Held in check

FLORENCE - When Xavier Omon ran to his right Saturday afternoon, 11 Valdosta State defenders followed.

When the All-American ran to his left, the same thing happened.

Sometimes, he barely had gotten the handoff from quarterback Joel Osborn when numerous members of the Blazers defense swarmed.

Omon's final game in a Northwest Missouri uniform was one of the most frustrating for the record-setting running back from Beatrice, Neb. Coming off back-to-back games in which he rushed for 309 yards against Chadron State and 292 against Grand Valley, the senior found very little running room against a spirited Valdosta State defense in Saturday's 25-20 Division II national championship game loss.

One of only two players in college football history to rush for more than 7,000 yards, Omon's final tally against the Blazers was 63 yards on 27 carries and one touchdown.

In short, the guy who needed to carry the Bearcats to their first national championship since 1999 turned out to be a non-factor against the Blazers.

Not that it was entirely his fault. Valdosta State dominated the line of scrimmage. Omon, who ended his career with 7,073 yards and 92 touchdowns, rarely had a glimpse of any open space as Valdosta State's front four got a tremendous push off the ball.

"I thought this was the year we were going to go out on top," a dejected Omon said. "Obviously, it hurts."

Omon was one of 16 Northwest seniors that failed to win a national title in three trips to Braly Stadium.

Northwest Missouri was in a Catch-22 situation for most of the game. Coach Mel Tjeerdsma needed Omon to have a good day to help open up the passing game for Osborn. When it didn't materialize, the Bearcats had trouble with their passing game, too.

Northwest Missouri finished with only 235 yards of offense against what Tjeerdsma called the quickest defense he's seen this year.

Poor field position, in part due to some critical holding penalties, also prevented the Bearcats from stretching the field with the passing game.

"We had a couple of critical holding penalties that really killed us in the second half," Tjeerdsma said. "Those are the kinds of things that when you play in the national championship game, you can't make those kinds of mistakes."

The most critical holding call came with just less than six minutes to play and Northwest Missouri clinging to a 25-20 lead. After rushing for three yards on first down, Omon appeared to break a 12-yard run - his longest of the day - for a first down. But tight end Mike Peterson was flagged for holding, wiping out the first down and pushing the Bearcats back to their own 11.

They eventually punted, setting up Valdosta State's game-winning drive.

"I'll take responsibility for that," Peterson said. "To end like this, obviously it's a huge disappointment."

Gregg Dewalt can be reached at 740-5748 or gregg.dewalt@timesdaily.com.