Saturday’s football game against Wake Forest marked the end of an era for NIU football.

Quarterback Chris Finlen concluded his career as Huskies’ captain with a 38-35 loss to Wake Forest. But before his career ended, Finlen engineered a valiant second half comeback before falling short of the Demon Deacons.

The Huskies fell behind early in Winston-Salem and never fully recovered. After Wake Forest held the Huskies on the first drive of the game, the Demon Deacons marched 70 yards to the Huskies’ 10-yard line where kicker Tyler Ashe hit a 27-yard field goal.

The Deacons did not waste time to increase their lead. They drove 47 yards on the very next possession. Wake Forest quarterback James McPherson hit Ira Williams on a 14-yard touchdown pass to give the home team a 10-0 lead.

Early in the second quarter, Wake Forest continued its dominance over the Huskies as McPherson found wide receiver Fabian Banks on a 47-yard touchdown.

After falling behind 17-0, the Huskies got their first points of the afternoon. Finlen hooked up with Darrell Hill on a 6-yard touchdown strike to cut the lead to 21-7.

The touchdown capped a 33-yard drive highlighted by a 24-yard pass from Finlen to tight end Joey Reed in the drive’s first play.

Wake Forest did not take long to get another touchdown. After a 37-yard kickoff return, the Deacons started their drive at their own 41-yard line.

Eleven plays and four minutes later, the Atlantic Coast Conference school capped the first half scoring with a two-yard touchdown run by Fred Staton, who, on the drive, carried six times for 25 yards.

Going into halftime, the Huskies trailed by 17 points, matching their biggest half time deficit of the season.

The Demon Deacons out-gained the Huskies 266-52 in total offense and held the ball for almost 17 minutes in the first half.

The second half saw a total reversal of roles as the Huskies defense stopped the Wake offense on their first possession.

The Huskies took the ensuing drive 73 yards for their second score of the game. The drive started on the Huskies’ own 27-yard line after a Wake Forest punt.

Finlen then hooked up with Hill on a 59-yard pass to bring the Huskies to the Deacons’ 13-yard line setting up a 9-yard touchdown pass from Finlen to Hill.

The Huskies’ defense stopped Wake Forest on its second possession, giving the offense good field position on the Wake Forest 36-yard line.

Tailback Thomas Hammock scored his only touchdown of the game from five yards out, cutting the deficit to 24-21.

Wake Forest then took what proved to be an insurmountable lead with back-to-back scoring drives that produced 14 points.

On the first score, Demon Deacon tailback Tarence Williams capitalized on a Randee Drew fumble and scored from 12 yards out on the next play.

The second score came just minutes later when John Stone scored from 13 yards out on a reverse.

Trailing by 17 points, the Huskies offense got into gear.

On the first drive of the fourth quarter, the Huskies drove 80 yards on 15 plays to pull within 10 points of the home team.

Finlen hooked up with Hill for the third time on the day, this time from 10 yards out. The pass tied Finlen’s career-best of touchdowns in a game and set a new career-best for touchdown receptions in a game for Hill.

The following offensive possession pulled the Huskies even closer.

Sophomore Michael Turner bolted 27 yards to the end zone to pull the Huskies within three points. Turner’s touchdown proved to be the final score of the season for the Huskies.

NIU’s final drive stalled after one running play and three straight incomplete passes by Finlen.

“We just kept hanging in there and gave ourselves a chance to win,” head coach Joe Novak said. “We’ve done that all season. We’ve won six games and four of those have been trailing after double digits. We just didn’t make enough plays at the end. I’m just disappointed for our seniors, but proud of our kids. We want to keep building on the success we had this season, but we’ve got a lot to work on between now and next season.”

Finlen concluded his college career with 201 yards passing and three touchdowns. Fellow senior Darrell Hill grabbed eight balls including three for touchdowns on his way to 160 receiving yards.