After the Huskies concluded their football season last year, the pressing question was, “Who will replace the Wishbone Wizard, quarterback Stacey Robinson?”

After Saturday’s defense-dominated intrasquad game, the answer is still pending. The two candiates, White-team quarterback Stacey McKinney, and Black-team quarterback Rob Rugai, played evenly in White’s 13-8 victory.

During the game, NIU head coach Charlie Sadler played the part of spectator. He let his defensive coordinator, Gary Evans, coach the White, and his offensive coordinator, Russ Graham, coach the Black. However, Sadler was the chief critic of his quarterbacks’ play.

“The quarterback situation, as you saw today, (is) a bright spot, particularly with Rugai and McKinney,” Sadler said. “We’ll go into our fall camp with them still in competition. We’ll try to determine the number one quarterback very early in camp.”

McKinney, who completed four of 13 passes for 69 yards, and led his team in rushing with 46 yards on 12 carries, took part in the offensive play of the game.

Midway through the second quarter, White had the ball on its own 44-yard line on third-and-21. McKinney dropped back to pass and lifted a high spiral to flanker Sean Allgood, who was streaking down the right sideline.

Allgood caught sight of the ball, turned to his left and brought in the pass just before deftly dragging his foot inbounds. The play went for 35 yards, and set up Matt Golden’s 32-yard field goal, thus making the score 10-0.

“I think I did a fairly good job of making things happen,” McKinney said. “I felt I had things under control.”

McKinney was under control in his team’s first scoring drive. With White on Black’s 15 on fourth-and-one, McKinney went right on a keeper and gained 12 yards before being pushed out of bounds. Two plays later, tailback LeShon Johnson bulled his way into the end zone from 2 yards out.

With the score at 10-0 in the third quarter, Rugai guided his team into the end zone. On second-and-eight on White’s 11, Rugai ran left, slipped a tackle and scooted in for a touchdown. He then completed a pass to receiver Larry Wynn for the two-point conversion.

For the game, Rugai completed 10 out of 14 passes for 67 yards, and led his team in rushing with 35 yards on nine rushes. Rugai had one interception and one fumble.

“I thought I played all right,” Rugai said. “I threw a bad ball on the interception. (But) overall, we moved the ball.”