GLEN ELLYN, Ill. - Mistakes on both sides of the football proved costly Saturday afternoon as the Northeastern A&M Golden Norsemen opened the football season with a 30-9 loss at the hands of the College of DuPage Chaparrals on Bob McDougall Field.


"At the end of the day, when you turn the ball over five times and stall out three other times inside the opponents 30 yard line you're not going to be very successful from an offensive standpoint," NEO head coach Ryan Held said.  "That's what it all boils down to."
NEO returns to the FieldTurf of Robertson Field Saturday to begin a two-game home stand. The Golden Norsemen will entertain the Spartans of Houston's Southeast Prep Academy at 7 p.m. as part of Military Appreciation Night.
"When you combine the turnovers with some different plays that they ran, it just doesn't formulate into a successful game," Held said. "I don't care who you're playing, you can't beat anybody doing what we did on Saturday."
After having their drive stall on the opening possession of the game, the NEO special teams created a scoring opportunity from a DuPage mistake.
Chaparral punter Austin Ringis fumbled the snap at the DuPage 41-yard line. NEO sophomore linebacker Dillon Proctor recovered the loose ball to give the Norse a chance at the Chaparral's 37-yard line.
Six plays later, freshman running back Cameron Booty scored on a 5-yard burst up the middle. Freshman Sinue Rodriguez added the extra point to create NEO's only lead of the game at 7-0 with 8:54 left in the first quarter.
DuPage responded with a 72-yard, seven-play drive behind the pin-point passing of quarterback Zachary Mahoney to tie the score. A 36-yard pass from Mahoney to Quinetin Jackson fueled the drive.
Mahoney found sophomore wide out Justin Bestda open on a 10-yard touchdown pass at the 6:23 juncture of the first quarter. The PAT by Matt Rodriguez produced a 7-7 tie.
"I'll tip my hat to DuPage," Held said. "They have good players and they made plays and we didn't.
"That being said, when you watch the film, we're not that far off," Held said. "As bad as it looks on paper, the final score does not really indicate the true measure of where we're at because we're not that far off."
Consuming four minutes on their next possession, the Chaparrals covered 82 yards in eight plays to grab the lead for good.
The Mahoney-to-Jackson combo clicked for a 32-yard touchdown pass with just 0:14 left in the first quarter. Matt Rodriguez kicked the point-after for a 14-7 DuPage lead.
"I'm encouraged that we can go out this week and fix the issues that caused us problems," Held said. "After all, our entire secondary and most of our defensive front were playing in their first college football game. Only our three linebackers had any previous game experience."
With time running out in the second quarter, Mahoney found Jackson open for a 15-yard TD pass play with 0:26 showing on the clock. The extra point by Matt Rodriguez sailed wide right as the Chaparrals carried a 20-7 margin to the locker room at halftime.
DuPage free safety Thad Little set up the 27-yard drive for the Chaparrals with an interception of an errant pass by NEO quarterback Dezmond Stegall.
Receiving the second half kickoff, the Chaparrals moved 75 yards in seven plays to increase their lead.
Veteran wide out Marquez Beeks took a hand-off on an end around play and scored on a 17-yard run with 10:16 left in the third quarter. Matt Rodriguez kicked the extra point for a 27-7 cushion.
Pinned deep in their own territory, DuPage attempted to punt the ball from their 19-yard line.
NEO special teams player Daniel Moniz blocked the punt by Ringis out of the endzone for a two-point safety at the 3:34 juncture of the third quarter for a 27-9 deficit.
With time running out in the third quarter, DuPage sophomore outside linebacker Steve Mychalczuk recorded his second interception of the game and returned it 60 yards to the NEO 5-yard line.
After a goal-line stand by the Golden Norse defense, Matt Rodriguez kicked a 22-yard field goal with 14:52 remaining on the clock to close out the scoring.
"Dez did not have the type of game he wanted to have," Held said. "If he would have just taken what the defense had given him and not tried to force the ball on some of his passes, then things would have been different."
Stegall completed 13 of 28 passes for 172 yards with no touchdowns and four interceptions. He rushed for 20 yards on 14 carries while enduring four quarterback sacks for minus-33 yards.
"The interceptions that he threw, he knew right away that they were bad interceptions," Held said. "We had some calls as a coaching staff that we would have liked to have had back, but we're going to have some growing pains too."
Booty led the Golden Norse ground game with 73 yards on 17 carries while Bryton Washington added 23 yards on three carries.
While NEO amassed 296 yards in total offense, DuPage generated 421 total yards.
Mahoney completed 18 of 25 passes for 224 yards and three TDs with no interceptions.
Jackson caught nine passes for 159 yards and two TDs to lead the Chaparrals receiving corps.
"The thing to remember is that eight per cent of our roster played in their first collegiate game," Held said. "That's exciting on one hand and it gives me gray hair on the other. But that's the choice we made to get this program where it needs to be."
NEO 7 0 2 0 -9
DuPage 14 6 7 3 -30
Scoring summary
1st quarter
NEO - Booty 5 run (Sinue Rodriguez kick), 8:54
COD - Bestda 10 pass from Mahoney (Matt Rodriguez kick), 0:14
2nd quarter
COD - Jackson 15 pass from Mahoney (Matt Rodriguez kick), 0:26
3rd quarter
COD - Beeks 17 run (kick failed), 10:16
NEO - Safety, Moniz blocks punt out of endzone, 3:34
4th quarter
COD - FG, Matt Rodriguez 22, !4:52
Team statistics:
             NEO      COD
First downs  14   21
Rushes-yards  38-124  49-197
Passing yards  172   224
Return yards  25   84
Passes-com-att-int  13-29-4   18-25-0
Punts-avg  3-42   5-29
Fumbles-lost  2-1   3-2
Penalties-yards  4-45   14-120
Individual statistics:
RUSHING: NEO, Booty 17-73, Washington 3-23, Stegall 14-20, White 1-8, Gregory 3-0; DuPage, Martin 13-61, Perez 7-48, Mahoney 11-31, Powers 7-24, Beeks 3-19, Brantley 5-12, Scales 2-2, Gaston 1-0.
PASSING: NEO, Stegall 13-28-4-162, White 0-1-0-0; DuPage, Mahoney 18-25-0-224.
RECEIVING: NEO, Collier 4-81, Matiaha 1-27, Booty, 1-19, Martin 1-14, Robinson 1-13, Smith 1-8, Shaw 1-6, Jennings 1-3, Gregory 1-1, Hall 1-0; DuPage, Jackson 9-159, Caver 3-30, Beeks 2-18, Brantley 1-17, Perez 1-7, Ruiz 1-(-2), Gregory 1-(-5).