DEKALB, Ill. — Northern Illinois scored 27 straight points to pull away and beat the University of Maine 34-14 in a college football game on Saturday.
UMaine (1-3), playing the first of two Football Bowl Subdivision teams it will face this season, tied the game at 14-14 on a 4-yard run by Elijah Barnwell with 10:52 left in the second quarter. Northern Illinois (2-2) took the lead for good with 4:31 left in the second when quarterback Rocky Lombardi capped a 79-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run.
John Richardson hit a pair of field goals to stretch Northern Illinois lead to 27-14. Maine had a chance close the gap Khairi Manns recovered a fumble by Lombardi and returned it to the Huskies 15. Maine had first-and-goal from the Northern Illinois 5-yard line, but failed to capitalize when Jonny Messina missed a 23-yard field goal.
Lombardi, who finished with 119 yards rushing, added touchdown runs of 64 and 18 yards in the fourth quarter. He also completed 17 of 24 passes for 282 yards and a touchdown.
Northern Illinois took the early lead on a 7-yard touchdown run by Harrison Waylee. Maine tied it late in the first quarter on a 28-yard run by Freddie Brock. Lombardi hit Clint Ratkovich with a 22-yard touchdown pass in the second to give the Huskies the lead.
UMaine quarterback Derek Robertson completed 14 of 26 passes for 165 yards. Andre Miller caught five passes for 87 yards and Brock rushed 18 times for 90 yards.
MIDDLEBURY 24, BATES 0: Will Jernigan had scoring runs of 3 and 20 yards, and added a 11 yard touchdown pass to Greg Livingston in the first quarter as the Panthers (1-1, 1-1 NESCAC) blanked the Bobcats (0-2, 0-2) in Middlebury, Vermont.
Bates quarterback Brendan Costa was 14 for 30 passing for 115 yards, but was picked off three times. He also rushed 14 times for 39 yards.
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