Friday night, NIU wide receiver Shatone Powers dreamt he was going to catch two touchdowns in NIU’s game against Buffalo.

The dream came true. The sophomore receiver caught two touchdowns in NIU’s 40-9 victory over Buffalo.

Powers had three catches for 51 yards to accompany the pair of touchdowns.

After his second score, fellow receivers P.J. Fleck and Sam Hurd began calling Powers by the nickname “Cris Carter,” referring to the former NFL wide receiver.

“They said all I do is catch touchdown passes,” said Powers.

With NIU’s leading receiver Fleck graduating after this season, NIU quarterback Josh Haldi knows the other receivers have to step up.

“When we get down in the red zone, teams try to take away P.J.,” Haldi said. “So other guys have to step up for us, and this week it was Shatone.”

Powers got the Huskies on the board first with a 13-yard touchdown catch. The first play of the game went for 60 yards as running back Michael Turner got his longest run of the year to set up the Powers touchdown from Haldi.

The second of the 5-foot-11 receiver’s touchdowns came seconds before the end of the first half as NIU got a three-and-out on defense to get another chance at scoring.

Powers made a leaping catch in the back corner of the end zone to put the Huskies up 31-9 at halftime.

“It was a fade route and I jumped over the defender and caught it,” the Broadview native said. “I hit my head on the track, too, when I came down.”

Powers has made some catches worthy of the highlight reel in the past few weeks, including a diving catch last week to preserve a drive against Ball State.

“Shatone has soft hands and goes up and gets the ball for me,” Haldi said. “A lot of times I don’t even realize how good some of the plays are. Then when I look at them on film, like that catch against Ball State, I see what an athletic play it was.”

Powers said his mentality is that if he can touch it, he can catch it.

The two touchdowns on Saturday doubled his season total to four. He has 18 catches for 227 yards on the year.

“Obviously what he was able to do was huge,” Haldi said. “His first touchdown got us going. The one in the corner of the end zone at the end of the first half was real huge. He has a lot of ability, he makes plays and the sky’s the limit for him.”