ARLINGTON HEIGHTS – A trio of long touchdown runs doomed Roosevelt to a 42-21 loss to Northern Michigan in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at Morris Field on Saturday.

The Wildcats had two rushing touchdowns of 35-plus yards in the first half as they built a 21-7 halftime lead on the Lakers. They then added a 44-yard touchdown run to make it 28-7 and Roosevelt (1-5, 0-3 GLIAC) could not fight out of that deficit.

The teams traded scores to start the game with Roosevelt answering a 37-yard touchdown run with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jack Young Jr. midway through the first quarter. It was the first career touchdown pass for freshman Tony Chahino, who made his first start for the Lakers. The native of Geneva, Ill. completed a little more than half of his passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns on his debut.

Roosevelt picked up its first defensive stop of the day thanks to a penalty that kept Northern Michigan's triple-option attack behind the chains. The Lakers promptly moved down the field before Mauricio Escudero's 44-yard field goal attempt was blown just left of the uprights.

Northern Michigan committed the first turnover of the game on its next drive when a poor snap evaded the quarterback and KJ Hayes fell on the ball for the Lakers. A pair of 10-to-15-yard passes from Chahino and a pass interference penalty put Roosevelt on the doorstep of the end zone. However, the Wildcats forced a fumble on the goal line to turn the momentum.

A quarterback keeper went 67 yards for a touchdown and the Lakers were playing catch up for the rest of the afternoon. Even while playing catch up, Roosevelt found itself with
several key opportunities to flip the momentum in its favor to mount a fourth-quarter comeback.

The first came near the end of the third quarter when the Lakers stuffed the Wildcats on fourth down inside the 10-yard line to keep it a three-score game. Roosevelt was able to move the ball out of the shadow of its end zone, but still went into the fourth quarter with a fourth and long at its own 30.

Then the Lakers had their second momentum-shifting call by running a fake punt on the first play of the fourth quarter. Brandon Harvey took the snap and ran 30 yards and on the next play, Chahino found C.J. Hood for a 39-yard touchdown strike.

Roosevelt's defense had a pair of third downs to try and get off the field on Northern Michigan's next possession, but the Wildcats were able to respond with a score. Undeterred, Chahino led a big drive with a 13-yard keeper to set up his 19-yard scoring connection with Tyler Gaines over the middle.  

UP NEXT: The Lakers head to Davenport next Saturday in search of their first conference win of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. in Caledonia, Michigan.