LeFevour throws for three TDs as Central Michigan downs Northern Illinois

 

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• Central Michigan Holds Off N. Illinois

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Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	19	28
Total Yards	332	512
Passing	206	255
Rushing	126	257
Penalties	4-30	3-45
3rd Down Conversions	4-12	12-18
4th Down Conversions	0-0	0-1
Turnovers	3	2
Possession	25:47	34:13

Air/Ground Leaders
Northern Illinois Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Harnish 17/28 206 2 2	Central Michigan Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT LeFevour 27/41 255 3 0 Radcliff 0/1 0 0 1
Northern Illinois Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Spann 15 76 1 18 Harnish 11 46 0 23	Central Michigan Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Schroeder 9 128 2 80 Cotton 13 57 0 14
Northern Illinois Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Moore 3 61 0 26 Cox 3 57 1 32	Central Michigan Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Poblah 5 77 1 23 Brown 9 50 0 29

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				NIU	CMU
	TD	10:27	Bryan Schroeder 13 Yd Pass From Dan LeFevour (Andrew Aguila Kick)	0	7
	FG	00:56	Andrew Aguila 24 Yd	0	10
SECOND QUARTER				NIU	CMU
	FG	09:27	Mike Salerno 30 Yd	3	10
	TD	06:29	Kito Poblah 16 Yd Pass From Dan LeFevour (Andrew Aguila Kick)	3	17
	TD	05:12	Landon Cox 32 Yd Pass From Chandler Harnish (Mike Salerno Kick)	10	17
	TD	00:48	Bryan Schroeder 5 Yd Run (Andrew Aguila Kick)	10	24
THIRD QUARTER				NIU	CMU
	TD	14:43	Bryan Schroeder 80 Yd Run (Andrew Aguila Kick)	10	31
	TD	07:45	Bryan Anderson 16 Yd Pass From Dan LeFevour (Andrew Aguila Kick)	10	38
FOURTH QUARTER				NIU	CMU
	TD	12:50	Patrick George 80 Yd Interception Return (Mike Salerno Kick)	17	38
	TD	08:25	Chad Spann 6 Yd Run (Mike Salerno Kick)	24	38
	TD	03:58	Frank Zombo 27 Yd Interception Return (Andrew Aguila Kick)	24	45
	TD	02:03	Marcus Lewis 7 Yd Pass From Chandler Harnish (Mike Salerno Kick)	31	45

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Dan LeFevour threw for 255 yards and three touchdowns in the final home game of his record-setting career, leading Central Michigan to a 45-31 victory against Northern Illinois on Friday.

The Chippewas (10-2, 8-0 Mid-American Conference), who wrapped up the MAC West title last week, head to the conference championship game to face Ohio University at Ford Field in Detroit next Friday. CMU finished unbeaten in conference play for the first time in school history.

Bryan Anderson caught three passes for Central Michigan to set an NCAA all-divisions record with at least one reception in 52 straight games. The previous record of 51 was held by Tauren Henderson of Texas Tech and Michael Larkin of Miami of Ohio.

Bryan Schroeder rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries for Central Michigan and also had a 13-yard touchdown reception on a screen pass from LeFevour in the first quarter to open the scoring.

After exchanging field goals, Central Michigan extended its lead over the Huskies (7-5, 5-3) to 17-3 when LeFevour found Kito Poblah for a 16-yard touchdown pass.

LeFevour, who in his four seasons as a starter at CMU has rewritten the school record book, finished 27 of 41 in his final game at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Northern Illinois scored its first touchdown of the game with 5:12 left in the first half when Landon Cox scored on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Chandler Harnish to cut the score to 17-10.

But the Chippewas answered with a 78-yard, 13-play drive, capped by Schroeder's 5-yard TD run to make it 24-10 at halftime.

The second half opened with Schroeder scoring on an 80-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. The run was the longest of Schroeder's career and gave him a new career high in rushing yards for a game.

LeFevour threw his third touchdown pass to Anderson for 16 yards in the third quarter to put the Chippewas ahead 38-10.

The touchdown pass was the 99th of LeFevour's career, one behind Marshall's Chad Pennington for the MAC record of 100.

Northern Illinois scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, with Patrick George intercepting Central Michigan backup quarterback Ryan Radcliff and returning it 80 yards for a touchdown.

Chad Spann added a 6-yard touchdown run to make it 38-24.

CMU senior defensive end Frank Zombo capped the scoring for CMU with 27-yard interception return.

Harnish added a 7-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Lewis and finished 17 of 28 for 206 yards.

Spann rushed for 76 yards on 15 carries.