Even 6- foot-2-inch 290-pound offensive lineman Ryan Lessman got in on the scoring for the Bearcats during their 63-28 route of Southwest Baptist.
Lessman, a backup offensive lineman, picked up a fumble from running back Clint Moore and rumbled into the endzone for one of the 'Cats' six rushing touchdowns.
But the Northwest offense wasn't counting on Lessman to move the ball.
"We executed on our blocks a lot better than we did last week," running back Sheldon Cook said. " (We) stayed on people, (we were) more physical than last week."
Cook and running back LaRon Council carried the load for the 'Cats, combining for 199 yards on 32 carries and five touchdowns.
"I felt like the tempo we had on offense was really good early," Tjeerdsma said. "Our first four series were real good, and then, we had a little lag in there. Fortunately, from an offensive standpoint, the drive right before the half was a really good drive."
Northwest established the run early against the purple Bearcats. The 'Cats rushed for 126 yards in the first quarter. In the end, the team came away with 316 yards rushing.
On the passing end, quarterback Joel Osborn had an efficient day going 17-25 for 183 yards and a touchdown. Osborn spent the day spreading the love to 12 different receivers.
"I thought they (the quarterbacks) did a great job of finding the open receiver," Tjeerdsma said. "We've got some guys that are probably a little more of our highlight guys, but that's all right. When we've got an open receiver, we hit him."
Defensively, the 'Cats improved their play from last week, but still didn't look as good as Tjeerdsma would like. The defense gave up 295 yards and three passing touchdowns to Baptist, a team they held to only 13 points last year.
The problem, Tjeerdsma said, comes against up-tempo offenses.
"They (Baptist's offense) were ready to go so quick," Tjeerdsma said. "I thought our starters, our first defense did pretty good, but some of our depth people, some of our twos, when they got in there, they were lost."
Though no one would confuse Baptist's offense for Abilene Christian's, the 'Cats' defense put pressure on quarterback Steven Gachette to the tune of five sacks.
Gachette and the purple Bearcats mark the end of non-conference play for Northwest. Next week, they take on rival Missouri Western at 1 p.m. at Bearcat Stadium.
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