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The NIU football team picked up its first Mid-American Conference win, coming from behind in the fourth quarter to win 17-7 on Saturday at Bowling Green.
The win moves the Huskies to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the MAC, while the Falcons fell to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the MAC.
Here are five takeaways from the game.
Holst plays hero in relief
With Ethan Hampton injured in the second quarter and leaving the game, redshirt freshman Josh Holst came in to play quarterback despite only limited action this season, including early today.
Early in the fourth quarter, Holst took off on a 22-yard touchdown run to cap a seven-play, 46-yard drive set up by a big defensive play by Skyler-Gil Howard. The Huskies went for two, and tight end Grayson Barnes found long snapper Isaac Hatfield for a 14-7 lead with 14:53 left.
Bowling Green got down to the NIU 32, but the Huskies stood strong on a fourth and 2, getting the ball back to the offense. Holst orchestrated a 12-play, 59-yard drive that ate almost 6 minutes off the clock and ended with a Kanon Woodill field goal from 27 yards out and a 17-7 lead.
Holst finished 10 of 14 for 89 yards, plus had 47 rushing yards on eight attempts.
Gill-Howard feasts on BG quarterbacks
Gill-Howard had a strong first half, but made himself known in the third quarter. The Falcons opened the third marching down to the NIU 2 with a 7-6 lead. On third and 2, Gill-Howard sacked Connor Bazelak for a 7-yard loss. That forced a longer field goal for Zach Long, who initially made it until a procedure penalty backed the Falcons up another 5 yards and the 32-yarder was no good.
Gill-Howard wasn’t done. BG faced a third and 15 on its own 11, and Gill-Howard stuffed Lucian Anderson for a loss. That set the Huskies up on the Falcon 46 and led to a touchdown that put the Huskies up 14-7 early in the fourth.
Gil-Howard finished with six tackles, three for a loss and two sacks.
BG under pressure, and it wasn’t just Gill-Howard
The Huskie defense was able to keep pressure on Bazelak and Anderson, sacking Bazelak three times in the first half and finishing the game with six total sacks.
Gill-Howard, Jalonnie Williams and Roy Williams had sacks, with Roy Williams’ sack leading to a 17-yard fumble return by Jalonnie Williams. Jordan Hansen, Jake Gassaway and Cade Haberman also had first-half tackles for loss.
For the game, the Falcons finished with 210 yards of total offense. Nate Valcarcel had a team-best seven tackles for NIU, plus a game-sealing interception in the closing minutes. The Huskies had 10 tackles for a loss, including two by Haberman.
NIU defense clamps down
Bowling Green opened up with a five-play, 75-yard drive that only took 3:03 to result in a 10-yard touchdown pass to Harold Fannin Jr. as the Falcons went up 7-3.
But the Falcons struggled on offense the rest of the first half with just 123 yards.
The peak for the Huskie defense came with 9:05 left in the second quarter when Roy Williams sacked Bazelak and forced the ball to pop loose. Jalonnie Williams plucked it out of the air and rumbled 17 yards to the BG 10.
The Huskies couldn’t score on the possession. Jalonnie Williams had a third-down sack for NIU on the next drive.
Huskie offense struggles in first half
NIU went 46 yards on its first drive and settled for a field goal. They got down to the Bowling Green 39 on the next drive but a run by Hampton on fourth down fell short.
But after those two drives the offense dried up.
After the turnover, they were in prime position to score. But on a second-down run, Hampton took a couple of hits and left the game. It was his eighth carry for 27 yards in the absence of Brown.
Holst came into the game - he played a couple snaps earlier - and threw an incompletion. The field goal attempt by Woodill was blocked and BG maintained its 7-3 lead.