From staff reports
sports@joplinglobe.com
MIAMI, Okla. —
It’s the home opener and a reunion when Northeastern Oklahoma A&M tackles No. 9 Ellsworth (Iowa) Community College tonight at 7 at Robertson Field.
Many players from NEO’s 1967 and 1969 NJCAA national championship teams along with head coach Chuck Bowman and his staff will attend the game.
Three hours before kickoff, a formal dedication of the Ivan C. Crossland Sr. Football Complex will be held. The complex, located in the north end zone, houses the coaches’ offices, an athletic training facility, weight room and player lockers.
The Golden Norsemen, coached by Donnie Bigby, opened their season last Saturday with a 32-23 loss at Garden City, Kan. It was the fifth straight loss for NEO since a 36-33 decision over Cisco in the fifth game last season.
Ellsworth dominated Morningside’s junior varsity 62-20 last week. The Panthers led 14-13 in the first quarter before scoring 48 unanswered points.
Tailback Nary Ross rushed 11 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns, and quarterback Willie Tindal hit 11-of-16 passes for 197 yards and four TDs. Dexter Holmes caught four passes for 125 yards and two scores.
“Ellsworth has a lot of team speed and their offensive schemes seem to be a lot like Garden City's," Bigby said. "They spread the field with four wideouts and like to throw the ball around.”
The Norsemen have worked on becoming more physical on offense during practice this week.
"There were two or three times in the game at Garden City where we could have taken control of the game if we had been more physical," Bigby said. "So we have had two days of really intense hitting and we moved quarterback Will Crowder to wide receiver and let Beau (Marsaln) take the snaps at quarterback."
Marsaln completed 10 of 10 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
Freshman Darwin Rideau has been moved in as a backup to Terrance Olds at running back. Olds rushed for 77 yards on 21 carries with one TD last week.
"Mainly, we've just got to be more physical up front," Bigby said. "Our passing game had a lot of success with Jermaine (Sherman) catching five balls for 105 yards.
"But, you can't give up nine quarterback sacks and put the ball on the ground seven times. Most of those fumbles were on center-quarterback exchange, which is the most crucial part of the offense.
"Up front we're a little bit ashamed and we addressed that," Bigby said. "The problem was two-fold in that they didn't fire off the football and secondly they played timid.”
NEO holds a 9-0 series advantage, including a 59-13 win in 1991, the last time Ellsworth played in Miami.
