Box Score KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Northwest Missouri downed Shepherd University, 34-7, to capture the 2015 NCAA Division II Football Championship at Sporting Park on Saturday.

Shepherd ends its season to 13-1, while Northwest Missouri State completes its season at 15-0.

Northwest Missouri State took a 7-0 lead when Jordan Grove scored on a one-yard run with 14:13 left in the first quarter.

The score was set up when Shepherd had a botched snap and The Bearcats recovered at the Shepherd five-yard line.

The Bearcats took a 14-0 lead when Brady Bolles teamed with on a one-yard touchdown pass with 6:44 left in the second quarter.

Northwest Missouri State took a 24-0 led into the break as Simon Mathiesen booted a 38-yard field goal with 30 seconds left in the half and Bryce Enyart raced 59 yards with an interception for a score with 20 seconds left.

Shepherd got on the board when junior quarterback Jeff Ziemba (Newark, Del./St. Mark's) teamed with junior wide receiver Billy Brown (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) on a 21-yard scoring pass with 9:49 left in the third quarter. Brown set a Shepherd single season mark with his 10th touchdown grab this season.

The score was preceded by fumble recovery by sophomore defensive back  DeJuan Neal (Shady Side, Md./Southern) at the Bearcat 32-yard line.

Northwest Missouri State answered back with a 29-yard field goal by Mathiesen with 4:33 left in the third quarter.

Grove scored on a one-yard plunge with 8:47 left in the game to complete the scoring.

Ziemba completed 11-of-16 passes for 233 yards for the Rams. Bolles connected on 20-of-27 passes for 233 yards.
 
Brown led the Shepherd receivers with six catches for 95 yards. Grove had five catches for 104 yards to pace the Bearcats.

Cross had 11 carries for 27 yards to pace the Rams. Phil Jackson had 21 carries for a game-high 109 yards for Northwest Missouri State.

Northwest Missouri State gained 462 yards of total offense while Shepherd totaled 97 yards.
 
Sophomore linebacker James Gupton (Waldorf, Md./North Point) led the Shepherd defense with a game-high 19 tackles (11 solo).  Junior linebacker Octavius Thomas (Myrtle Beach, S.C./Myrtle Beach) added 10 stops (eight solo). Jacon Vollstedt recorded 12 tackles (seven solo) for the Bearcats.
 
Shepherd's 13 wins are the most in program history.

Shepherd Post Game Quotes
Shepherd University Head Coach Monte Cater
Opening Statement: "Congratulations to Northwest, they've got a heck of a football team. They didn't need any help, we gave them some and we probably couldn't have started any worse than we did and they got on the board. Then we had that unfortunate return that got them on the board and that put us down quite a bit. We could never really get into any kind of a rhythm and they had a lot to do with that. We couldn't get our defense off the field and again a lot of credit for that goes to them.
"I'm really proud of our guys and they kept battling. We got down so quick and so much and they could have just let the thing go but they didn't. I'm proud of the year they had and the way they came together. They kept playing hard today, we just lost to a better football team."


On NWMSU's defense "They were very, very good (on defense). They didn't have to blitz a lot because their front was very good and that's been a tough place for us all year. We have a lot of new people up front and when you play the caliber of player they had, it certainly worked in their favor. We had a lot of trouble blocking them and it as just very, very difficult."
On Jeff Ziemba starting "As long as Jeff was able to go, as long as he was able to throw, he's our guy. I don't think you make a change if you think he's healthy enough to get out there. He took a tremendous amount of punishment and it's a wonder he as able to finish. At the same time, you go with the horse you rode and he's the guy. If he can go, he's a leader that's going to battle and give you everything he has."
On if this was the best defense they have ever faced "We haven't been dominated like this. We've been able to have some success against everyone hat we've played on our schedule. Bottom line, it's hard to think that we've faced a better front then these guys. They did a really great job and we knew they were gong to be good coming in but we had to control it just a little bit by being balanced and we couldn't run the ball a lick."


Jeff Ziemba
On the NWMSU defense "I literally didn't have much time (to pass). They rushed four big guys and they were great at what they did. They were really good along the defensive line."
On what NWMSU did to hold the SU offense "They did a really good job of mixing up their defenses. They brought pressure at time, stayed in cover two and then cover-one man and it gave us a lot of trouble."
On their season "It's a great feeling, even though we came out here and lost. For what this has down for Shepherdstown, seeing all of our fans and there's a lot of them. It didn't seem like there was a lot of them here but it means a lot to seem them come all this way to support us. We can't think them enough."

Billy Brown
On team's feeling after his touchdown reception: "All year long, we never gave up and after that touchdown it kind of gave us some momentum."