Football crushes Midland

After two relatively easy games in a row, the Raider football team was faced with their first ranked opponent since consecutive losses marred the beginning of their season.
They passed with extraordinary flying colors.
Northwestern dominated No. 24 Midland University in Fremont, Neb., on Saturday, posting an impressive 51-14 victory and extending their winning streak to three games.
Junior quarterback Davis Bloemendaal started and won his third straight game, throwing for 196 yards on 11-21 completions. Bloemendaal also scored on a 60-yard touchdown run, the longest of his career.
Meanwhile, sophomore Theo Bartman rushed for a career-high 111 yards and a score.
“It all starts with our offensive line,” said coach Kyle Achterhoff. “They’ve been creating great holes, giving Davis time to throw. And also, our receivers aren’t dropping footballs like they did earlier [this year]. We are stretching teams vertically, throwing the ball downfield more, but guys are making plays on the ball.”
Meanwhile, defensively, the Raiders picked up right where they left off.
NW kept Midland from moving the chains in the first half and held them to just over 200 yards. However, a large number of those yards were gained in the final two possessions for Midland, when the game was already out of reach.
Sophomore Gerard Fluellen posted four tackles and recovered a fumble, while junior Aaron Jansen pulled down five tackles and broke up a pass.
“It seems like every time we make a tackle, there’s eight or nine of our jerseys close to the ball,”  Achterhoff said. “We are getting a lot of people to the ball. Everybody wants to get a piece of the action.”
Midland was coming off a very difficult stretch of their schedule, losing to both Morningside and Doane before facing NW.
“We were surprised at how the fight seemed to go out of [them] once we had an early lead,” Jansen said.
Next up for NW: hosting an equally hot team, Concordia, winners of their last four. Playing mistake-free football will be a priority.
“Concordia has been running the ball effectively this year, and as a defense, it will be a priority to stop the run,” Jansen said. “Their defense fed off of turnovers against BC last week.”
Kick-off will be Saturday at 1 p.m at Korver Field.