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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State football team lost 42-35 in double overtime to Emporia State Saturday night at Doc Wadley Stadium.

The RiverHawks broke five school records despite falling to 0-4 overall and 0-4 in the MIAA this season. The Hornets improved to 2-2 overall and 2-2 in the league. NSU outgained ESU in total offense by a 504-388 margin. The home team also had more passing yards (369-292), more rushing yards (135-96) and more time of possession (35:07-24:53).
 
Sophomore quarterback Kevin Pantastico finished the game 34-for-56 through the air. Both marks set school records. He tallied 369 yards passing, two touchdowns and one interception. He also had 26 yards rushing and another score.
 
Northeastern State also broke school records for most plays on offense (90), most penalties (19) and most penalty yards (201).
 
Senior running back Terrance Dixon finished with 58 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. Junior wide receiver Garrett Powell registered 14 receptions for 179 yards and one score.
 
Northeastern State started the game off strong with an opening-drive score. Pantastico found junior wide receiver Prince McJunkins for 25 yards up the seam to cap the 9-play, 53-yard drive.
 
Despite the strong start, the RiverHawks would fail to score on their next nine possessions (eight punts, one turnover).
 
After the NSU score, the two teams exchanged eight punts. The final punt in the sequence from Powell was blocked by ESU's Justin Brown, giving the Hornets great field position. The visitors would use the swing in momentum to tie the game four plays later, when Brent Wilson found Kavaski Ervin for a six-yard score on the second play of the second quarter.
 
Northeastern State ventured into enemy territory on each of its next two possessions, but untimely penalties and an interception halted both threats. Emporia State then took its first lead of the game late in the first half when Wilson found Austin Willis for 35 yards to cap an 8-play, 84-yard drive.
 
The Hornets took their second drive of the second half down the field for a one-yard TD run from Antonio Brown, which was the only scoring of the third quarter.
 
The RiverHawks entered the final frame down 21-7, but they would cut the deficit in half on Dixon's first touchdown of the game with 11:38 remaining.
 
Emporia State marched 75 yards down the field on its next possession to again push its lead back up to 14 points. Wilson connected with Willis for 24 yards to cap the drive. NSU was also flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to keep the drive alive when the Hornets had been stopped on a third down and short.
 
NSU answered right back with a 75-yard drive of its own to push the score to 28-21 with 5:04 remaining. Powell scored from 33 yards out on a pass from Pantastico.
 
The RiverHawks defense then stiffened up and forced a three-and-out. A penalty on the punt backed the ball up to the NSU 21-yard line with four minutes remaining. It took Northeastern State just 3:09 to venture those 79 yards to tie the game with 51 seconds remaining. Dixon's second TD of the quarter tied the contest at 28-28, and Emporia State missed a field goal at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime.
 
NSU scored first in the extra session, but the Hornets scored twice in a row and stopped the RiverHawks on their final possession of the game to secure the victory.
 
Northeastern State returns to action on Oct. 4, when the green and white travels to Maryville, Missouri, for a 1 p.m. showdown with No. 1 Northwest Missouri State.

 
SCORING SUMMARY

Qtr.	Time	Team	Play	Score
1	10:55	NSU	Kevin Pantastico 25 pass to Prince McJunkins (Blake Williams kick)	0-7
2	14:47	ESU	Brent Wilson 6 pass to Kavaski Ervin (Austin Morton kick)	7-7
	1:12	ESU	Wilson 35 pass to Austin Willis (Morton kick)	14-7
3	5:17	ESU	Antonio Brown 1 run (Morton kick)	21-7
4	11:38	NSU	Terrance Dixon 2 run (Williams kick)	21-14
	8:02	ESU	Wilson 24 pass to Willis (Morton kick)	28-14
	5:04	NSU	Pantastico 33 pass to Garrett Powell (Williams kick)	28-21
	0:56	NSU	Dixon 2 run (Williams kick)	28-28
OT	0:00	NSU	Pantastico 1 run (Williams kick)	28-35
	0:00	ESU	Wilson 30 pass to Ervin (Morton kick)	35-35
	0:00	ESU	Wilson 2 run (Morton kick)	42-35

             
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH ROB ROBINSON
Opening statement…
"We can't shoot ourselves in the foot and we've got to learn from it. We've got to do some better things with our staff. We have to play with composure and not lose it. At the end of the day, the players are giving everything they have and that's all you can ask from a young team."
 
On feeling like they outplayed Emporia State…
"I feel like we did at times, but at the end of the day they made the plays when they needed to. That's them being a veteran team and coming through in the clutch. We were right there and had our shot, but we just didn't take it."
 
On having success moving the ball…
"Once we got in a rhythm there, I don't want to say we abandoned the run game, but at the end of the day I was pretty impressed with our offensive staff realizing that our wide receivers were better than their DBs. Why beat your head against the door trying to pound it in there when we can just do what we need to do?"
 
On shooting themselves in the foot…
"You just can't do that. There's too many good players in this league, and that's going to come back and bite you. If you look at the film you're going to see some plays where we could have gotten off the field and not kept them on the field."
 
GAME NOTES

• Northeastern State leads the all-time series with Emporia State 7-4-1. The Hornets have won all three meetings since NSU joined the MIAA in 2012.
• James Renfrow made his team-leading 24th career start. Brian West made his first career start.
• Prince McJunkins registered his first TD catch of the 2014 season on NSU's opening drive. The RiverHawks scored on the first drive of the game for the second time this season.
• NSU had a punt blocked in the first quarter. The last time the RiverHawks had a punt blocked was against Emporia State on Sept. 28, 2013.
• Lane Dortch had his first career sack in the third quarter. Jeremiah Milton had his first career sack in the fourth quarter.
• Peter Udoumoh had his first career interception in the third quarter.
• Terrance Dixon's four catches gave him 52 receptions in his career, which moved him into solo eighth on NSU's career reception's list (since joining the NCAA).
• Dixon rushed for 58 yards, which gave him 101 total on the season. He became the first RiverHawk to surpass the 100-yard plateau in 2014.
• Dixon's first touchdown in the fourth quarter was the first rushing touchdown for the RiverHawks in 2014. He has now scored two touchdowns in a single game six times in his career.
• The RiverHawks were penalized 201 yards, which broke both the school's all-time record and the MIAA's all-time record for penalty yards in a single game. NSU was flagged for 19 penalties, which broke the school's all-time record for most penalties called against a team in a single game. The mark also tied the MIAA's all-time record, which was matched most recently by Central Missouri in 1999.
• Kevin Pantastico threw for 369 yards, which was the most for a RiverHawks quarterback since Johnny Deaton finished with a school-record 542 against Harding Oct. 15, 2011.  
• Pantastico finished the game 34-for-56 passing. Both marks set school records. The 34 completions broke a record that had stood for 33 years (Lynn Pattillo had 30 completions on Nov. 14, 1981). The 56 attempts broke a record that had stood for 49 years (Tom Eckert had 52 on Oct. 9, 1965).
• The RiverHawks played in a double overtime game for the first time since Nov. 11, 2006 (26-23 loss to Central Oklahoma).
• The 90 plays run by the RiverHawks offense broke the school record. The previous mark was 87 against Southwest Missouri State on Sept. 27, 1980.
• Garrett Powell had 14 receptions for 179 yards. He became the first 150-yard receiver for the RiverHawks since Trey McVay on Nov. 12, 2011. The 14 receptions for Powell was the most by an NSU receiver since McVay finished with 16 against Harding on Oct. 15, 2011.
• NSU had 504 yards of offense, which was the first 500-yard game since Nov. 5, 2011.
• A 47-yard kickoff return by Tony Newman to open the game was the longest play of the season for the RiverHawks.
• Northeastern State is now 4-8 when scoring first since joining the MIAA in 2012.
• NSU has still yet to attempt a field goal this season through four games.
• Emporia State quarterback Brent Wilson tallied five touchdowns (four passing, one rushing) against NSU. This marked the second-straight year the signal caller posted five TD's against the RiverHawks. He had five passing scores a year ago.
• Northeastern State finished the game with 135 yards rushing, which was the first time in 2014 that NSU eclipsed the 100-yard plateau on the ground.
• The 21 points NSU scored in the fourth quarter was the most points in a quarter since the RiverHawks had 24 in the second frame against Lincoln on Nov. 3, 2012. The last time NSU scored 21 points in a fourth quarter was against East Central on Sept. 27, 2008.
• Northeastern State had a 14-play, 52-yard scoring drive that ended early in the fourth quarter and took 6:04. The drive was the longest of the season in terms of plays and the second-longest in terms of time elapsed.
• The RiverHawks entered the contest with four drives of 50 yards or more this season. They had three such drives in the fourth quarter alone tonight, and they all ended in touchdowns.

 
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