Big Plays Doom Eagles as Huskies Pull Away, 50-6

Box score.

DEKALB, Ill. (EMUEagles.com) – Northern Illinois University used a variety of big plays to jump out to a huge early lead and went on to topple Eastern Michigan University, 50-6, in a Mid-American Conference West Division game here Thursday night, Nov. 5, at Huskie Stadium.

In the first half, NIU racked up 342 yards of offense and scored four touchdowns of 30-yards or longer, including an 85-yard opening kickoff return, a 30-yard pass completion and runs of 65 and 79 yards as it jumped out a 37-6 halftime advantage. Eastern Michigan could never recover, falling to 0-9 overall and 0-4 in the league. Meanwhile Northern Illinois ups it MAC mark to 4-1 and 6-3 overall.

Junior quarterback Kyle McMahon (Rochester Hills, Mich.-Pontiac Notre Dame Prep) went 3-for-10 for 33 yards via the air and true freshman Alex Gillett (Clyde, Ohio-Clyde) was 2-of-12 passing for 49 yards. On the ground, Dwayne Priest (Roanoke, Va.-William Fleming-Fork Union Academy) could only muster 75 yards in 17 carries while Gillett finished with 36 yards.

The Huskies used a four-prong attack on the ground with Chad Spann, DeMarcus Grady, Me'Co Brown and Justin Anderson all tallying 45-yards or more rushing. Spann notched 174 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns, Grady had 10 rushes for 104 yards and a score while Anderson turned in 77 yards on 10 handoffs. Grady also completed four passes for 119 yards and a TD. In total, NIU averaged 8.8 yards per play en route to 537 total yards of offense.

The action was fast and furious out of the gate, as the Huskies returned the opening kickoff 86-yards for the touchdown. However, the point after attempt was blocked by Brandon Slater (Southfield, Mich.-Lathrup) to keep the deficit at just six. The Green and White was unable to move the ball on its first possession and were forced to punt the football away.

A lucky break though gave the ball right back to EMU, only this time in tremendous field possession. John Kremer muffed the kick and it was recovered by Neal Howey (Monroe, Mich.-St. Mary's-Upper Iowa) at the NIU 28-yard line. Despite momentum change, Eastern was only able to cash in a 21-yard field goal by Joe Carithers (Dacula, Ga.-Dacula-Palomar J.C.) with 10:45 to play in the quarter to make it 6-3.

On the ensuing drive, Northern was able to move inside Eastern territory before the drive stalled. A roughing the kicker penalty would give the Huskies new life and they made it hurt on the very next play after the flag with a 30-yard touchdown toss by Grady to Landon Cox with 7:26 still showing in the first period.

The exchange of scoring continued with EMU and NIU both tacking on scores within 20 seconds of each other. Eastern Michigan once again had to settle for a 20-yard Carithers' field goal at the 1:56 mark, while NIU was able to pick up a 65-yard touchdown run to close the quarter with the Red and Black sporting the 20-6 advantage.

Northern Illinois padded the advantage to 17, 23-6, with a 26-yard field goal off the foot of Mike Salerno with 10:46 left in the second quarter. EMU had another scoring opportunity deep inside NIU territory, thanks to a 36-yard scamper by Priest. But again the EMU offense stalled and Carithers field goal attempt this time was off the mark.

Having escaped the golden EMU scoring chance, NIU would add insult to injury with two more scores in the stanza to head into the locker room at the half up 37-6.

Eastern Michigan closes out the home portion of the 2009 schedule Saturday, Nov. 14, against instate rival Western Michigan University. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Rynearson Stadium with the Eagles honoring their senior class prior to the start of the contest. WEMU (89.1 FM) and WCHB (1200 AM) will carry the game on the radio with Eagle All-Access video streaming the game via EMUEagles.com.

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Team Stats

Alex Gillett

Kyle McMahon

Players Mentioned

Joe Carithers

Alex Gillett

Neal Howey

Kyle McMahon

Dwayne Priest

Brandon Slater

Players Mentioned

Joe Carithers

Alex Gillett

Neal Howey

Kyle McMahon

Dwayne Priest

Brandon Slater

Eastern Michigan Athletics