TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State football team fell to Washburn 35-21 Saturday afternoon at Doc Wadley Stadium.
 
The RiverHawks (2-8, 2-8 MIAA) were celebrating their Senior Day and they honored their six seniors prior to kickoff. The Ichabods improved to 5-5 on the season with the victory.
 
NSU started strong and even led 21-7 at halftime, but the visitors scored all 28 points in the second half to come from behind and secure the victory.
 
Junior running back Cody Busby opening the scoring 12 minutes into the game with a two-yard rushing score in the first quarter.
 
Washburn answered less than two minutes later, but a touchdown pass from senior quarterback Thor Long to junior wideout Matthew Butler early in the second quarter helped NSU regain the lead.
 
The RiverHawks added a 73-yard interception return at the 4:45 mark by junior defensive back Tony Newman to give the home team their largest halftime lead of the season.
 
Washburn cut the lead in half with two minutes left in the third quarter on a short carry from Brandon Bourbon, and the Ichabods tied the score at 21-21 on the first play of the fourth quarter. Derek McGinnis found Connor Crimmins for 55 yards.
 
Logan Lexow scored the go-ahead touchdown with 8:58 remaining, and Hayden Groves added a 52-yard insurance TD run with 2:15 to play.
 
Washburn led in total yards 401-110, passing yards 209-138 and rushing yards 192-(-28).
 
NSU will return to action in the season finale next weekend. The team will travel to St. Charles, Missouri, for a 1:30 p.m. game Nov. 14 against Lindenwood.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

Qtr.	Time	Team	Play	Score
1	3:00	NSU	Cody Busby 2 run (Eddie Garcia kick)	0-7
	1:22	WU	Bryce Chavis 21 pass from Derek McGinnis (Perry Schmiedeler kick)	7-7
2	10:39	NSU	Matthew Butler 31 pass from Thor Long (Garcia kick)	7-14
	4:45	NSU	Tony Newman 73 INT return (Garcia kick)	7-21
3	2:01	WU	Brandon Bourbon 2 run (Schmiedeler kick)	14-21
4	14:51	WU	Connor Crimmins 55 pass from McGinnis (Schmiedeler kick)	21-21
	8:58	WU	Logan Lexow 10 pass from McGinnis (Schmiedeler kick)	28-21
	2:15	WU	Hayden Groves 52 run (Schmiedeler kick)	35-21

 
GAME NOTES

• Washburn improved to 5-1 all-time against Northeastern State.
• For the first time this season, Northeastern State made significant changes to its offensive line. Dakota Ritchie earned his third start of the year at left tackle, and Jordan Baldwin made his eighth start but first at left guard. Brian West started at right guard for the first time this year after starting the first nine games at left guard. Tyler Easter (RT) and Brian Hobbs (C) are now the only two offensive linemen to start every game at the same position this year.
• Senior running back Joel Rockmore made his team-leading 34th career start. He's also played in a team-high 41 career games.
• Rockmore tallied 42 all-purpose yards (6 rush, 36 receive) before leaving with an injury. He improved his school record for career all-purpose yards to 4,282.
• Junior defensive back Tony Newman had a 73-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter. It's the longest INT return by an NSU defender this season. The pick-6 was the first for NSU since Nov. 15, 2014 against Lindenwood.
• The 21-7 lead for NSU was the largest halftime lead of the season.
• Junior running back Cody Busby scored his first touchdown as a member of the RiverHawks on a two-yard rush in the first quarter.
• Junior defensive back Darian Morris recorded his team-leading fourth interception of the season in the second quarter. He's now registered three in the past two games.
• Morris also forced and recovered a fumble. This is the second time this season he tallied at least eight tackles, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery in the same game.
• Matthew Butler caught a 31-yard touchdown in the beginning of the second quarter. It's Butler's second straight game with a touchdown reception and he's now caught a touchdown in four of the previous five games.
• Senior quarterback Thor Long got the start at quarterback and threw his first touchdown of the season. This was his first start since Nov. 16, 2013 and the ninth of his career.
• In the fourth quarter freshman defensive back Devon Siers had a punt return for 17 yards. This was the longest punt return of the season for NSU.
• Northeastern State set the school record for most punts in a single game with 12. The previous record of 11 was equaled eight times, most recently against Washburn in 2013.
• The RiverHawks also set the school record for fewest rushing yards in a single game with -28. The previous all-time low was -8 against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Sept. 20, 2008.
• Northeastern State finished the contest with three quarterback sacks. NSU now has 26 sacks this season, which is the most in a single campaign since the RiverHawks had 28 in 2005.
• Washburn tallied seven sacks, which was the most allowed by Northeastern State since Oct. 26, 2013 (Central Missouri).
• NSU finished the contest with 110 yards of total offense. That was the lowest single-game mark for the RiverHawks since they finished with 80 against Southwestern Oklahoma State on Oct. 21, 2006.
• NSU forced eight Washburn punts, which is the most by an NSU opponent this season.
• The 21 points scored by Northeastern State are the most in a loss this year.
• Senior linebacker Irving Steele had a season-high 18 tackles. He has posted 35 total tackles over the past two weeks.
• Junior linebacker Kenneth Davis finished the game with seven tackles, improving his career total to 191. He is now in fifth place in NSU's NCAA era record book (since 1996).
• NSU won the turnover battle, coughing the ball up three times but securing four takeaways. This marked the fourth time in the last five games that Northeastern State did not lose the turnover battle.
• Washburn led in time of possession 33:04-26:56.
• The RiverHawks finished 3-for-18 on third-down chances. This was the seventh time this season that NSU did not have more than three third-down conversions.
• NSU had a season-low eight first downs. The mark is also the fewest in a single game for Northeastern State since the team also had eight against Northwest Missouri State on Oct. 4, 2014.

 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH ROB ROBINSON
Opening statement…
"I thought the defense played their butts off. They were probably out there 75 percent of the time in the second half and they kept making things happen. They gave up one junk touchdown, but they still played their butts off. Offensively, we just couldn't get anything going. We couldn't get the ball downfield."
 
On the tale of two halves…
"When you go look at the stats from the first half we didn't have any success on offense. We had one junk throw away that we broke for a touchdown, but we rushed the ball for -8 yards in the first half and only completed six passes. Our defense got a pick-6 and our offense never got anything going all day. Our defense played on emotion and did a heck of a job."

On the program low -28 rushing yards…
"Embarrassing. Flat out embarrassing. We never could get the running game established. It's a matter of pride, and we'll go back and figure that out on Tuesday."
 
On Thor Long and Blayne Armstrong…
"We wanted to start Thor because he had the better practice all week. We wanted to keep Blayne in the game and see if he could get something going. Blayne ran our two-minute offense the best in practice this week. That's just something he's been working on since last spring, so we thought the best shot in the two-minute situation was with him."
 
On the troubling fourth quarters…
"This one came down to offense. We couldn't get anything going offensively. That's where we lost the game. The defense didn't give. This was about our offense not being able to get anything going."
 
-GoRiverHawksGo.com-