How NIU turned the tide: Big plays propel win against Western Michigan

KALAMAZOO, Michigan – NIU trailed by a touchdown with its offense unable to get much going on its first three drives Wednesday at Western Michigan.

Then Santana Banner came up with an interception on a fake punt, a double whammy of a forced turnover and standout special teams play.

The Huskies scored on their next five drives, plus had a 91-yard touchdown return by Cam Thompson, to hand Western Michigan its first MAC loss, 42-28.

“It just stacked our momentum, really got the offense going,” Banner said. “It put them in a better spot, then they were able to do what they do best.”

The Broncos (5-4, 4-1) forced a pair of three-and-outs on the Huskies first two drives. After they got a touchdown on their second drive on a 66-yard run by Jaden Nixon, NIU (5-4, 2-3) was in position to respond after a 28-yard pass from Ethan Hampton to Trayvon Rudolph. Antario Brown followed that with a 49-yard run down to the Western Michigan 6, but he fumbled after a hard hit and left the game, not to return.

So the Broncos faced a fourth-and-6 at the NIU 42, lined up to punt, but unleashed a fake pass.

Banner didn’t bite.

“It’s early in the game, they called safe,” Banner said. “It was just reading my key. The No. 2 receiver [Kaevion Mack], he stood still and then took off. After that I just made a play on the ball.”

After that, the offense started producing. Freshman Telly Johnson, who made his first appearance of the season 11 days earlier in a loss to Ball State, ran for 141 yards and 23 carries and two scores. Ethan Hampton was 13 of 16 for 156 yards and two touchdowns playing the whole game. And Rudolph had six catches for 74 yards.

The 411 total yards were 14 more than NIU’s season average, which was second in the MAC entering the week. But the Huskies’ point total was well ahead of the 23.4 they had been averaging this year.

“It was good having the older guys with me, telling me to keep my head straight,” Johnson said. “So I just go out there and do what we do every day like we prepare through the week, same thing we do in practices.”

The Broncos opened the second half with a touchdown, tying things up at 21. But that’s when Thompson unleashed his 91-yard run, using a block by Andrew McElroy to cruise into the end zone.

“I caught the ball, ran what the coaches pulled up for me and Andrew made a great block,” Thompson said. “I hit off of him and I was like OK, I think I’m gone.’ It was kinda unreal. It kind of felt a little like practice. I didn’t feel like a game I didn’t get touched.”

NIU went up 28-21 after that. And while Banner’s play seemingly sparked the offense, Thompson’s play awoke something in the defense. Two plays into the next Western Michigan drive, Jaden Dolphin came up with the second interception of the game for the Huskies.

Gavin Williams scored his second touchdown of the day on the ensuing NIU drive for a 28-21 lead. The lead was never less than 14 again.

Nate Valcarcel would add a third interception later. NIU had three interceptions all year entering the game.

“Right when I took the kick back, we get a pick off the next drive,” Thompson said. “Then we go score right after that. It just shows. It definitely shows.”

Coach Thomas Hammock stressed playing complementary football last week in a press conference. He said Wednesday was an example of that.

“We played well enough in all three phases,” Hammock said. “We scored 42 points on offense. We had a kickoff return for a touchdown. We had three turnovers on defense. That’s complementary football.”