By TRAVIS HARMON-SMITH
Sports Editor
When teams make adjustments, it can become pretty overwhelming. Northwestern made the adjustments early on, but not quite early enough to hold off the Harding University Bison as the Rangers fell 45-7 at Ranger Field Saturday afternoon.
Offensively, Northwestern had its chances to drive the ball downfield forscoring opportunities.
During the first quarter at about the 9:03 mark, starting junior college transfer quarterback Cody Weinzhemier lined up under center in place of Reid Miller, who is out with an injury.
Weinzhemier started the opening series effectively as he threw two small dump passes to Ranger slot receivers Avery Morris, and Jarion Tudman. Both Morris and Tudman gained significant yardage in short route situations before being trampled by the Bison defenders. With about a minute left during the first, Harding’s triple-option offense was just too much for the Ranger defense as the Bison scored on a triple option screen pass, making it 7-0 to close out the first quarter.
In the opening of the second quarter, Northwestern’s offensive troubles continued as Ranger quarterback Weinzheimer forced a deep pass downfield to Justin Schanbacher, resulting in an interception by the Harding secondary.
As the second quarter came to a close, the Rangers fell out of sync defensively as the Bison scored again on a deep pass with 1:57 left in the half.
Northwestern interim Head Coach Kevin Turco explained at halftime what the Northwestern offense needed to do to in order to effectively execute its game plan.
“We just have to keep playing solid and read our keys better,” Turco said.
In the second half, Turco changed his quarterback rotation and lined up freshman Ty Hooper under center. Hooper, showed the Ranger fans his ability to improve the Northwestern offensive scheme.
At about the 4:05 mark in the third, Hooper lined up in shotgun formation with four wide receivers spread out. He took the snap, made a nice drop-back in the pocket, weaving around Harding defenders, and threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Schanbacher for the Rangers’ only score of the afternoon.
Northwestern’s defensive specialists played solidly throughout most the game, as Ranger defensive back Traveon Kelly compiled 10 tackles for loss, while linebacker Devin Peyton also capped off the game with 10 solo tackles as well.
Northwestern will have another opportunity at Ranger Field Saturday afternoon against GAC conference opponent Arkansas Monticello. Kickoff is 1 p.m.