It was one of Western Illinois coach Don Patterson’s best games, but NIU coach Joe Novak can’t say the same.

WIU (3-0) took down the host Huskies (1-3) 29-26 Saturday night in front of 23,598 fans. The Leathernecks extended their win streak to four games against NIU — three of which came in Novak’s tenure.

“It’s my 285th game and it was the most memorable I’ll probably ever have coached,” Patterson said. “Both teams showed a lot of character.”

In a game with eight lead changes, all NIU had to do was hold the Leathernecks one last drive when WIU started on its own 13-yard line with 4:26 left in the game.

In the ensuing drive, which lasted 3:16, WIU reached the end zone on a five-yard reverse run from freshman Reggie Gray.

Western, however, was led throughout the game by junior quarterback Russ Michna, who capped off his 382-yard passing day with the 87-yard drive to send his team home victorious.

“Their quarterback was probably the difference of the game,” Novak said. “He played a heck of a game. I hope we never schedule them again. They are very good.”

A 6-foot-3, 225-pound Conant High School alumnus, Michna who tossed for 300 of his yards in the first half and finished the day 14-of-21 with no interceptions.

“I’m not sure if there’s a better quarterback than Russ in Illinois,” Patterson said.

Michna’s counterpart, Josh Haldi, finished the game 6-of-16 for 74 yards and no touchdowns against the Division I-AA team.

The Huskies’ running game was in full-force, however, with Michael Turner finishing with 282 yards.

Turner’s 120 yards in the second quarter were more than double any Leatherneck’s rushing output for the game.

Turner also finished with all three of the Huskies’ touchdowns.

With the largest crowd at Huskie Stadium since Illinois State came to town on Sept. 9, 2000 (24,682), Turner woke the scorekeeper up with a two-yard touchdown run with 2:28 left in the first quarter.

With NIU down 16-14 Huskie punter Jimmy Erwin shanked a nine-yard punt against the wind with 1:06 left before halftime.

Starting with the ball on NIU’s 48 yard line, the Leathernecks took the ball 19 yards, setting up a 47-yard Justin Langan field goal, giving them a 19-14 advantage at intermission.

With 11:31 left in the game, NIU took a 26-22 lead on a forced fumble by NIU defensive tackle Eric Didesch which resulted in a safety.

After the Huskies failed to do damage and were forced to punt, WIU started its eventual game-winning drive.

With 1:10 left, the Huskies took over on their 20-yard line.

After two completions, Haldi spiked the ball to stop the clock at with 44 seconds left on the Huskies’ 39-yard line.

After throwing an incomplete pass, Haldi was sacked on the next play, and WIU’s Brian Ceaser forced a fumble. When Leatherneck Victor Campbell recovered the loose ball, all that was left was for WIU to run out the clock.

“They came hard all day,” Michna said. “I’m sure I’m going to be feeling it in the morning. Anytime you have an opportunity to play a single A team, you have to prove yourself to them and we think we did that.”