ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The RiverHawks did not have many answers on both sides of the ball with Lindenwood putting up 686-yards of offense to down NSU 49-10 at Harlen C. Hunter Stadium in St. Charles, Mo. on Thursday evening.
"They (Lindenwood) made plays and we did not," said head coach
Rob Robinson. "Once we got down the confidence went out the door, they got confident and we did not."
"We got a lot of young guys and we got to coach them up…we need to come back, work hard, and get back after it."
Northeastern State (0-2, 0-2 MIAA) had 314-yards on the offensive side of the ball with
Ra'Keim Abdul picking up 69 on the ground;
Rashawn Eubanks led the NSU receiving core with 66 yards.
Blayne Armstrong started the game from behind the center and went 7-for-10 and had the team's lone TD which came on a rush in the fourth quarter.
Dom McKinzy came in during the second and third quarters and was 11-for-18 with 131 yards in the air.
The RiverHawks never could pick up any momentum in the first half with six of their drives resulting in a punt and one other ending on a turnover on downs that ended on the Lindenwood 26-yard line. After the Lions scored on the opening drive of the game,
Ukoh Essang forced a fumble Lindenwood's second possession. Despite the turnover, Northeastern State went four-and-out, and they would go 0-for-7 on third down in the first half.
Half of Lindenwood's points in the first half came off big plays in the second quarter. With 9:41 left, the Lions connected on a 55-yard pass, and then on a 43-yard chuck pass to the end zone just before the half.
On the ground NSU struggled with 27-yards, while Lindenwood had 189 in the first 30 minutes.
In the second half, Northeastern State put together their longest drive of the game that used 12 plays and ended with a
Blake Pearce 39-yard field goal to make the score 28-3 with 8:40 in the third quarter. Despite the NSU score, the Lions continued to march down the field using 11 plays to score a pair of touchdowns to make the gap 41-3 with 1:38 left in the third.
Following a Lindenwood (1-1, 1-1 MIAA) 50-yard shot to the end zone to go up 49-3, the RiverHawks put together their lone touchdown drive with Armstrong under center he rushed in for five yards to score with 6:42 left on the clock.
La'More Wise led the NSU defense with 12 tackles, Essang had three tackles for a loss and a sack.
The RiverHawks will host Pittsburg State on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m.