Demos field goal lifts Northwestern over E. Michigan 27-24

From the outset of Heroes Day at Northwestern, the last thing the Wildcats seemed to need was a last-minute rescue by Stefan Demos.

But NU squandered an 18-point halftime lead against Eastern Michigan on a warm Saturday afternoon, which allowed Demos to deliver a kick more than three years in the making.

With six seconds to go, the left-footed redshirt junior from Scottsdale, Ariz., drilled a 49-yard field goal with plenty to spare to lift the Wildcats to a 27-24 nonconference victory before 19,239 at Ryan Field in Evanston.

It marked the second career field goal for Demos, a nationally ranked high school kicker who settled for serving as NU's punter until this fall.

"I think the word is 'overwhelmed,' " Demos said. "Everyone had confidence in me and I had confidence in myself, so I knew my time would come."

Nobody expected his time to come Saturday when Northwestern (2-0) bolted to a 21-0 lead with 9:08 left in the second quarter.

After 2 first-quarter touchdown blasts by junior running back Stephen Simmons, linebacker Ben Johnson picked off an Andy Schmitt slant and cruised 70 yards to give the Wildcats that cushion.

"I read 3-step (drop)," Johnson said. "I was supposed to keep contain, but if I see 3-step I've got to drop (back) - it just was kind of thrown right to me."

Then, just as in last week's win over Towson when Northwestern zoomed ahead 30-0 early in the second quarter, the Wildcats hit cruise control too soon.

"For what it's worth, we got away with one," Kafka said. "I thought we played well. We need to keep the pedal down and keep momentum and keep a rhythm throughout the game."

Eastern Michigan (0-2) worked its way back with a potent running attack - junior Dwayne Priest had 89 of his 127 rushing yards in the second half - and a pair of fortuitous turnovers.

Trailing 24-10 early in the fourth quarter, NU punt returner Brendan Smith called for a fair catch but couldn't find the room to run up and grab the short punt.

The ball hit the ground, bounced off teammate Andrew Brewer and fell into Eastern Michigan's hands at Northwestern's 35.

Four plays later, Schmitt found a wide-open Jacory Stone for a 25-yard score.

Northwestern answered by marching to EMU's 24, but Mike Kafka was hit in the arm as he threw and safety Ryan Downard picked off the wobbler at the 6-yard line.

"If you go back and look, Brewer was wide open," Kafka said. "He was just open in the seam. He probably would have scored."

Instead, the Eagles pounded the ball between the tackles almost all the way downfield and made it 24-24 with 2:40 to go when Terrence Blevins bounced outside and scored untouched from 3 yards out.

"I would say it's very similar to some of the drills we do every week and we didn't execute very well," said NU coach Pat Fitzgerald. "I wouldn't say that we were out-schemed. I would say we were outplayed."

But Kafka and Demos had the final say, though NU's two-minute drill didn't exactly bore in a straight line.

The Wildcats marched to EMU's 25, fell back to the 50 on consecutive holding and offensive pass-interference penalties and then returned to the Eagles' 32 on 2 Brewer catches over the middle.

After the visitors used their final timeout to freeze Demos, he couldn't have bisected the uprights any better.

His 49-yarder tied Northwestern's longest field goal since 2002 - and allowed the Wildcats to learn somewhere without taking a loss.

"This is good," said senior safety Brendan Smith. "We need this. We need to know that you have to work every single day.

"You have to be in the film room. You have to do the little things. And each play matters. The smallest details make the biggest difference."