Kent State football | Golden Flashes unable to hold lead, lose season finale

Associated Press
Kent State's Luke Floriea, running after a catch vs. Central Connecticut State earlier this season, scored two TDs on Saturday.
Kent State's Luke Floriea, running after a catch vs. Central Connecticut State earlier this season, scored two TDs on Saturday.

KENT — Rocky Lombardi scored from a yard out with just under five minutes left in the game and Jacob Finley recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown as time expired to give Northern Illinois a 37-27 win over Kent State in the season finale Saturday afternoon.

Northern Illinois finished its season with back-to-back wins to finish 5-3 and in second place in the Mid-American Conference West Division, three games behind unbeaten 8-0 Toledo.

Kent State put up 17 points in the second quarter and took a 17-10 lead at the half. Lombardi threw 16 yards to Grayson Barnes for a touchdown to start the third quarter, then punched over from the 1 to take a 24-20 lead after three quarters.

Kent State (0-8, 1-11) took the lead on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Devin Kargman to Jameel Gardner Jr. with 10:23 left, but the Huskies answered with a 75-yard, nine-play drive that consumed almost six minutes and was capped by senior quarterback Lombardi.

The Golden Flashes put together a nine-play drive that stalled at the NIU 36-yard line when Kargman threw incomplete on fourth down, but the defense held the Huskies to a three-and-out and Kent State got the ball back at its own 9 with under a minute left. James Ester and Navaeh Sanders sacked Kargman on consecutive plays to put the ball near the goal line and Gardner fumbled on the next play.

Northern Illinois quarterback Rocky Lombardi, in action at Boston College earlier this season, accounted for three TDs at Kent.
Northern Illinois quarterback Rocky Lombardi, in action at Boston College earlier this season, accounted for three TDs at Kent.

Lombardi finished 9-of-18 passing for 183 yards and a touchdown and had two 1-yard runs for touchdowns. Gavin Williams carried 17 times for 103 yards and Antonio Brown added another 89 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

Kargman was 14-of-26 for 237 yards and two TDs, his first two TD passes of the season. Gardner caught three passes for 111 yards and a score. Luke Floriea caught nine passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. Floriea also ran 13 yards for a score on a double-reverse to give the Flashes a first-half lead.

Floriea's TD catch in the second quarter got Kent on the scoreboard before his run later in the quarter helped put the Flashes ahead 14-10.

Andrew Glass added a 21-yard field goal with 54 seconds left in the first half to push KSU's lead to 17-10 at the half.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Northern Illinois football rallies to win at Kent State

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