Crete, NE - A low scoring first half leads to an offensive explosion in the second as freshman Colby Duncan leads the Raiders to a 31-7 victory over the Doane Tigers on the road in his first career start. 

"Defense was outstanding again," said head coach Matt McCarty. "Proud of how our guys adjusted and made winning plays in the second half [and] Colby did an excellent job job of distributing the football and giving our wide receivers a chance to make big plays."

Raider fans got the shock when the game started as starting quarterback Hayden Groos was on the sidelines with a minor injury and backup Colby Duncan was under center. The first drive started with a 35 yard highlight catch for wide receiver Austyn Gerard but Northwestern would settle for the field goal before Doane would drive down the field and find the endzone first. Not much scoring came until the Raiders put together a long drive in late in the second quarter. Using the two minute timeout to their advantage, they set up a short pass for Gerard in the corner of the endzone to take a 10-7 lead headed into halftime. 

The second half started strong for Northwestern as a 37 yard touchdown pass to Ty Schafer would be completed after a 47 yard run from the freshman quarterback Colby Duncan. The next drive looked set for the Raiders to run up the score before a fumble sent the offense back to the sidelines. The defense took that to heart as a hit from Ben Egli forced Doane quarterback Sam Hartman to be out for a play, leading to a first pass interception into the hands of Kylar Fritz to get great field position for the offense. Raiders would score off the turnover with a 10 yard touchdown run from Duncan. Gerard would be Duncan's favorite target on the day as on his 10th reception of the day went for 90 yards to set up a Konner McQuillan touchdown run. The defense would continue to hold strong until the final seconds not allowing any points since the Doane score in the first quarter and held them at 116 yards of total offense on the day. 

Game Notes

• Austyn Gerard joined the record books for sixth most receiving yards in a game with 212 yards on 10 receptions including one touchdown
• Trystin Voss had a strong defensive performance with 2.5 sacks for a loss of 12 yards and five total tackles
• Colby Duncan was one pass attempt shy of qualifying for a shot at the Northwestern quarterback rating record, his 246.3 rating would have ranked him fourth all-time
• Duncan also led the team in rushing yards with 56
• The linebacker duo of Parker Fryar and Ben Egli each had four solo tackles and combined for 15 tackles
• The last game Konner McQuillian did not find the endzone was November 12, 2022 in a 41-10 victory over Hastings
• The Raiders' regular season winning streak increased to 23 games

Up Next: Northwestern hosts the Bulldogs of Concordia for Homecoming on October 5th with kickoff at 1:30pm.