LIBERTY, Mo. (Oct. 18, 2025) – Donnie Smith passed for four touchdowns and the defense scored for a second straight game as Northeastern State rolled to a lightning-shortened 35-7 win over William Jewell (Mo.) on Saturday afternoon at Greene Stadium.

NSU (4-3) has won at least four games in a football season for the first time since finishing 4-6 in 2012 and has a winning record this deep into a campaign for the first time since 2011, when the RiverHawks finished 7-5. NSU also has won consecutive games for the first time since October 2015, when the RiverHawks beat Nebraska-Kearney and Missouri Southern in back-to-back weeks.

As they did last week at Lincoln (Mo.), the RiverHawks rolled up multiple big scoring plays against William Jewell (2-5), with the shortest of their five touchdowns covering 15 yards. Smith connected on scoring throws of 57 yards to Cam Woods, 35 and 33 yards to Deuce Roberson and 15 yards to La'Vontae Shenault. It's only the 20^th time in NSU's long football history, dating to 1909, it's had a quarterback throw for at least four touchdowns in a game.

NSU's defensive touchdown also covered long distance, as Jordan Tolbert covered 45 yards on his second-quarter interception return. Marvelous Owens, who had a pick-six a week earlier in a win over Lincoln (Mo.), recorded his sixth interception of the season earlier in the game. That's the most interceptions in a season by a NSU player since Curtis Mayfield had six in 2008.

Woods' touchdown catch came on NSU's second offensive snap. The Cardinals answered with a touchdown of their own, on a 3-yard pass from Tyler Kubat to Beau Doughty with 7:15 left in the first quarter. Kubat completed 13 of 25 passes for 136 yards.

But just 75 seconds of clock time later, Roberson caught the 35-yard scoring pass from Smith. In the second quarter, Roberson – who'd had only one touchdown catch all season before Saturday – broke three tackles on second score of the game, his 33-yard catch.

Tolbert added his 45-yard interception return with 8:17 left in the second quarter, with Troy Nguyen's conversion kick putting NSU ahead 28-7.

After taking the second-half kickoff, NSU converted twice on fourth down – including an 18-yard run on a fake punt by Mo Foketi – en route to it next score, the 15-yard pass from Smith to Shenault with 9:52 left in the third quarter. Smith completed 15 of 19 passes for 262 yards, with Shenault making six catches for 88 yards. Roberson had four catches for 87 yards.

With 9:10 left in the third quarter, the game went into a lightning delay, which lasted 47 minutes before coaches on both sides agreed to end the game due to the weather.

Ramon McKinney Jr. carried 11 times for 64 yards to lead NSU rushers. The RiverHawks rolled up 341 yards of offense on just 36 plays, a 9.47-yards-per-play average.

Cooper Snyder's seven tackles paced the NSU defense. Ayden Guess recorded a sack as one of his two tackles.

NSU will wrap up a stretch of three straight road games on Oct. 25, when the RiverHawks visit archrival Central Oklahoma for the annual President's Cup game. Kickoff at Chad Richison Stadium is set for 7 p.m. The RiverHawks' next home game will be Nov. 1 against Lincoln (Calif.).