MARYVILLE, Mo. – Gary McKnight caught three touchdown passes for Northeastern State but they would fall 74-29 in a high scoring battle on Saturday at top-ranked Northwest Missouri State.

McKnight's effort against the Bearcats tied his NSU career best that was last set earlier this season against Lindenwood.  Additionally, he was first receiver to catch three TDs against the Bearcats since the 2011 season; the Lawton, Okla. native had 136 yards.

Dimonic McKinzy threw for 263 yards in the air and had four touchdown passes; his effort was the best by an opposing quarterback since Central Missouri did the same on Sept. 19, 2015 

Additionally, the 29 points by the RiverHawks was the most allowed this year by the Bearcats and in the last 18 games.  The points scored by NSU is also the most in the seven meetings of the series between the two programs.  Prior to Saturday's contest, the Bearcats were only allowing under 14 points per game this season.

"I thought our kids played hard for four quarters," said head coach Rob Robinson.  "Our offensive line did really well today, Dimonic (McKinzy) only took one shot all day…we made some big plays and made them (Northwest Missouri State) play all four quarters."

"We just need to build on what we are doing, we have gotten better each week.  We took a step forward this week in showing we can move the ball against a really good defense and got some more confidence on the offensive side of the ball."

Northeastern State had 318 passing yards which surpassed the Bearcats by 27 yards.  On the defensive side of the ball, Devon Siers had a team game high 11 tackles with Tim Howard only one behind.

Northwest Missouri's Kyle Zimmerman had five touchdowns and 270 yards.   

The loss will send NSU to 1-6 overall and in the MIAA; Northwest Missouri picked up their 22nd win in a row to move to 7-0 this year.

Northeastern State will return home this coming Saturday to host Nebraska-Kearney at 2 p.m.; the RiverHawks be participating in October's Breast Cancer Awareness month with pink athletic gear.

First Quarter
Northeastern State struck first on the opening drive with Ra'Keim Abdul catching a pass from Dimonic McKinzy for 75 yards for six points, the extra point would miss.  On the next drive, the Bearcats drove down the field for 61 yards to score seven.   NWMSU drove down the field twice before the quarter ended scoring on a 42-yard drive and a 49-yard drive to put the RiverHawks behind 21-6.
 
Second Quarter
The RiverHawks scored on the opening play of the quarter with Gary McKnight picking up a TD on a 15-yard pass from McKinzy.  On the NSU extra point, the Bearcats blocked the kick and ran the ball back for a safety to make it a 23-12 game.  Northwest after the RiverHawks kick on the following drive quickly went down the field in under two minutes to score on a four-yard rush from in the red-zone to go up 30-12.  The scoring continued in the drive with the RiverHawks picking up a field goal from 39-yards out to cut the NWMSU lead to 15 points.   The Bearcats scored on the fourth consecutive drive by both teams after connecting a 76-yard pass to go up 36-15 at the 8:17 mark.
 
Northwest Missouri picked up their third TD of the quarter on a 63-yard drive and move the score to 44-15 on NSU.  In the next drive, the RiverHawks fumbled the ball into their own end zone for a safety to bring the score to 46-15 at the half.
 
Third Quarter
It only took 39 seconds NWMSU to score on two plays to increase their lead to 53-15.  Northeastern State followed up on the next drive to put up a TD pass on two plays for 72-yards to push pass 20 points.  At the 10:45 mark, the Bearcats took six plays for 63 yards to make the score 60-22 on the RiverHawks.  McKinzy continued to air out the ball for this fourth touchdown pass of the game for 25 yards to McKnight to margin to 31 on the Bearcats.  Northwest Missouri scored their third TD of the quarter at the 5:14 mark on a one-yard rush to put the score at 67-29.
 
Fourth Quarter
The Bearcats scored the final points of the contest at the 6:23 mark on a one-yard rush by the QB to get to Saturday's final score, 74-29.
 

Score by Quarters	1	2	3	4	Score
Northeastern State	6	9	14	0	29
Northwest Missouri	21	25	21	7	74

 
Scoring Summary:
1st 14:07 NSU - Abdul,Ra'Keim 75 yd pass from McKinzy,Dimonic (Garcia,Eddie kick failed), 3-75 0:53, NSU 6 - NWMSU 0
    11:40 NWMSU - Washington,Dre 17 yd pass from Zimmerman,Kyle (Mathiesen,Simon kick), 8-61 2:26, NSU 6 - NWMSU 7
    06:53 NWMSU - Zimmerman,Kyle 4 yd run (Mathiesen,Simon kick), 8-42 3:25, NSU 6 - NWMSU 14
    01:54 NWMSU - Grove,Jordan 3 yd pass from Zimmerman,Kyle (Mathiesen,Simon kick), 6-49 2:20, NSU 6 - NWMSU 21
2nd 14:53 NSU - McKnight,Gary 15 yd pass from McKinzy,Dimonic (Garcia,Eddie kick blockd), 5-75 2:01, NSU 12 - NWMSU 21
    14:53 NWMSU - Jones,Marcus PAT return, , NSU 12 - NWMSU 23
    12:49 NWMSU - Schmidt,Randy 4 yd run (Mathiesen,Simon kick), 6-57 1:57, NSU 12 - NWMSU 30
    09:13 NSU - Garcia,Eddie 39 yd field goal, 7-27 2:18, NSU 15 - NWMSU 30
    08:17 NWMSU - Bane,Shawn 76 yd pass from Zimmerman,Kyle (Mathiesen,Simon kick), 2-79 0:50, NSU 15 - NWMSU 37
    03:22 NWMSU - Andrews,Marqus 6 yd pass from Zimmerman,Kyle (Mathiesen,Simon kick), 7-63 3:22, NSU 15 - NWMSU 44
    03:09 NWMSU - TEAM safety, , NSU 15 - NWMSU 46
3rd 14:14 NWMSU - Bane,Shawn 57 yd pass from Zimmerman,Kyle (Mathiesen,Simon kick), 2-70 0:39, NSU 15 - NWMSU 53
    13:22 NSU - McKnight,Gary 71 yd pass from McKinzy,Dimonic (Garcia,Eddie kick), 2-72 0:45, NSU 22 - NWMSU 53
    10:45 NWMSU - Wilcox,Cameron 5 yd run (Mathiesen,Simon kick), 6-63 2:30, NSU 22 - NWMSU 60
    09:01 NSU - McKnight,Gary 28 yd pass from McKinzy,Dimonic (Garcia,Eddie kick), 4-63 1:43, NSU 29 - NWMSU 60
    05:14 NWMSU - Jones,Emanuel 1 yd run (Mathiesen,Simon kick), 8-67 3:47, NSU 29 - NWMSU 67
4th 06:23 NWMSU - Jones,Emanuel 1 yd run (Mathiesen,Simon kick), 12-96 6:15, NSU 29 - NWMSU 74