Box Score DEKALB, Ill. - Western Michigan's season came to an end as the Broncos fell 33-14 at No. 14 Northern Illinois in front of 17,679 fans at Huskie Stadium on Tuesday night.
NIU quarterback Jordan Lynch ran for 321 yards on 27 carries and three touchdowns but was held to just 39 yards and 5-of-17 through the air.
Zach Terrell led WMU (1-11, 1-7 MAC) with 139 yards passing, including six completions to
Kendrick Roberts for 89 yards. The six catches were a new career mark for the sophomore wide receiver.
Dareyon Chance and
Antoin Scriven each rushed for touchdowns for the Broncos. Defensively
Justin Currie led WMU with 10 tackles on the day, while
Travonte Boles made nine tackles in his final game as a Bronco.
The Huskies took a lead on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Lynch to Juwan Brescacin to cap off an eight-play 80 yard drive with 1:10 remaining in the first quarter.
The Broncos responded by marching 63 yards in 12 plays and a one-yard touchdown by Chance. Terrell connected with Roberts on a third-and-10 to extend the drive early on for 11 yards. Two plays later Terrell found
Clark Mussman cutting across the field and the senior tight end took the ball down to the NIU one yard line. After a false start penalty the two connected again to get the ball back to the one and Chance punched it in from close to tie the game 7-7.
Northern Illinois rattled off 26 straight points on the back of three touchdowns by Lynch and two field goals by Mathew Sims. Lynch's first touchdown came on a 26-yard run to finish off a six-play 75 yard drive with 7:31 remaining in the second quarter. After the Broncos were held to a three-and-out Lynch capped off a 77 yard drive with a 36 yard touchdown run.
Sims connected on his first field goal of the game from 23 yards out at 5:30 in the third quarter to push the Huskie lead to 23-7. Lynch ran in his third touchdown of the game from 37 yards out after a WMU punt was returned to the Bronco 37 to extend the lead to 30-7. Sims added another field goal from 32 yards out with 12:52 left in the fourth quarter.
Tyler Van Tubbergen was substituted into the game in the third quarter and led the Broncos on a 13-play 53 yard touchdown drive. Scriven had nine carries for 33 yards during the drive and capped it off with his 13th career one-yard touchdown run with 4:40 left in the fourth quarter.
