of third downs.”

Svoboda said games like this make him look at everything his team is doing.

“We got to do what we feel like we need to do to be productive, we got to give our last two opponents some credit and not overreact to everything,” Svoboda said. “I still believe in our players. They did some terrific things the first three games. I mean we won two very difficult games on the road so I’m a long ways from giving up on anybody. I believe that we’ll regroup.”

The Mules are past the hardest part of their schedule this season and will next play Nebraska-Kearney (0-5) Saturday, Oct. 8, at home. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

Rhodes said the Mules don’t look at Nebraska-Kearney as being a weaker opponent.

“We just want to focus on correcting our mistakes that we had against Northwest and Emporia,” Rhodes said. “We just want to get back on track.”