DEKALB, Ill. -- Sophomore quarterback Marcus Childers (Adairsville, Ga./Adairsville) had three touchdown passes while sophomore Tre Harbison (Shelby, N.C./Crest/Virginia) rushed for 124 yards as the NIU Huskies held on for a 24-16 victory over Central Michigan in the Mid-American Conference opener on Saturday afternoon at Huskie Stadium. 

The Chippewas (0-3, 0-1 MAC) were driving in the final minute looking for a game-tying score when redshirt freshman linebacker Vinny Labus (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) intercepted a deflected pass inside the 10-yard line to secure the victory for the Huskies. 

"We're ecstatic about the win," said NIU Head Coach Rod Carey. "It's hard to win a football game, much less a conference game early in the year. We tried to give them a big lead early with a couple of mishaps on special teams, but we fought back offensively, and Marcus (Childers) had a slow start but he got himself going after that first touchdown, and we had a nice lead at halftime."

The Huskie defense came up with two defensive stands early in the game following a pair of errant punt snaps, which gave the Chippewas the ball on the Huskie nine and 29 yard lines, respectively.  CMU missed a field goal after gaining just two yards after the first bad snap, and then were held to just a 27-yard field goal by Ryan Tice. 

"I love the way we attack things defensively," Carey said. "We come out and take it as a challenge and not an 'oh crap' moment. We're going to attack it and you saw that. We held them to a field goal and one missed field goal early in the game. Things could've slipped away early, but our defense kept us in it." 

A CMU fumble forced by NIU junior Lance Deveaux Jr. (Pompano Beach, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) and recovered by junior Kyle Pugh (Chicago Heights, Ill./Bloom Township) gave the Huskies the ball on their own 21 and NIU (1-2, 1-0 MAC) then went 79 yards in 12 plays, capped by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Childers to junior Spencer Tears (Chicago, Ill./H.L. Richards) for the score. 

On the third play of the drive, Childers connected with redshirt freshman Cole Tucker (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) for seven yards and an important third down conversion. Four plays later, Childers found senior D.J. Brown (North Little Rock, Ark./North Little Rock) across the middle for 37 yards to move the Huskies into Central Michigan territory and five plays later Childers found Tears in the corner of the end zone for six. 

Brown finished with a team-high four catches for 69 yards. Childers was 11-of-18 passing in the contest for 109 yards.

Central Michigan's ensuing drive ended with a punt block by junior Sutton Smith (Saint Charles, Mo./Francis Howell), giving NIU a short field at the Chippewa 22. 

Childers found redshirt freshman Dennis Robinson (Hollywood, Fla./South Broward) four plays later for a seven-yard touchdown as the Huskies took a 14-3 lead into halftime. It was the first catch of Robinson's career. 

On its second drive of the second half, NIU scored again to take a 21-3 lead as Childers hooked up with Brown for a two-yard touchdown. The big play on the drive was a 48-yard run up the middle by Harbison who was dragged down at the two; the Huskies scored two plays later to take an 18-point lead with 6:30 to play in the third quarter.  

Harbison's 124 yards on 13 carries was the first 100-yard rushing game by a Huskie since Jordan Huff ran for 185 yards against Western Michigan last season (Nov. 15, 2017). 

Central Michigan changed quarterbacks on its next drive and immediately marched 66 yards in nine plays to trim the NIU lead to 21-10. The new Chippewa signal caller, Tommy Lazzaro, was 2-of-2 passing on the drive for 28 yards and gained 31 yards on four carries, capped by a six-yard touchdown run with 3:09 to play in the third. 

Lazzaro guided Central Michigan to another touchdown on the first drive of the fourth quarter. The Chippewas converted three third downs on the drive and Lazzaro was 6-of-8 through the air, including a four-yard connection to Julian Hicks for the touchdown with 9:43 to play. CMU's two-point conversion attempt failed and NIU led 21-16. 

A 35-yard rush by Harbison set up a 36-yard field goal by senior Andrew Gantz (Dayton, Ohio/Centerville/Cincinnati) with 5:51 left as the Huskie lead grew to 24-16. 

The two teams traded punts as Central Michigan got the ball back with three minutes left. On third-and-10 from its own 40, Lazzaro found Jonathan Ward for 23 yards across midfield. Four plays later, the Chippewas converted a fourth-and-two as Lazzaro picked up three yards on the ground. An 11-yard completion moved CMU down to the 15 as the clocked ticked under a minute. After spiking the ball on first down, Lazzaro's second down pass was deflected into the hands of Labus as the Huskies hung on for the victory. 

"Vinny was ready after Kyle (Pugh) got dinged on the last drive," Carey said. "What I loved about that play was he immediately went down and he knew the game was over. That was a smart play."

Lazzaro finished the game 13-of-22 passing for 128 yards; Ward led the Chippewas in rushing with 74 yards on 16 carries. 

Junior linebacker Antonio Jones-Davis (Vero Beach, Fla./Vero Beach) recorded a team-high 16 tackles for NIU, junior Ben LeRoy (Wilmette, Ill./Loyola Academy) added eight tackles, including 1.5 sacks. 

NIU will step back out of conference next week as the Huskies travel to Tallahassee, Fla., to meet Florida State. Kickoff against the Seminoles is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., and will be televised on ESPNU.