The Northern Illinois football team closed out the season on Monday with a double-overtime victory in the Idaho Potato Bowl at Boise, Idaho.
Freshman wide receiver George Dimopoulos threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Dane Pardridge on the first play of the second overtime, then Jordan Hansen ended the game with a fourth-down sack to give the Huskies a 28-20 win over Fresno State before a crowd of 10,359 at Albertsons Stadium.
Former Ankeny Centennial stars Trey Porter, Elijah Porter and Chase Schutty are members of the NIU squad. Former Ankeny standout Devon Akers also plays for the Huskies.
Trey Porter is a redshirt sophomore safety, while his brother Elijah is a freshman running back. Both Akers and Schutty are freshmen tight ends.
Dimopoulos, who played quarterback in high school, also converted the two-point conversion when he passed it to quarterback Josh Holst for his second completion of the season.
Holst, a freshman walk-on, was making just his third start at quarterback as NIU was without starter Ethan Hampton, who entered with 1,600 yards and 12 touchdowns to go with six interceptions. Holst completed 18-of-30 passes for 182 and two touchdowns after being intercepted on the first play of the game.
Both teams missed a 35-yard field goal in the final three 3 minutes of regulation. Fresno State’s Dylan Lynch missed his third kick of the game on the final play to send it to overtime.
The Bulldogs started overtime with a touchdown when Bryson Donelson was left wide open out of the backfield to haul in a 9-yard scoring pass. NIU needed five plays, and a defensive holding penalty, to score as Holst found Grayson Barnes for a 3-yard touchdown.
Donelson finished with 15 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown for Fresno State (6-7). He added three catches for 28 yards and another score.
Dual-threat quarterback Joshua Wood was 16-of-23 for 180 yards and a touchdown. Mac Dalena made six catches for 118 yards to surpass 1,000 yards for the season.
Fresno State was without 14 players, including starting quarterback Mikey Keene after he transferred to Michigan. Two top-three receivers, Jalen Moss and Raylen Sharpe, also did not play as the Bulldogs were forced to use five new starters.
Northern Illinois finished with an 8-5 record. The Huskies, who won four of their last five games, posted a 16-14 win at then-No. 5 Notre Dame on Sept. 7 for the first victory over a top-five opponent in program history.