After a tough loss last week, the Cougars dominated Lawrence 35-7 and improved their record to 2-1.

Playing in front of a Lawrence High fan base that was settling in to their brand new stadium, Northwest still looked a shaky in the first quarter struggling to move the ball efficiently and burning two timeouts in their first series of the game.

“They started the game exactly how they wanted to and exactly how we didn’t want to,” Coach Aaron Barnett said after the game.

But it took only the second play of the second series before senior quarterback Matt Nowak scrambled for a 52 yard run putting the Cougars up 7-0.

After Lawrence chewed up six minutes of the clock with their ground attack, the first quarter ended with a bang. The two teams recorded three turnovers in less than 13 seconds. After the Cougars forced a fumble near their goaline, junior KC Waterman fumbled for the first of two times on the night.

However, senior Kosh Kahn grabbed down an interception in the right corner of the end zone as time expired for the quarter.

” We’re a good enough football team that we can compete with anybody we play,” Barnett said, ” But anybody we play can lineup and beat us on a friday night.”

In the second quarter, the Cougars took control of the game with a pair of Jon Hauk touchdowns from inside the red zone. After missing last week, Hauk returned to playing both defense and offense, and contributing three of the five total touchdowns for Northwest.

” He’s a difference maker there’s no doubt about that, and you can see that tonight,” Barnett said, ” He takes us to a different level.”

Even being down 21-0 at halftime, the Lions fought back taking the opening drive of the third quarter in for a touchdown. Lawrence then made the Cougars punt on their first possession, but a massive hit on punt coverage by senior NIck Caldwell, which Northwest recovered, gave then the ball back and resulted in another touchdown.

” We didn’t respond well (to the touchdown), but we made a big play on special teams,” Barnett said.

The Cougars tacked on another touchdown in the fourth quarter with a 17 yard run by senior Chris Mansker.

The football team improved to 2-1 on the season and face Leavenworth at SM North District Stadium next Thursday.

” I don’t think we’re playing our best football right now, Barnett said, “we just got to get everybody healthy and practice.”

SMNW Stats:

Passing-

Matt Nowak 8/11 159 yards 1TD

Rushing-

Matt Nowak 9 carries, 97 yards, TD

Jon Hauk 10 carries, 72 yards, 3 TDS

KC Waterman 10 carries, 44 yards

Drew Goodger 6 carries, 3o yards

Chris Mansker 1 carry, 17 yards, TD

Austin Vanderpool 1 carry, 4 yards

Receving-

Chris Mansker 6 rec., 6o yards

Jon Hauk 1 rec., 56 yards

Will Greenhaw 1 rec., 43 yards

Scoring Summary:

First Quarter

6:16 TD Matt Nowak 52 yard run (Matt Nowak kick) SMNW 7 Lawrence 0

Second Quarter

7:19 TD Jon Hauk 3 yard run (Nowak kick) SMNW 14 Lawrence 0

:13 TD Jon Hauk 1 yard run (Nowak kick) SMNW 21 Lawrence 0

Third Quarter

6:43  TD Traye Jenkins 1 yard run (Anthony Rosen kick) SMNW 21 Lawrence 7

2:51 TD Jon Hauk 12 yard run (Nowak kick) SMNW 28 Lawrence 7

Fourth Quarter

6:54 TD Chris Mansker 17 yard run (Nowak kick) SMNW 35 Lawrence 7