Sep. 14—Going into the third quarter of last week's game, Northeastern State football was still within reach of taking down Nebraska-Kearney. Down 24-14, the game was winnable for the RiverHawks.

Despite picking up a fourth-quarter field goal, NSU could not get a full rally going and lost to NKU 31-17. Despite the loss, the RiverHawks did find the end zone after getting shut out in week one to Fort Hayes State.

As well as the offense finding some footing, NSU's defense also played a better game after allowing 56 points in week one. Through one quarter the game was knotted 7-7. Things stayed close going into halftime with NKU keeping a one-score lead, before widening the gap with a 10-point third quarter.

Going into week three, the RiverHawks return home looking to pick up their first win of the year against a high-flying Emporia State team that has put up at least 30 points in each of its first two games. So far this season, the Hornets rank second in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association averaging 44.5 points per game.

On the flip side, the RiverHawks rank last in the MIAA averaging 8.5 ppg. On the other side of the ball, NSU is allowing its opponents to score 54.5 ppg.

NSU's secondary will be challenged in this week three showdown. So far this season, ESU starting quarterback Braden Gleason is averaging over 300 yards of passing through the air. So far Gleason has been able to spread out the yardage with three receivers averaging over 50 yards a game. ESU's top receiving duo, Tyler Kohmann, and Jaylen Varner are each averaging over 80 yards per game.

When these teams met last year the Panthers easily handled the RiverHawks 42-17 in last year's season opener.

Kick-off between the Panthers and the RiverHawks kick off at 7 p.m .

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