DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University defense held Holy Cross to just 217 yards of total offense as the Huskies outlasted the Holy Cross Crusaders, 19-17, on Saturday afternoon (Aug. 30) at Huskie Stadium in the season opener for both teams.
"Obviously it's good to be 1-0," said head coach Thomas Hammock. "It's hard to win, and I told my players 'for six years I didn't enjoy wins, but from this point forward I'm going to enjoy every one of them'. I love this team. I love what they're about. I believe in what they're doing and how they do it. We talk about six-second focus and they did that. We know we can play a lot better. We have lot of new players and new coaches that we brought together and we fought through things and that shows our culture."
NIU (1-0) allowed just 62 rushing yards to the Crusaders and held Holy Cross to 3-for-12 on third down. Quinn Urwiler (Mooseheart, Ill./Batavia/North Dakota) recorded a team-high 10 tackles, Muhammed Jammeh (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance) made seven while Ty Myles (Blackshear, Ga./Pierce County) had six, including 1.5 tackles for loss.
Holy Cross (0-1) took its first lead of the game with 10:34 to play in the fourth quarter as Cal Swanson connected with Blake Youngblood for a 16-yard touchdown pass to give the Crusaders a 10-6 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Huskies went back in front as redshirt-freshman Dev'ion Reynolds (Zion, Ill./Carmel Catholic) returned the kick 96 yards for a touchdown as NIU took a 12-10 lead.
"I trusted my special teams and coaches to put me in the right position, and I went out there and made a play," Reynolds said about his first career touchdown. "It felt unreal. I appreciate the opportunity they've given me and everybody trusting me."
After the Huskie defense forced a three-and-out, the fifth of six NIU would record in the contest, the Huskie offense went 61 yards in eight plays to go in front, 19-10.
DeAree Rogers (Lexington, S.C./Irmo/Lenoir-Rhyne) had a 22-yard end around on the drive and Jaylen Poe (Dallas, Ga./North Paulding) had a 21-yard run to put the Huskies on the Holy Cross 2-yard line. One play later, Chavon Wright (Opa Locka, Fla./Cedar Grove/University of Charleston) scored from a direct snap to put the Huskies in front by two scores with 4:15 remaining.
"Nobody flinched or panicked," Hammock said. "We put our defense in some bad situations, and the bowed their necks and they made plays to put us in a position to win the game. That's what a team does, it picked the other side up. Our special teams picked us up with a [kick] return for a touchdown. A lot of different things happened in that game and our offense went out there and ran the ball well enough to run the clock out."
Wright finished with a game-high 77 yards rushing on 11 carries.
Holy Cross responded with a kick return touchdown of its own on the following play as Alijah Cason went 97 yards for the score, cutting the NIU lead to 19-17.
The Crusaders got the ball back with 2:17 to play following an NIU punt, but the Huskie defense came up big again, forcing Holy Cross into a fourth-and-four that resulted in an incomplete pass as the Huskies claimed the season opening victory.
Josh Holst (Marengo, Ill./Marengo Community) was 12-of-18 for 101 yards passing while Rogers caught a game-high seven passes for 73 yards.
NIU scored first on its second drive of the game as Andrew Glass (Wheeling, W. Va./Wheeling/Kent State) converted a 20-yard field goal. Holy Cross tied the game as the Crusaders took advantage of a Huskie special team miscue to start on the NIU 13. The drive resulted in just a field goal, however, as the game was tied at three with 3:22 left in the second quarter.
The Huskies came back with a 12-play, 71-yard drive, culminating in a 39-yard field goal by Glass just before halftime as NIU took a 6-3 lead into the intermission.
NIU maintained its lead through a scoreless third quarter and into the fourth before Holy Cross took its lone, brief, lead of the contest.
Swanson finished the game 17-of-29 passing for 155 yards for Holy Cross. He was also the leading rusher for the Crusaders with 51 yards on 12 carries.
NIU will return to action on Friday, Sept. 5, when the Huskies travel to Maryland to take on the Terrapins. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and will be televised on Big Ten Network.
—NIU—
