Oct. 26, 2002

The Old Hickory Stick Battle Goes Down To The Wire But Northwest Missouri Escapes With a 31-24 Win

The Truman State football team gave fourth-ranked Northwest Missouri almost everything they could handle, but the Bearcats scored twice late to escape Stokes Stadium with a 31-24 win and the oldest Division II football trophy, the Old Hickory Stick.

The win improved the Bearcats record to 8-0 overall and 6-0 in MIAA action. The Bulldogs fell to 5-3 overall and 3-3 in conference play.

The first-half was all Northwest Missouri until the final minute. Truman scored a field goal on its opening drive of the game but the Bearcats scored three unanswered touchdowns to lead 21-3. With 37 seconds left in the half, however, Truman found the endzone on a Dusty Burk run and was down just 21-10 at the break.

Truman looked good in the third quarter as the defense shut the Bearcats out and the Bulldogs scored two touchdowns to take a 24-21 lead. Neither team scored in the final quarter until Northwest Missouri tied the game following a 31-yard field goal by Eddie Ibarra with 3:59 left in the game.

Truman went three-and-out and a short punt gave Northwest Missouri the ball at Truman's 42. It took the Bearcats just six plays to score the winning touchdown on a John McMenamin pass to Mark Stewart from eight yards out. The Bulldogs were left with just 29 seconds left and a Hail Mary pass was picked off to end the game.

It was a record-breaking day for Truman's Andrew Blakley who ended the game with 13 catches for 68 yards and one touchdown. He set the MIAA mark for receiving yards, tied the Truman record for touchdown passes and moved up to third all-time in the NCAA record books for receptions. Burk ran for 90 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 253 yards and another score.

Northwest Missouri was led by McMenamin who threw for 409 yards and four touchdowns. Jamaica Rector was his favorite receiver as he caught 11 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown. Andre Rictor, Stewart and Sean Shafar all caught touchdown passes as well for the Bearcats.