MARYVILLE, Mo. - The conference title isn't on the line Saturday, but No. 15 Northwest Missouri State football players look to claim something just as special.

When Northwest lines up at 1 p.m. against Central Missouri on the Bearcat Stadium turf, it will try to keep its seniors unbeaten in conference play for their entire careers.

And few may deserve it more than senior captains Sean Paddock, Abe Qaoud, Myles Burnsides and LaRon Council, who have seen more close calls in this marathon of winning than they'd care to remember.

"We always know we're going to get every team's best shot, which is why we've had so many close games," said running back LaRon Council, whose dive into the end zone in overtime gave the Bearcats a 22-19 homecoming victory on Oct. 24 against Washburn.

It's true that Northwest has been able to blow away opponents at times. A 52-6 thrashing of Missouri Southern is just one example. Another is the 70-0 rout of Truman State that kept the Old Hickory Stick in its Maryville home for another year.

But the Northwest senior captains remember more vividly the close calls.

Council considers the Washburn overtime victory a highlight of his career.

"In the regular season I'd never seen our team rush the field like we did that game," Council said of the on-the-field celebration. "That was pretty fun."

In the seniors' careers, Northwest has won nine games by a touchdown or less, with Central Missouri being the opponent in close calls in 2007 and 2008. The Mules lost those two contests by a total of nine points.

"They're probably more solid throughout than they've been," coach Mel Tjeerdsma said of the Mules (8-2, 6-2 MIAA). "Usually they've got some really outstanding individuals and one phase of their three phases may be really outstanding and the others pretty good. But this year, they're just real solid all the way through. I think they're more of a team."

So now the pressure builds - even though Tjeerdsma is hesitant to talk about it - for the team to run its streak in conference games to 37 and help deliver a special gift for Senior Day.

"I think it is important that the rest of our team looks at that as something we really want to get done this week," Tjeerdsma said. "Then these guys can walk away and say, 'Hey, I've never lost a conference game.' That would be a tremendous accomplishment for them."

Soy earns honor

Sophomore wide receiver Jake Soy has been named the MIAA Offensive Player of the Week for his performance last Saturday at Fort Hays State.

Soy tied his own program record for single-game touchdown receptions with four in a 66-40 shootout in Hays, Kan. He also broke Northwest's and the MIAA's all-time records for touchdown catches in a single season. He now has 19 this season, breaking the conference record of 16, held by Northwest's Tony Miles and Emporia State's Lester McCoy.

Soy leads the league with 55 catches for 959 yards and leads the nation in touchdown receptions.

Stampede to Abilene

The men's and women's cross country teams will leave Thursday morning for Abilene, Texas, the site of Saturday's NCAA South Central Regional Cross Country Championships.

The Northwest men are currently ranked eighth and the women ranked fifth in the 28-team region, which includes three conferences. Three men's teams and two women's teams qualify out of the region for the national championships, which will be held Nov. 21 at Evansville, Ind.

Great day to be a senior

The senior class celebrated its final home soccer game in style on Saturday with a record-setting victory against Missouri Southern, with two members of that class leading the way.

Senior Andrea Tritz thrilled the Senior Day crowd with the game-winning goal, and classmate Kira Lazenby recorded her 16th shutout with the help of her defense in a 1-0 victory against Missouri Southern.

It was a school-record 11th victory for the Bearcats, who also saw Tritz and Lazenby add to their record totals. Tritz now has eight game-winning goals and Lazenby's 16th career shutout is also a Northwest best.

"It was a great day to be a senior," coach Tracy Hoza said. "We got all nine seniors in, and they all did a great job for us."

The records were just the icing on a graduation cake that soon will be accompanied by more diplomas than Hoza had ever imagined.

"They were my smallest recruiting class, and they ended up being my largest graduating class, so I'm very proud of them," the seven-year head coach said.

The soccer team closes out the regular season on the road this week with a Thursday night date at Central Missouri and a Saturday game at Southwest Baptist.

Payback, opportunity

The volleyball team rebounded from a lackluster performance Friday at Pittsburg State to avenge one of its toughest losses of the season.

Northwest defeated Southwest Baptist 3-2 on Saturday in Bolivar, Mo., atoning for a 3-1 setback at home on Sept. 26.

"We owed them that one, I guess, for them taking care of us here," interim head coach Allison Rogers said.

Now the Bearcats hope a late-season swoon by Nebraska-Omaha will open the door to their fifth MIAA victory of the season.

"It will be a tough one, but (the Mavericks) have kind of fallen off the bandwagon the last couple of weeks, so that's great for us," Rogers said.

The Bearcats need to take advantage of any such opportunities they can, since teams like nationally ranked Central Missouri remain on the schedule. The Mules (28-4, 14-2 MIAA) come to Bearcat Arena on Friday.

"That's another ranked team; the conference is full of them," Rogers said.