Saturday turned out just how we wanted it to. We won 56-7 and the offensive starters were done playing with 5 minutes left in the first half when we were already up 42-0. I really don't know what else we could have asked for on Senior Day. We got off to a fast start on both sides of the ball.

The defense swarmed to the ball all day and gave up less than 200 yards of offense. Twice, they forced a turnover and gave us the ball inside of Emporia's 20-yard line, which turned into easy touchdown drives.

I feel really confident in our defense right now, and I expect them to continually get better until our season ends. If they do that, then there's no telling how far we'll go because we're definitely going to score points on offense.

Kendall Wright started the scoring for us with a 20-yard TD catch, and then scored on a reverse later in the half. I put a vicious cut block on a d-lineman to spring him (actually, I barely touched him and he fell like 3 steps after I hit him). He fell so it qualifies as a knock down regardless of what Nelly (Matt Nelson) says. He always gives me a hard time because as the quarterback, I never have to hit anyone. Even when I do, he doesn't give me credit for it.

I don't complain. I wouldn't be very effective without the big guys up front. Nelly, our center, calls out the front of the defense, which helps me know who we can and can't get and if I need to throw a hot route. Plus, when I hear the front call, I usually have a good idea of the coverage the defense will be in.

Moving back to Kendall - anytime his family is at the game, he goes off on the other team. The games his parents were able to come this year were Abilene, Pitt and Emporia. In those three games, Kendall has averaged more than 100 yards receiving and had three total TDs. That doesn't even account for what he does returning kicks and punts. Everyone knows he can do some special things returning the ball. Anyways, he told me his father, Sigmond, will be at our game this weekend at Missouri Southern so I'm expecting him to have another great game.

Saturday is our last regular season game, and it gives us a chance to win the conference title outright. The last thing we want is to share the conference championship with Pitt State. That would be like kissing your sister - you just don't do it.

It will also set us up for a bye in the first round of the playoffs if the regional rankings hold form. If that's not reason enough to get up for this Saturday, the head coach at Southern was Northwest's offensive coordinator from 2004-05 and was an assistant at Northwest from 1994-2005 so he knows us well and will have his team in a frenzy.

It will be vital for us to take care of the football and score when we get in the red zone. The last couple of road games we haven't done very well in the red zone, and we need to fix that. We need to build off this game and last week's game going into the playoffs. The team's that continue to get better are the ones that make a run in the playoffs, and the ones that win the national title. In order for us to do this, we need to continue to practice really well.

See ya next week,
Ozzy #12