Chippewas end first year under DeBord with loss
DEKALB, Ill. - Rebuilding isn't pretty, but at some point every team in the nation has to do it.
On Saturday the Chippewas of the gridiron finished off their rebuilding season with a 40-6 loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies. The loss dropped the Chippewas to 2-9 overall with a 2-6 mark in the Mid-American Conference.
The story of the day as the Huskies rolled over the Chippewas was the continued dominance of Ryan Diem, and the NIU offensive line. Behind the Huskie O-line, freshman Michael Turner tallied 281 yards and one touchdown.
"I look at their offensive line and I see a Big Ten offensive line. They're all outstanding players I could run behind that offensive line and I probably could get a thousand yards," Head Coach Mike DeBord said.
The lone time the Chippewas reached pay dirt was on Rob Turner's recovery of an Ira Gooch fumble in the endzone.
Also highlighting the day for the Chippewas was redshirt sophomore Vince Webber. Webber, a native of Elgin, Illinois, returned home to face the Huskies. Webber rushed for 113 on 22 carries for an average of 5.1 yards a clip.
"Last week Vince came of age I thought the ran he ball the hardest he had all year. He ran the ball hard today and he finished this year on a strong note," DeBord said.
The 113 yards rushing was a career high for Webber and brought his season team high total to 458 yards in eight games.
"I've been feeling good the past few games of the season. I wish we could keep playing I can't wait till next year I want to win. I hate losing," Vince Webber said.
A portion of the Chippewa squad that struggled early were the special teams. with a mixed extra point, a blocked punt and one punt returned for a touchdown by NIU's Justin McCareins the Huskies scored 10 points off of special team errors.
"The special teams have been pretty good all year and they broke down today," DeBord said.
One glaring area of inefficiency for the Chippewa was the aerial attack. Derrick Vickers and Pete Shepherd combined for seven of 24 passing and a paltry 65 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball for the Chippewas it was again the Brian Leigeb show. Leigeb finished the game with 22 tackles on the afternoon to raise his season total to a new career high 143 and his record of career tackles to 486 stops.
