In a game of slightly less than biblical proportions, David beat Goliath Saturday.

Thanks to a 31-yard field goal by 5-foot-9 sophomore John Ivanic, the NIU football team took a 19-17 decision from the Wisconsin Badgers before a crowd of 46,869 in Madison. It marked the first time in 14 tries the Huskies had defeated a Big Ten Conference school.

Davi …Ivanic, who has gained a reputation for clutch kicks, including a last-second field goal at Northwestern a year ago that gave NIU a tie, said he wasn’t nervous when he lined up his game-winning effort with 1:24 remaining in the contest.

“I just thought about Northwestern and good, positive thoughts,” Ivanic said. “If you go in there just thinking you might miss it, just a little bit, you’ve already missed the kick.”

But Ivanic’s thoughts were pure and his kick was true.

With the Huskies ahead by two points and less than a minute and a half to go, visions of victory danced in the players’ heads.

NIU quarterback Marshall Taylor said, “I was thinking, this is so great. But I also knew the game wasn’t over, because I know how crazy things happen in college football.”

As it turned out, it took a missed field goal from 55 yards by Wisconsin freshman Rich Thompson before the giant had finally been slain. Thompson’s kick had plenty behind it, but the ball barely missed wide to the left.

Ivanic, having been in Thompson’s shoes a few times last year, said he could feel for his Wisconsin counterpart. But this day belonged to Ivanic, who converted all four of his field goal tries. His second of the afternoon sailed 44 yards, Ivanic’s career best.

While Ivanic notched 13 of his team’s 19 points, he was not the only Huskie hero. Taylor (5-of-8 passing for 117 yards) received his share of compliments from QB coach Jay Schaake.

“The thing he did was he came in and made three or four big plays to keep that last drive alive,” Schaake said. “And that’s what he does, and that’s what we expect him to do.”

Perhaps the most crucial play of the game came on that last drive, which began at the NIU 27-yard line. With the Huskies facing third down and four yards to go, Taylor tossed a 15-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Kurt Cassidy, who made a diving catch at the NIU 48.

Though it was Cassidy’s first reception of the season, Taylor never had any doubts. Not many, anyway.

“Hey, he (Cassidy) does that all the time,” Taylor said. “I was just rootin‘ when I threw the ball, it was like, ‘Please.’ That specific situation, he came through for us.”

Cassidy’s twin brother, Kevin, came through for NIU on defense with a fumble recovery in the third quarter. Linebacker Mike Higgins stripped UW running back Steve Vinci of the ball on the Badgers’ first possession of the second half. Cassidy fell on the ball at the Huskie 39-yard line to keep the score 13-10 in favor of NIU.

Cassidy’s recovery was one of four Badger fumbles claimed by the NIU defense. The Huskies’ biggest recovery came with NIU already up 7-0 after Adam Dach’s 1-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, Shawn Peters coughed up the ball and Steve Christian recovered it for NIU at Wisconsin’s 46-yard line. Eight plays later, Ivanic kicked a 33-yard field goal to put the Huskies up 10-0.

Thompson booted a 19-yard field goal of his own to start the second quarter to pull UW within seven. But Ivanic answered with his 44-yarder with 5:15 remaining in the half.

Wisconsin star running back Marvin Artley helped bring his team within three at halftime when he broke loose for a 37-yard run before fumbling at the NIU five. However, Peters made up for his earlier fumble by scooping up Artley’s drop and dashing into the end zone.

With just under seven minutes to go in the third quarter, the Badgers took the lead when quarterback Tony Lowery hit a wide-open Brian Anderson for a touchdown from the Huskie four-yard line.

It was sweet revenge for Anderson, who had fumbled in the second quarter. On that play, Anderson had just caught a short toss from Lowery when Huskie linebacker Mike Manson delivered a punishing hit that left Anderson dazed on the turf.

Ivanic made the score 17-16 on a 23-yard field goal with 0:38 to go in the third quarter, setting up the decisive fourth quarter.

NIU survived two big scares in the final period—a missed 52-yard field goal by Thompson and an interception of a Taylor pass at the Huskie 49 yard-line that resulted in a Badger punt.

To fourth-year head coach Jerry Pettibone, whose Huskie teams have been on the losing end of so many close games, it was a sign that his team may finally be over the hump.

“It makes me feel great that we’ve gotten to that point where our players know how to win,” Pettibone said. “They can draw on these kind of experiences so the next time they get themselves in this kind of a situation, they’ll know how to respond.

“That’s what life is. It’s a bunch of experiences and decisions you make and how you respond to those situations—in football, in the classroom, in a marriage relationship—and our guys are learning how to respond the right way.”