Final Score: Central Michigan 45, Northern Illinois 31

Mount Pleasant, MI (Sports Network) - Dan LeFevour threw for 255 yards and three touchdowns on 27-of-41 passing, and Bryan Schroeder ran for 128 yards on nine carries and two scores, as the Central Michigan Chippewas completed its regular season with a 45-31 victory over the Northern Illinois Huskies at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Central Michigan (10-2, 8-0 MAC) will face Ohio U next Friday in the Mid- American Conference championship in Detroit. Ohio defeated Temple 35-17 Friday to capture the MAC Eastern Division.

The Chippewas' Antonio Brown had nine catches for 50 yards and Kito Poblah caught five passes for 77 yards and a touchdown.

Northern Illinois (7-5, 5-3) quarterback Chand Harnish completed 17-of-28 passes for 206 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Chad Spann ran for 76 yards on 15 carries and a score. Receiver Marcus Lewis had six catches for 40 yards and a touchdown, while Martel Moore, Landon Cox and Willie Clark each had three catches.

The Chippewas got on the board first in the opening quarter with a 13-yard touchdown pass from LeFevour to Schroeder with 10:27 remaining. The host team went ahead 10-0 with 56 seconds left in the quarter with a 24-yard field goal by Andrew Aguila.

Northern Illinois closed the gap to 10-3 on a 30-yard field goal by Mike Salerno with 9:27 left in the second quarter.

The teams then exchanged touchdowns to make the score 17-10.

Central Michigan scored on a 16-yard pass from LeFevour to Poblah with 6:29 till the half. The Huskies came back with a 32-yard scoring strike from Harnish to Cox.

With 48 seconds left in the quarter, Schroeder posted a five-yard touchdown run to give the Chippewas a 24-10 halftime advantage.

Central Michigan needed just one play to begin the third quarter to go ahead 31-10, as Schroeder went 80 yards for a score.

Less than seven minutes later, LeFevour hit Bryan Anderson with a 16-yard scoring strike to give Central Michigan a lead of 38-10.

Northern Illinois responded with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Patrick George returned an interception 80 yards for a score with 12:50 to play. Spann then cut the lead to 38-24 with a six-yard scoring run.

The Chippewas' Frank Zombo scored on a 27-yard interception return with 3:58 remaining to make the score 45-24.

The scoring ended with the Huskies' Harnish connecting with Lewis on a seven- yard touchdown with just over two minutes left to play.