MARYVILLE, Mo. - Northwest Missouri State tackle Jason Wiseman wasn't "right" last Saturday against Missouri Western.

Wiseman was "left," and the Bearcats were glad about it, for the junior's display of adaptability helped Northwest in a time of need.

Wiseman, the most experienced member of Northwest's offensive line, has played right tackle ever since he joined the Bearcats. But with left tackle Dane Wardenburg sitting at home with pneumonia, coaches had to shuffle the deck for last weekend's game at Missouri Western.

They drew an ace with Wiseman, who switched sides on short notice.

"We've had a lot of injuries, a lot of sickness," Wiseman said. "This was kind of a last-minute thing. Dane got sick on Thursday. We didn't know how well he was going to be - if it was going to be a 24-hour thing."

On Friday, coaches approached the offensive line about making the switch. Relatively inexperienced junior Justin Callaway, who had substituted for the injured Wiseman on the right side the week before, would remain at right tackle, while Wiseman would go to the left side to replace Wardenburg.

"It's just whatever you can do to help your team win, that's what you have to do," Wiseman said.

Switching from one side to another on an offensive line may seem easy - until you do so.

"First of all, your stance is totally different - it's just the opposite," coach Mel Tjeerdsma said. "Your drop-step on your pass protection is just the opposite, too."

"I've been kick-stepping to my right ever since I've been here. It's a totally different muscle-memory situation you have to teach yourself," Wiseman said. "Punching times, where the defender is close enough, and just finding that right point where you have to punch and keep them from hurting (quarterback Blake) Bolles is a totally different situation."

Overcoming years of muscle-memory turned out to be the least of Wiseman's problems. The Garden City, Mo., native said he didn't kick-step the wrong way all day.

However, other things turned out to be a bit more difficult for the former Harrisonville High School standout.

"I found redirecting (my man), where he would go back to the inside trying to cross my face, was quite a bit more difficult than I assumed going into the game," Wiseman said. "Trying to redirect him flat enough to where he couldn't get to Blake was a bit of a problem."

Tjeerdsma said Wiseman proved up to the challenge. While struggling with a few things, Wiseman performed admirably, Tjeerdsma said.

Wiseman made the switch without much practice at all. The Friday decision left the Bearcats and their offensive lineman without a full practice to work out the kinks.

"I really didn't get a chance to practice it at all during the week, because Friday was just a walk-through," Wiseman said. "It was a bit of a challenge, but we overcame it."

And Wiseman's experience was much more enjoyable than it has been on several game days this season. The 6-foot-4, 275-pounder has had some back issues, limiting his playing time.

"He just hasn't really been able to let loose and play," Tjeerdsma said. "It was fun to see him smile, because he hadn't done much of that. It was in a situation where he probably could have been under a lot of stress, but he didn't handle it that way. He handled it real well, and he performed real well."

Along with Wiseman's injuries and Wardenburg's illness, the Northwest offensive line also saw center Ryan Lessman sidelined for last week's game with a high ankle sprain. That's bad news for an offensive line whose depth this season was a big question mark after being hit hard by graduation.

But Tjeerdsma sees the silver lining in it all.

"The good thing about it is that we had two guys in there that really hadn't played much - Justin Callaway and (center) Ross Hastert - and they gave us a good, solid performance. Both of them had been very limited in how much they'd played, and both of them played every snap on offense.

"Through all of this it's tough at the time," Tjeerdsma said, "but we're developing more depth."

Sports reporter Rick Dunaway can be reached at rickd@npgco.com