Bridgewater gets biggest win yet as Northwestern handles perennial contender Columbus
In a battle of stalwart defenses, Miami Northwestern took over at its own 43-yard line with about five minutes left and a chance to close out Miami Columbus for the biggest win of the Teddy Bridgewater era, and the Bulls put their greatest strength on display.
On the victory-clinching nine-play drive, Northwestern used two different quarterbacks, gave carries to six different players and targeted multiple wide receivers despite only attempting two passes. The Bulls are young and improving, and, most importantly, they’re as deep as Northwestern is supposed to be, and their wide variety of weapons gave the Bulls enough on offense to beat the Explorers, 23-18, on Thursday.
“They couldn’t game plan hard enough,” said star wide receiver Nick Lennear, who caught two touchdowns and turned a screen into a 12-yard gain on Northwestern’s final drive.
Above all else, the Bulls (5-3) won this week at Traz Powell Stadium because of their defense—Columbus (5-3) finished with 127 yards and 62 of those came on a garbage-time drive after Northwestern went ahead 23-12 with 1:39 left. Bridgewater, though, is a former quarterback and is already putting together a tantalizing group of offensive weapons, and the first-year coach figured out how to get them all involved against the Explorers.
The Bulls used three different quarterbacks and starter Leon Strawder went 14 of 20 for 144 yards and two touchdowns, and pushed the pile for a 22-yard run on the last dive—a pair of interceptions were about the only blemishes for the junior and he forced a fumble on the return after one of them. Star running back King Davis paced Northwestern on the ground with 11 carries for 82 yards, but seven different players carried the ball and running back Elijah Hardy delivered the dagger by scoring a 1-yard touchdown at the end of the clock-killing, nine-play drive to put the Bulls ahead 23-12 in the final minutes. Lennear, only a sophomore, caught five passes for 28 yards and two touchdowns, and star wide receivers Calvin Russell and Darius Johnson each topped 40 yards as part of a well-rounded passing attack.
The Bulls started slow, but finally put together a handful of long drives late in the first half to take a 13-10 lead into halftime and then ran away in the second.
“It’s a smart group,” Bridgewater said. “It’s a group that loves challenges and they’re battled tested.”
After combining for just three points in the first 21:10, Northwestern and Columbus combined for three touchdowns in the final 2:50 of the second quarter.
First, Strawder hit Lennear on a swing pass for a 6-yard touchdown to give the Bulls a 6-3 lead with 2:50 left in the second. The Explorers then went three-and-out, but star linebacker Hector Chavez intercepted a screen pass on the first play of Northwestern’s ensuing drive, and ran it back 60 yards for a touchdown and a 10-6 lead with 1:38 left in the half.
Those 90-plus seconds were plenty of time for the Bulls. Northwestern raced 62 yards in 86 seconds and Strawder hit Lennear on a slant for a 5-yard touchdown with 11.6 seconds left in the half. The Bulls went back up 13-10 and never trailed again.
“He’s a special talent,” Bridgewater said of Lennear. “He’s just as advertised.”
Bridgewater’s first regular season as coach is down to its final weeks and Northwestern is playing as well as it has at any point this season. After a crushing three-point loss to archrival Miami Central on Oct. 4, the Bulls bounced back by routing Key West on Friday and now have their first winning streak of the season.
This has been a season of close calls for Northwestern, who also lost to Venice in overtime in August and by four to Norland in September. Now, they have a signature win.
“We’ve been close in all these games. It’s only a matter of time before we get over the hump and start reaping the benefits of all our hard work.”