From converting on third down to bottling up the opposition, Northern State made all the big plays Thursday night at Dactoah Bank Stadium.
The Wolves converted eight third downs, turning three of them directly into touchdowns, and rolled to a 42-17 non-conference football win over Chadron State in front of a large hometown crowd.
“These are tough games to play as an opponent coming in here. … This is a different animal when you come in here,” said Northern coach Mike Schmidt of the team’s home-field advantage. “We’re a different team when you come in here. It is a different thing. We feel like we can play against anybody in the country when we’re playing here at home.”
The tone was set in the opening quarter when each team was faced with third-down situations. The Eagles struggled on a pair theirs as penalties hurt their cause. Meanwhile, the Wolves were converting theirs at a proficient rate, racking up first downs on seven of 10 third and fourth-down opportunities in the opening half.
“I thought we had a really good game plan,” Schmidt said. “I thought we had a good element of surprise. I thought we had a good feel for what was going on and what we were seeing.”
NSU scored on its first two possessions with Hank Kraft going in from 2-yards out, and then bursting through the line for a 41-yard TD run on his way to a huge night that featured 234 yards on 15 carries and four scores.
The one time Chadron was able to get off the field and force the Wolves to punt in the opening half resulted in a fumble on the return, and Northern scored on the very next play when Ty Englehart hit Jessie Campbell for a 23-yard touchdown with 2:49 left in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, the Eagles found the going tough against the Northern defense.
“We had to pounce on them,” said Northern’s Ayden Barnby, who had three tackles for loss and a sack. “That was our plan to keep going fast, making plays fast … because they’re a good team. They’re no joke, so we couldn’t take it as a joke. We had to start really fast.”
The Wolves continued to thrive on third down in the second half including an 89-yard pass when Englehart barely got rid of ball before taking a shot in the end zone. The ball barely escaped the finger tips of a defender before landing into the hands of Cooper Eisenbeisz who took it the distance for a score.
It was a unique play as one NSU player celebrated a touchdown in one end zone and a teammate was lying flat on his back in the other end zone.
“They blitzed right through the A gap,” Englehart said. “I had to buy a little time and then just trusted my guy ‘Eisie’ to run by them and make a play. I took a shot, but those are the ones that feel best.”
Englhart never even saw the result of the play.
“I heard some oohs and aahs. I really didn’t know what was going on,” Englehart said. “I thought maybe it was an interception, maybe a pick, and then I heard the big crowd pop, and I was like he must have caught it. I didn’t know if he scored or not, because I’m still rolling around on the ground.”
Kraft added two more touchdowns – one on another third down – on runs of 68 yards and 89 yards.
He was quick to credit the linemen for his monster game.
“They were incredible tonight,” Kraft said. “Three of the touchdowns that I had were untouched. … It makes my job really easy. I just have to hit the gaps and try not to get caught.”
Northern finished the evening with 486 yards of total offense.
Englehart went 8-for-10 with 179 yards through the air in his first game at Dacotah Bank Stadium.
“It really was an amazing atmosphere,” Englehart said. “All the fans really have a lot of passion and they showed it tonight. It was really special.”
The Wolves will be right back at Dacotah Bank Stadium for another Thursday night tilt when they host Winona State next week.
Schmidt definitely liked what he saw out of his players in their season opener.
“We’ve got a good squad and some really, really good players. … When we have all hands on deck and we have our guys, this group is tough to beat,” Schmidt said.
To see a complete box score, click on the following link:
https://nsuwolves.com/sports/football/stats/2026/chadron-state/boxscore/14639
