DeKALB — On a beautiful 72 degree Saturday in Bowling Green, Ohio, not much went right for the home team as the Huskies won a no-doubter with a final score of 48-17.
The Huskies (5-2, 3-0 Mid-American Conference) came out firing on all cylinders as redshirt freshman quarterback Marcus Childers started the game with two completions that eventually would lead to a career long 30-yard run by Tommy Mister, redshirt junior running back.
“I felt like [Childers] played his best game today,” Head Coach Rod Carey said.
Shane Wimann, redshirt senior tight end, added to his all-time career rankings in school history with his fifth touchdown reception this season.
The Falcons closed out the first quarter with a touchdown pass from redshirt sophomore quarterback James Morgan to freshman wide receiver Quintin Morris that had them trailing 14-7 heading into the second quarter.
NIU started off the second quarter with a little frustration when Marcus Jones, redshirt sophomore running back, dropped a touchdown where he had a clear path into the end zone with no defenders within 15 yards of him.
The NIU defense would continue to add to their historic season as redshirt sophomore safety Trayshon Foster and redshirt senior safety Jackson Abresch had back-to-back interceptions for the Huskies.
The offense then added on with a 15-yard pitch-and-catch from Childers to Spencer Tears, redshirt sophomore wide receiver, and then a 73-yard 180 turn around catch in mid-air from Chad Beebe, redshirt senior wide receiver, to give NIU a 28-7 advantage.
{{tncms-inline account=”DrewHare12″ html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Glad to see my guy, Chad Beebe, get a score!! 🐐 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHuskies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHuskies</a></p>&mdash; Drew Hare (@DrewHare12) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrewHare12/status/921820058841767937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2017</a></blockquote>” id=”921820058841767937″ type=”twitter”}}
“That’s what we expect from Chad, he’s a really good one,” Carey said.
The Huskies were not done yet, as they forced their third interception of the day on a deflected pass that landed in the arms of redshirt senior safety Mycial Allen.
“When you can get turnovers and not turn it over with short fields like that, you can stop their momentum,” Carey said.
That interception set up a 29-yard field goal by senior kicker Christian Hagan and gave the Huskies a 31-7 halftime lead.
Not much changed in the second half as the Huskies continued to impose Bowling Green as Sutton Smith, redshirt sophomore defensive end, continued his dominance with a tackle and strip of freshman running back Andrew Clair that was turned into another touchdown.
{{tncms-inline account=”Niugymnastics” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">That Sutton Smith just won’t be denied! Impact Player! But what a defense! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/noteven?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#noteven</a> ascloseasthefinalscore <a href="https://t.co/eCUdY0JvX7">pic.twitter.com/eCUdY0JvX7</a></p>&mdash; NIU Gymnastics (@Niugymnastics) <a href="https://twitter.com/Niugymnastics/status/921860723499782146?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2017</a></blockquote>” id=”921860723499782146″ type=”twitter”}}
After a strip sack from the Falcons that would turn into seven points, the Huskies put a final exclamation point on the day with a nine-yard running touchdown by Jauan Wesley, redshirt sophomore wide receiver.
NIU will return to action against the Eastern Michigan University Eagles 6 p.m. Thursday at Huskie Stadium.
