MARYVILLE, Mo.—Central Washington's Tyler Flanagan scored three touchdowns but No. 3 seed Northwest Missouri State dominated play for much of the game as the Bearcats handed the Wildcats a 50-21 defeat in the opening round of the NCAA Playoffs, Saturday at Bearcat Stadium.
 
Flanagan rushed 12 times for 93 yards and a touchdown, caught four passes for 16 yards and a score, and collected 237 kick return yards, including a 93-yard return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. He accounted for 346 all-purpose yards on a day when the Wildcats (8-3) were limited to 173 total yards.
 
Northwest Missouri (10-1), meanwhile, racked up 472 total yards, and owned a time of possession advantage of nearly 2-to-1.
 
"We've got to tip our hat to Northwest Missouri," CWU head coach Chris Fisk said. "We came up here looking at a program that has a strong tradition. This is where we want to get to. It didn't go our way today, but we learned a lot. We learned a lot as a program moving forward as to what it looks like to be at this level."
 
The Bearcats scored on their first possession of the game, marching 47 yards in seven plays for a 1-yard scoring run by quarterback Mike Hohensee. They missed the extra point and led, 6-0.
 
Northwest made it 13-0 on their next drive, an 11-play, 70-yard effort which culminated in an AJ McKellar 3-yard run with 3:54 left in the first quarter.
 
After a slow start, the Wildcats got on the board thanks in part to their defense. Zach Stecklein forced a fumble on a flea-flicker attempt and Jahleel Breland returned the fumble 13 yards to the Northwest 13 yard line. Two plays later, Quincy Glasper found Tyler Flanagan for an easy 8-yard touchdown. The extra point pulled the Wildcats to within 13-7 with 12:52 left in the first half.
 
The Wildcats appeared to have the Bearcats stopped on Northwest's next drive, but a questionable personal foul call kept the drive alive when Fred Feleti was flagged on 3^rd and 13 as Northwest's Hohensee went to the ground for a loss. The drive stayed alive thanks to the flag, and six plays later the Bearcats scored again for a 20-7 lead.
 
Northwest tacked on another touchdown right before halftime to take a 27-7 lead into the locker room.
 
The second half was much of the same. Northwest pushed the lead to as much as 50-7 before Flanagan closed strong for the Wildcats.
 
After Northwest's final touchdown, Flanagan took the ensuing kickoff and raced 94 yards through the middle of the defense and up the right sideline for a touchdown to make it 50-14.
 
Flanagan's final score came with a bit of trickery on fourth-and-1, as the Wildcats used the Statue of Liberty play to make it a 50-21 game. But it was too little, too late.
 
McKellar led the Bearcats with 130 yards rushing, while Kaden Davis caught 6 passes for 76 yards.
 
Zach Stecklein led the Central defense, collecting a sack, 8 tackles, and a forcing a fumble.