Muncie, Ind. – In a game dominated by NIU’s special teams, it was only right that Dan Sheldon’s 64-yard punt return for a touchdown was the final score, giving the visiting Huskies a 41-29 win Saturday.

On a sunny afternoon, NIU (3-3, 2-0 MAC) came into the game with a three-game winning streak over the Cardinals (2-3, 0-1 MAC). The most recent meeting was NIU’s final MAC game last year. In that game, NIU took a share of the MAC West title along with the Cardinals and Toledo.

“When you have two evenly matched football teams, turnovers and the kicking game are what is going to determine the final,” Ball State coach Bill Lynch said. “Playing against teams year after year you gain respect for them. Last year’s win wasn’t something that we had to remind to our guys.”

With 14,499 sparingly spread throughout Ball State Stadium, the game started slower than a crippled turtle with four straight punts. Nothing but a a safety of NIU quarterback Josh Haldi was to show for each team’s efforts after the first quarter.

The offenses, however, kicked into high gear in the second quarter with a total of six touchdowns.

Haldi (13-of-20, 171 yards) accounted for all four of the Huskies’ second quarter touchdowns, connecting with tight end Matt Dunker twice for catches from 21 and 18 yards out.

“The wideouts were able to make plays and we got going early,” said Haldi, whose four first half touchdowns were his only of the game, but a career high. “It was fun to play this game. We gelled real good on offense today.”

True freshmen Shatone Powers and Sam Hurd accounted for the other two NIU scores before halftime with their lone catches of the game. Powers caught one from seven yards out, while Hurd had a leaping, 36-yard grab in the end zone which showed off his height and vertical leaping ability.

Ball State senior running back Marcus Merriweather used 20 of his game-high 136 running yards for BSU’s first touchdown of the game.

Cardinal quarterback Talmadge Hill (20-of-46) then found Scott Volk for Ball State’s final score of the half.

Coming out of the locker room with a 28-16 lead, NIU had the opportunity to pull away, but didn’t.

Merriweather reached the end zone less than six minutes into the third quarter to bring the Cardinals within five, 28-23.

Ball State grabbed the lead on its next possession when Hill found Larry Bostic for a 16-yard touchdown. Failing on its second two-point conversion, BSU had a one point edge, 29-28.

“We’ve got so much respect for Northern,” Lynch said. “They are very opportunistic and if they get a chance they are going to take advantage of it.”

And the Huskies did, with two field goals by Steve Azar from 47 and 22 yards out, respectively.

“We knew we had the opportunity to win it,” said Hill, who threw four interceptions. “If they’d just come out the second half and blew us out, that would’ve been a different story, but it hurts to lose this way.”

After Sheldon took his lone punt return of the game to paydirt, the game was virtually out of the Cardinals’ reach.

On its final possession of the game, NIU’s Kursten Strothman ended all Cardinal hopes of a comeback with an interception which he returned six yards. The Huskies then ran the clock out and stormed off the field in victory.

“It’s great to get a road win in this league,” NIU coach Joe Novak said. “At halftime we were looking good, then boom boom, they came back on us. The last couple years we’ve had some great games with Ball State. We have not been a very good road team and that’s been one of our points of focus this year. Josh’s play was the key. He had a very strong game.”

Ball State came into the game focusing on Michael Turner, the nation’s leading rusher. While Turner rushed for 200-plus yards in his previous two games, he was held to 130 against the Cardinals on 34 carries.

“When you’ve got the leading ground gainer in the nation you’ve got to play close attention to the run,” Lynch said. “Then you’ve got to look out for the pass, or it’ll hurt you, and it did today. I thought [Haldi] made some key throws, and if you are throwing touchdowns and not turning it over, you’re playing a pretty good quarterback.”