Elijah Green, Bearcat football

By Jacki Wood

This is the first in a series on former Spoofhound athletes who are now Bearcats.

Frequently called townies, a number of former Maryville High School athletes decided to stay in town and continue their academic and athletic careers at Northwest Missouri State University.

Elijah Green, son of Clarence and Chelli Green, graduated from MHS in 2017 and was a two-time All-State player for the Spoofhounds. He led the team to four straight MEC and District titles, earning All-Conference and All-District honors twice, and was a member of the 2013 state champion team and the 2016 team which placed second in the state.

“I decided to stay here because no other school has a rich tradition like Northwest,” Green said, “and nobody is going to be in title contention every year like Northwest.”

After a redshirt season in 2017 for the Bearcats, Green played in five games in 2018 as a defensive tackle, had three total tackles and made two solo stops in Northwest’s 62-17 win at Northeastern State.

Former Spoofhound now Bearcat Elijah Green puts in work with a Northwest teammate during practice.

“The thing that I most enjoy about playing football at Northwest is my teammates,” he said.

A typical day for Green during the season is to wake up at 6 am and get ready to watch film at 6:30 am. He then heads off to class from 8 to 11 am followed by lunch and more film. They have meetings for practice at 2 pm and then practice from 3:30 to 6 pm. His evenings consist of homework and playing video games with his roommate, Zach.

He is studying chemistry and also participates in FCA.

“The difference between college sports and high school sports is the speed of the game and the amount of film that you watch in preparation for each game,” Green said. “Some goals that I have next year is to become a more disruptive force in the passing game and be a dominant player against the run.”

Green and the Bearcats kick off the 2019 season on September 5 at Missouri Western in St. Joseph.