TAHLEQUAH – A big first half by #21-ranked Central Missouri spoiled Northeastern State's home opener on Thursday evening with the Mules winning 70-7 at Doc Wadley Stadium.
The loss drops the RiverHawks to 0-2 overall, and in MIAA play, UCM improves to 2-0.
Central Missouri dropped 307 yards of offense on the RiverHawks in the first half and put up a 56-7 lead at the half. Northeastern State's lone score came off a four-yard run from Kobe Bryer at the end of the first quarter.
Ashton Antwine and Davion Bradley both snagged interceptions in the first half to get the ball back to NSU.
Courtland Clark led NSU in tackles with eight. Eli Harvey and Elijah Wallace both had a sack for the RiverHawks' defense.
NSU passing game was limited to 97-yards with Jake Pruitt going 14-for-25.
POSTGAME STATEMENT FROM HEAD COACH J.J. ECKERT
I think the big thing is making sure we are able to take this video and learn from it and build from it. I think that anytime you're in a situation where you're trying to make sure we can continue to fight to try and be competitive and understand the importance of a 60-minute football game. We do the little things right like block and tackle and win the turnover battle and make it a competitive environment for a 60-minutes that you have you got to go out and continue to push back I mean at the end of the day it's easy to come out here and see 60 minutes but we got better in practice we've gotten better in some of the things we are doing as a football team. The problem is we haven't seen the result yet. So ultimately, we've made some small steps in the right direction, our commitment to doing things right has gotten better, but we haven't seen the results on the football field yet, and that's what matters.
ON THE HOMETOWN SUPPORT FOR THE HOME OPENER...
Unbelievable. So appreciative of everybody that took the time to come out and support us. It wasn't the exact scenario we wanted to see, but we're going to continue to work to be able to create that environment. It was awesome to see the students down there tailgating in the south end zone it's great to see the crowd I mean golly it got me in tears when I looked up at it initially. I mean I think it's something I mean we're going to work hard to make sure we can put a product on the field that everyone can be a part of.
NOTABLES
- With the win Central Missouri now trails the overall series to NSU 8-7.
- The 55th home opener on Gable Field at Doc Wadley Stadium.
- Home debut for first-year NSU head coach J.J. Eckert.
COMING UP
Northeastern State will head to Pittsburg State on Sept. 21 for a Saturday evening contest at 7 p.m.
