NIU football holds on for close victory against Kent State

DeKALB – The Northern Illinois football team has its Huskie Stadium win streak put to the test on Saturday against Kent State.

The Huskies never got into much of a rhythm, but still put up enough points to defeat the Golden Flashes, 17-14, surviving the scare and and improving to 4-1 and 1-0 in the Mid-American Conference.

"You always enjoy [a win]. You don't ever take anything else, you always enjoy it. I've lost games like that before in my career," NIU coach Rod Carey said. "You don't ever ever slight winning. Winning is winning, by one or by 50. You don't get any style points. They don't put any asterisks in the thing, 'ooh that looked really pretty.' They don't do that."

The Golden Flashes (0-5, 0-2 MAC), who came in as 26.5-point underdogs, had a chance to tie the game in the final minutes, but kicker Anthony Melchiori's 56-yard field goal attempt fell short. Kent State rallied with 10 unanswered points in the second half to get within striking distance of the Huskies.

"Nobody, nobody thought that we would even be in this game, at all," Kent State coach Paul Haynes said. "And, this football team will continue to fight, grind like crazy. It is shaping us for bigger and better things, I know that."

Melchiori's attempt came after starting quarterback Colin Reardon and backup Nathan Strock were injured on back-to-back plays.

Haynes said he would have handled the field-goal attempt differently without the injuries.

"We felt more comfortable with our field goal kicker in that situation than our third and fourth-string quarterback," he said.

Kent State held the Huskies scoreless in the first quarter, though NIU was able to get on the board in the second thanks to a Da'Ron Brown 7-yard touchdown run on a jet sweep. The scoring drive was led by NIU quarterback Anthony Maddie, who came in in relief of starter Drew Hare.

NIU got its other points via a 40-yard field goal by Tyler Wedel and an 18-yard touchdown run by redshirt freshman running back Jordan Huff.

Maddie finished the game 7 of 10 for 105 yards, though he did have a key interception in the fourth, which led to the Golden Flashes' last drive. Hare went 8 of 15 for 93 yards. Maddie ran for 48 yards and Hare had 34 yards on the ground.

"I just go in there when Coach Carey and [offensive coordinator Bob] Cole tell me to, and my job is just to be ready to go at all times," Maddie said. "Me and Drew are on the same team, and whenever my time comes, I've just got to be ready to go."

NIU continues MAC play next week, when the Huskies host Central Michigan at 4 p.m. Saturday at Huskie Stadium for Homecoming.