TUCSON, Ariz. - The Northern Illinois University football team got out to a fast start Saturday night against the Arizona Wildcats at Casino Del Sol Stadium, but the hosts came back for a 42-17 victory.
"We talked about the ability to respect the process of winning and we talked about getting better in Week One, Week Two and Week Three," said head coach Rob Harley following Saturday night's game. "The biggest thing we wanted to do was start the game faster, and we thought we got out to a fast start. Now it goes back to the ability to execute self-pride and coaching. It's an 'us' thing in critical situations and hats off to those guys and their quarterback."
Quarterback Taron Dickens (Miami, Fla./Western Carolina) was 25-for-37 passing for 228 yards and a touchdown in his first start as a Huskie. DeAree Rogers (Lexington, S.C./Lenoir-Rhyne) led all players in the game with 10 receptions for 68 yards. Rickey Taylor Jr. (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice) added five receptions for 57 yards. Telly Johnson Jr. (Augusta, Ga./Hephzibah) rushed for 69 yards on 12 carries.
NIU (0-3) drove 54 yards on its opening drive, getting to the Arizona 21. Johnson rushed for 39 yards on the drive, breaking off a 20-yard run that got the Huskies to the Wildcats' 33. Kicker JJ Schlenhardt (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) made a 38-yard field goal to put the Huskies up 3-0 with 11:24 to go in the opening quarter.
The Huskie defense sacked Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita twice on the Wildcats' first possession. Jack Murray (Brookfield, Wis./Brookfield East) took down Fifita on the first play of the drive at the Arizona 14. After an eight-yard completion Kole Sneed (Oak Park, Ill./St. Thomas) sacked Fifita to force a punt. Dickens wasted no time getting NIU back on the board. The junior quarterback found Cam Thompson (Youngstown, Ohio/Mississippi State) for a 52-yard touchdown reception that gave NIU a 10-0 lead at the 9:07 mark.
Arizona (2-1) responded with a 38-yard touchdown pass from Fifita to Chris Hunter, capping a seven-play 86-yard drive to make the score 10-7. Dickens completed his first six passes on the next NIU drive to get the Huskies to the NIU 49. On third-and-10 Dickens completed a 21-yard pass to Taylor to get NIU into Arizona territory at the 30. NIU drove to the Wildcats' 24 but had to settle for a 41-yard field goal try that was missed with 1:08 left in the first.
The Wildcats took the lead at the 11:13 mark of the second quarter on Fifita's second touchdown pass of the game, a 14-yard throw to Isaiah Mizell that made the score 14-10. The Huskies ran over 4:00 off the clock on their next possession but were forced to punt from midfield. Arizona then drove 80 yards on seven plays with another Fifita touchdown pass giving the Wildcats' a 21-10 advantage. The Wildcats added one more touchdown before halftime, a 69-yard Caleb Smith punt return, to take a 28-10 lead.
Arizona scored on its first two possessions of the second half to go up 42-10. With 3:33 to go in the game Yassine Falke (Indianapolis, Ind./Marian) intercepted a Sawyer Anderson pass at the NIU two yardline and returned it 35 yards to the NIU 37. It was Falke's third interception of the season. A personal foul penalty moved the ball to the Arizona 48. The Huskies drove down the field and scored a late touchdown on an Elijah Porter (Ankeny, Iowa/Centennial) one-yard plunge, making the final score 42-17.
"I am proud of the way these guys are fighting," Harley added. "They continue to get better. A young team is dangerous when that lightbulb goes off."
NIU had 341 yards of total offense in the game to Arizona's 441. Jashawn Nelson (Fort Wayne, Ind./Wayne) had seven tackles, including a sack and another half-tackle for loss. Kyon Conyers (Millville, N.J./LIU) and Marshall Washington Jr. (Camden, N.J./LIU) also had seven stops on defense.
NIU wraps up non-conference play on Saturday, Sept. 26 at Georgia State. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. CT with the game telecast on ESPN+.
—NIU—
