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Eastern Illinois played with Big Ten member Northwestern for nearly 30 minutes on Saturday night before eventually falling 31-7 at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium.

EIU and Northwestern traded scores with Cam Porter scoring with 1:22 left in the opening quarter to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.

EIU knotted the game at 7-7 with 10:37 to play in the first half as Pierce Holley hit Eli Mirza for a 13-yard strike.

Tre'jon Lewis stuffed the Wildcats next drive coming through the middle to block a 42-yard field goal attempt by Northwestern.  

The Wildcats returned the favor with 1:47 left in the half blocking a 36-yard field goal attempt by the Panthers.  Northwestern capitalized on the blocked kick driving the length of the field and scoring with 14-seconds left in the half with 32-yard run by Joseph Himon II to lead 14-7 at the break.

In the second half Northwestern extended the lead to 17-7 with a Jack Olsen 46-yard field goal.  The Wildcats tacked on a touchdown late in the third quarter and another with just under seven minutes remaining in the game for the final scores.

Holley passed for 167 yards for the Panthers who finished with 207 yards of total offense compared to 450 for Northwestern.  Cooper Willman was the top target with six catches for 66 yards.

Jack Lausch passed for 227 yards and the two second half touchdowns.  A.J. Henning, who hauled in a three-yard touchdown pass finished with seven catches for 117 yards.

Elijawah Tolbert and Moses Alexander both finished with eight tackles to lead EIU's defense.  Nicholas Oliveira-Chace had four tackles, a sack and two tackles for loss.

EIU falls to 1-2 and plays at Illinois State next week in the Mid-America Classic.  Northwestern is now 2-1.