TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State's offense was limited to 258 yards as they would fall 86-7 to Missouri Southern on Saturday afternoon.

Ashton Antwine had the RiverHawks' lone score in the third quarter off a blocked field goal attempt by Missouri Southern.  The NSU six-year senior ran the ball back 70-yards with Courtland Clark credited for the blocked kick.

"It's challenging because we've been evaluated on eight Saturdays that haven't gone the way we want them to go," said head coach J.J. Eckert. "At the end of the day, the more we can continue to stay together and stay the course.  Believe in what we're doing to continue to get to a point where we get to see the results we're looking for on Saturdays. That's when you start trying to find success."

"It's not the success you see out here, it goes back to the success of knowing how to prepare, knowing how to stay together, knowing how to believe in each other, knowing how to be able to make sure that through thick and thin, we're not going to sit there and jump ship. That's a challenging deal because a loss is a loss, whether you lose by one point or by 78 points they all serve the same purpose."

The RiverHawks moved the chains five times in the first half and were 0-for-6 on third down. After scoring 14 points in the opening quarter, the Lions put up 24 on the NSU defense in the second period. MOSO's offense snapped the ball 50 times for 329 yards in the opening half with 24 first downs and was 5-for-8 on third-down conversions.

Up by 38 to start the second half, the Lions opened with an 86-yard kickoff return.  It was the first of five touchdowns in the third quarter.

Missouri Southern continued to play its first-team offense in the fourth quarter and passed on a third and long in the final three minutes of the game for their 11th touchdown of the afternoon.

Northeastern State's quarterbacks went 10-for-30 with 66 passing yards. Isaiah Davis led the rushing attack for 87 yards on six carries. Kevin Jackson ran 75-yards on 16 carries.

J'Quille Washington and Lane Yoder both led the NSU defense with 14 tackles. NSU would block three kicks, with two of them coming on extra points.

Missouri Southern quarterback Jacob Park played all four quarters and was 27-for-39 with 408 passing yards and five touchdowns.

Saturday's loss drops the RiverHawks to 0-8 (0-8 MIAA), Missouri Southern improves to 2-6 (2-6).

"The hardest thing we've got to make sure of is that through this whole process, we're growing in the right direction," Eckert added. "I want to get them a win more than anything in the world right now, but that they stay in the fight, and they're able to put the foundation for these other young players to be able to see as we move through this.  So that when they're seniors, they understand that we were like this when I was a freshman, and look where we're able to get to and so it's easy to talk about.

"It's easy to get frustrated, that's not going to fix the problem, what's going to fix the problem is continuing to keep our nose down and continue to fight a fight, and the more we'll fight that fight the more we'll find success, not just in this team but in ourselves as well."

Northeastern State will be on the road for the next two weeks. This upcoming Saturday, NSU will travel to Maryville to face Northwest Missouri for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff.