Perry Carries Northwestern to Victory Over Columbus
By Rudy Rodriguez-Chomat
September 11, 2003

The game plan was simple for Northwestern. Get the ball in the hands of running back Terry Perry.

Perry didn’t disappoint, rushing 28 times for 224 yards and 3 touchdowns, as he carried the Bulls to a 23-6 win over Columbus at Traz Powell Stadium before a crowd of 1,500.

“Perry is our Mr. Excitement,” Northwestern head coach Roland Smith said. “He had a great game for us tonight and if our line continues to block like that, he is going to have a tremendous season.”

Numerous mistakes cost the Bulls early and often as they fumbled at the Columbus 18-yard line in the first quarter and committed a delay of game penalty on fourth and goal from the Columbus 1-yard line that cost them a chance to score when Columbus stuffed them on fourth and goal from the 6-yard line.

This allowed the Explorers to keep Northwestern off the scoreboard until midway through the second quarter when the Bulls defensive lineman Leron King split the center-guard gap, sacking Columbus quarterback Alex Halley in the end zone for a 2-0 lead.

The Explorers were able to hold off the Bulls offense until Perry finally broke through with 2:53 to play in the second quarter on a 61-yard touchdown run keyed by a big block by wide receiver Patrick Marshall who took out two Explorers defenders giving the Bulls an 8-0 lead going into the half.

“These are the games that scare me the most,” Smith said. “It’s easy to get up for games against our rivals as we did last week, but we have to keep our kids ready for games like these.”

The second half was all Northwestern as defensive end Heaven Desire led the defense with three sacks and a fumble recovery. The Bulls defense did not allow Columbus past the 50-yard line until late in the fourth quarter, limiting Columbus to 89 yards of offense, most of them coming late in the fourth quarter.

“Desire is one of our captains,” Smith said. “He is our tone-setter on defense and had a tremendous game tonight.”

Perry extended the lead to 14-0 on 3-yard run late in the third quarter after Samuel Spence recovered a Columbus fumble at the 17-yard line. He ran in the two-point conversion for a 16-0 lead and the Bulls never looked back. He added another score on a 32-yard run midway through the fourth quarter for a 23-0 lead.

Columbus scored on the final play of the game an 18-yard pass from Halley to Andrew Diomande, the first score on Northwestern’s defense in two games.

Picture 1: Terry Perry trying to break Gaby Fernandez's tackle.
Picture 2: Fenandez laying the wood on Khalil Jones.
Picture 3. Columbus at the line.
Picture 4: Andrew Diomande breaking away from Stephen Bostick.