FULTON, Mo. – University of Northwestern Football traveled down to Missouri for a conference contest against Westminster College on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles dominated in a 36-0 shutout victory over the Blue Jays to improve to 3-0 in conference play.
 
The Eagles received the opening kickoff and immediately went to work. On their third play of the game facing a 3^rd-and-1, Caden Cantrell (Taylor, Ariz./Snowflake) found Damon Clapper (Dallas Center, Iowa/Dallas Center - Grimes) who outran the Blue Jays' defense all the way to the end zone for a 57-yard touchdown, giving the Eagles an early 7-0 lead.
 
Later in the first quarter, Jimmy Jefferson (Aurora, Colo./Rangeview) recovered a Blue Jays fumble to put the UNW offense on the field at Westminster's own 45-yard line. The Eagles made the most of the opportunity as they drove to the 1-yard line where Jeremiah Staten (South Elgin, Ill./Wheaton Academy) punched it in for another UNW touchdown.
 
In the second quarter, the Blue Jays were lined up to punt from their own 37-yard line. The Eagles flew off the line at the snap and reached the punter before he could get a kick off, forcing him to try and scramble. UNW knocked the ball loose and Ren Hamann (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville) took it back 17-yards for a special teams Northwestern touchdown, putting the Eagles up 19-0.
 
UNW carried their 19-point lead into halftime. Westminster received the second-half kickoff, but the Eagles' defense forced a three-and-out. With the Blue Jays punting from their own 15-yard line, Northwestern got immediate pressure off the snap all along the line and blocked the punt attempt. Jeffrey Markvicka II (Brooklyn Center, Minn./Fridley) recovered the blocked punt for another UNW special teams touchdown, putting the Eagles up 26-0 less than two minutes into the second half.
 
On their next offensive possession, Northwestern started with fantastic field position at the Westminster 43. The Blue Jays' defense managed to hold UNW out of the end zone, but Cole Uplegger (New Prague, Minn./New Prague) drilled a 36-yard field goal to increase the Eagles' lead to 29.
 
The Eagles defense forced another Westminster punt on the following drive, with Luke Malamisuro (Cambridge Isanti, Minn./Cambridge Isanti) returning 24-yards back to the Blue Jays' side of the field. The Eagles drive extended past the end of the third quarter. On the first play of the final quarter, Cantrell connected with Mike Bostrom (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) for a 29-yard touchdown pass to put UNW up 36-0.
 
The score would hold for the entire quarter as the Northwestern defense completed the shut out to cement another UMAC win for the Eagles. Westminster threatened to score midway through the fourth with a 3^rd-and-6 from the Eagles' eight-yard line, but Mario Hoefer (Charles City, Iowa/Charles City) picked off the Blue Jays in the back corner of the end zone to preserve the shutout.
 
Cantrell was 15-of-18 for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Staten led the Eagles on the ground with a 5.2 per carry average and a touchdown. Clapper's 113 receiving yards on seven receptions with a touchdown led UNW through the air.
 
On defense, Sam Schlabach (Keystone, S.D./Rapid City Christian) and Nic Schultz (Fontana, Calif./Etiwanda) each forced a fumble. Brad Kulinski (Milwaukee, Wis./Martin Luther) and Hoefer had interceptions for UNW.  Zane Schlabach (Keystone, S.D./Rapid City Christian) led Northwestern with 1.5 sacks. Armando Santos (Weslaco, Texas/Weslaco East) had a team-high seven tackles.
 
Up next for Northwestern is a return to Reynolds Field on October 29^th to take on the University of Minnesota Morris at 5:00 P.M. for UNW's Tackle Cancer Game. At the game, Northwestern will be collecting donations to support the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund which helps the fight against cancer in Minnesota.