MARYVILLE, Mo. — Not too many scenarios occurred to Ronnie Huckeba where he would need to play his quarterback at fullback for an entire half.
Injuries forced the Harding coach to put the conductor of his triple-option offense a bit further back in his backfield Saturday afternoon in the Bisons’ NCAA Division II playoff debut. Already a heavy underdog against Northwest Missouri State, Harding ended up falling 35-0 at Bearcat Stadium.
Starting fullback Romo Westbrook went down on Harding’s first offensive snap, and backup D’Nico Jackson-Best left late in the second quarter - both with ankle injuries.
Quarterback Kelvin Martin then demanded the chance to play at fullback - a position he hadn’t played for two years.
“I don’t think [Huckeba] was looking to move to me fullback. I said I was going to go to fullback,” Martin said. “I’ve been running the offense two years. I pretty much know what everyone does anyway.”
Harding (9-2), which was shut out for the first time in Huckeba’s six-year tenure, watched its first trip to the Division II playoffs end quickly as the Bisons’ option attack sputtered in the second half with sophomore Keenan Kellett under center.
But Harding found it rough going before then.
Northwest Missouri (10-2) broke in front 7-0 on a 12-play, 70-yard drive to open the game capped by Billy Creason’s touchdown run, and Harding answered with its best march of the game to the Bearcats’ 10-yard line where Martin lost a fumble during an option play and Bearcats defensive lineman Zach Williams recovered.
“It’s our fullback and my job to square up, and get it,” Martin said. “It was a miscommunication.”
Northwest Missouri had its own running game pieced together, but still built a 21-0 lead at halftime.
Starting running back Jordan Simmons broke his arm during practice Tuesday, and back-up James Franklin left the game on the second-play of the first drive with an undisclosed injury.
The Bisons Donatella Luckett also had his 55-yard touchdown run called back with 1:07 left in the first half, a call that irked Huckeba.
“That was probably why I reacted the way I did,” Huckeba said. “I felt like it was critical, but I’m not saying it was a wrong call. I’m saying I contested the call.”
On the next play after Luckett’s negated touchdown, Jackson-Best came up hobbling after a 14-yard run.Martin moved to fullback for the final three offensive snaps and then manned the same spot for the final two quarters, ending up with a team high 97 yards on 22 carries.
“What a wonderful kid that he would be willing to do that,” Huckeba said, “and we really didn’t have many more options.”
Harding threw interceptions on its first two possessions of the fourth quarter - the first on a trick play pass from Donatella.
Northwest didn’t turn that into points, but Kellett’s pick in his own territory thrown to Northwest Missouri safety Nate DeJong led to a touchdown pass from Trevor Adams to Tyler Shaw to put the Bearcats ahead 28-0 with 9:17 left, not enough time for the Bisons’ option attack to generate a comeback.
Harding ended up with 300 total yards, only 91 less than the Bearcats, but had the ball five minutes less and couldn’t overcome the loss of the two fullbacks on the roster.
“We actually talked about it during the week,” Huckeba said. “We talked about, ‘Well our contingency plan would be to put Kelvin at fullback. Of course, that’s not going to happen.’ ... The best team won today, but I think we’re closer than that score indicated, in my opinion. It was a very good first playoff experience for us.”NCAA Div. II playoffs
FIRST ROUND
SATURDAY’S GAMES Northwest Missouri St. 35, Harding 0 Shippensburg 58, Bloomsburg 20 Indiana (Pa.) 27, Shepherd 17 Indianapolis 31, Midwestern State 14 West Alabama 41, Miles 7 Lenoir-Rhyne 21, Fort Valley State 6 Mo. Western St. 57, Minn. Duluth 55 West Texas A&M 38, Chadron State 30
SECOND ROUND
SATURDAY, NOV. 24 All times Central West Texas A&M at Ashland, 10 a.m.
Indiana (Pa.) at New Haven, 11 a.m.
West Alabama at Valdosta St., 11 a.m.
Lenior-Rhyne at Carson-Newman, 11 a.m.
Mo. Western St. at Henderson St., noon Shippensburg at Winston-Salem, noon NW Mo. St. at Minn. St. Mankato, noon Indianapolis at Col. St.-Pueblo, 1 p.m.
Sports, Pages 34 on 11/18/2012