MARYVILLE, Mo. - Familiarity is breeding excitement - rather than contempt - around Bearcat Stadium this week, as Northwest Missouri State prepares for its fourth meeting with Abilene Christian in two years.

Northwest and Abilene kick off their second-round NCAA Division II playoff game at noon Saturday in Maryville with the Wildcats holding a 2-1 edge in the recent series.

But Northwest has won when it counts, winning last season's playoff game in Abilene, Texas, en route to a fourth straight appearance in the national championship game. The Bearcats want to do the same thing this year but with the backing of a huge home crowd.

Although he said he enjoys matching wits with Abilene Christian coach Chris Thomsen, Northwest coach Mel Tjeerdsma's preference would have been to get a little more variety into his schedule with a matchup against Midwestern State. But Midwestern State lost 24-21 to the Wildcats last Saturday.

"You'd rather play other people; but when you schedule good teams (in the regular season), there's a possibility of this happening," Tjeerdsma said.

It's been a relatively frequent occurrence. In fact, not only did the Bearcats avenge a season-opening loss to Abilene last year, they also nearly got sucker-punched in the playoffs by a Pittsburg State team it had defeated by 25 points at Arrowhead Stadium in an MIAA contest six games earlier.

Senior defensive end Sean Paddock certainly isn't bothered by the familiarity with the Wildcats.

"When you're a competitor, you want to play the best, and they really are as good as we see," Paddock said.

An inexperienced offense cost the Bearcats in the 19-14 season-opening loss at Abilene Christian. A Northwest fumble was returned for a touchdown, an interception was returned to the Northwest 25-yard line to set up another score and a snap sailed over the punter's head, leading to a safety.

"That's 16 of their 19 points, right there," Tjeerdsma said.

But Northwest's offense matured into the MIAA kingpin in scoring and yardage, and then-fledgling quarterback Blake Bolles blossomed into a first-team, all-conference selection.

"I just feel like the maturity of our football team is going to pay off," Tjeerdsma said.

The Wildcats clawed their way to a 9-3 record with a solid running attack, which is out of the norm in the spread formation, pass-happy Lone Star Conference. But Thomsen knows they can usually run behind left tackle Tony Washington. The NFL rates the 6-foot-7, 305-pounder in the top five in his position over all college levels.

"He's just huge," Tjeerdsma said. "They want to line up and run the ball right at you, but we usually play pretty well against the run."

Paddock sees offense line size like Abilene's as a challenge.

"Most of us aren't really more than 250 pounds as far as the D-ends go, and they're huge guys and they punch hard," Paddock said. "If you don't watch out, they're going to take your head off."

But Paddock is looking forward to that challenge.

"We really feel whoever wins up front is going to win the game," Paddock said. "That's kind of a big responsibility, but one I don't mind having."