The Eastern Michigan University football team came up short in its season finale with an 18-12 loss to Northern Illinois University on Friday.
EMU junior quarterback Alex Gillett went 11-for-25 with 147 yards and a touchdown on passing and rushed for 67 yards on 17 carries. Dominique Sherrer had 16 carries for 43 yards. Receiver Nick Olds caught five passes for 50 yards and a touchdown.
For Northern Illinois, senior quarterback Chandler Harnish went 9-for-19 with 98 passing yards for a touchdown and ran for 148 yards on 17 carries and a rushing touchdown. Jasmin Hopkins ran for 31 yards on eight rushes.
Before the game, it was senior day for Northern Illinois (9-3, 7-1 Mid-American Conference) and the hometown crowd honored its 19 seniors. NIU also needed a win to clinch the MAC West Division and go to the MAC championship game for the second straight time. EMU (6-6, 4-4 MAC) had to win to claim bowl eligibility for the first time since 1987.
Northern Illinois got the scoring going when Harnish completed a 54-yard pass to Willie Clark for a touchdown less than five minutes into the first quarter. EMU answered back with a 20-yard field goal by Kody Fulkerson. The drive was highlighted by a Gillett pass to Tyreese Russell for 42 yards, but NIU stood EMU up at the goal line, forcing the Eagles to kick the field goal for 7-3.
The second quarter started with a scoring chance for EMU when NIU botched a punt, putting the Eagles at the NIU 33. EMU went for it all on fourth down and three, but a pass from Gillett to Olds went incomplete, turning the ball over on downs.
NIU went three plays and out with the punt downed at the EMU 1. Sherrer was tackled for a loss of one yard, giving NIU a safety and a 9-3 lead. Northern Illinois added a field goal to extend its lead to 12-3, which held up at halftime.
Neither team allowed many scoring chances. Late in the third quarter, EMU marched down the field to the Northern Illinois six-yard line and kicked a 23-yard field goal to reduce the NIU lead to 12-6. Northern Illinois answered back with Harnish calling his own number and rushing it for a 68-yard run for an NIU touchdown. Harnish went for a two-point conversion but failed, making the score 18-6 in favor of NIU.
The only score in the final quarter came from a 24-yard touchdown strike from Gillett to Olds, but failed on the two-point conversion with EMU trailing 18-12. The Eastern Michigan defense made a stop and got the ball back with 3:33 left. The offense was not able to get anything going and was stopped on fourth-and-35.
Northern Illinois will meet the Ohio University Bobcats at 6 p.m. on Friday at Ford Field Detroit, Michigan for the MAC Championship.
