Career-best 52-yard FG by Jackson Courville gives Ball State 25-23 win over Northern Illinois

MUNCIE, Ind. -- — Jackson Courville kicked a career-best 52-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to give Ball State a dramatic 25-23 win over Northern Illinois on Saturday.

Kanon Woodill kicked a 47-yard field goal with 18 seconds left to give the Huskies their only lead, 23-22 but Kadin Semonza completed passes of 34 yards to Malcolm Gillie and 5 yards to Tanner Koziol to put the Ball at the NIU 35 with 5 seconds to go.

It capped a wild finish that saw a wide-open Skyler Gill, who had seven receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown, drop a two-point conversion that would have pulled Northern Illinois into a 22-20 tie with 4:57 to play. But after a tipped-ball interception put Ball State at the NIU 23 with 2:26 to play, Santana Banner blocked Courville's potential clinching 33-yard field goal with 1:51 to go.

Semonza was 20-of-33 passing for 211 yards with two touchdown passes to Kaziol for the Cardinals (3-5, 2-2 Mid-American Conference). A 3-yard connection opened the scoring. Kaziol also had a 9-yard touchdown among his nine catches for 78 yards.

Courville had field goals of 24 and 47 yards, a yard shy of his career best at the time, to help Ball State take a 19-14 lead at the half. A 50-yard field goal in the third quarter made it 22-14.

Ethan Hampton was 18-of-33 passing for the Huskies (4-4, 1-3), including a 54-yard scoring connection with Thompson. Antario Brown ran for two touchdowns, a 34-yarder to tie the game at 7 and a 6-yard run that pulled NIU within 22-20.

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