DeKALB – Cyrus McGarrell got the party started. Nate Valcarcel emphasized his with an even bigger hit the play before. And JaVaughn Byrd tossed on the exclamation point.

The trio of NIU defensive players came away with interceptions of Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke on consecutive drives in the fourth quarter, sealing the Huskies’ 23-13 win Saturday.

“Going into halftime, we brought it up as a defense we just wanted to hold them scoreless in the second half,” Valcarcel said. “The first half, we know we’re doing good, but we can do better. Having that adrenaline, that focus through the second half made us hungry as a defense.”

The Huskies (3-4, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) trailed 13-7 at halftime but took a 20-13 lead early in the fourth quarter.

The Bobcats (5-2, 2-1) were looking to tie the score, but McGarrell camped under Rourke’s deep pass and returned it 35 yards. A facemask penalty tacked on another 15, setting up NIU at the Oho 20.

“Coach [Thomas] Hammock always says win the fourth quarter, and momentum is a big thing in this game,” McGarrell said. “I feel that my interception made our defense and our offense know how to close out the game and take out the win in the end.”

The Huskies had to settle for a field goal, but it pushed the score to 23-13 with 8:09 left. So once again the Bobcats had to go to the air, and on this drive it took NIU two plays to force the turnover.

On first down after an Ohio penalty, Valcarcel leveled Miles Cross to force an incompletion on what would have been a big gainer and a first down. On the next play, Valcarcel got his pick and returned it 33 yards down to the Ohio 20, but again the Huskies couldn’t score.

Ohio just crossed into NIU territory on the next drive when Rourke went deep but was picked off by Byrd with 4:10 left. The Huskies picked up a pair of first downs and were able to run out the clock.

“I feel like as long as we keep on heading in the right path, put our head down and work every week,” McGarrell said, “never doubting any opponent, we should be good the rest of the season.”

Even without those three interceptions, the Huskies’ defense was strong in the second half. The Bobcats managed only 37 total yards in the third quarter and 29 in the fourth after gaining 188 yards in the first half.

The Huskies allowed 254 yards of total offense Saturday after allowing 253 the previous week in a 55-14 win at Akron.

Hammock said the defensive coaching staff made some solid adjustments at halftime, and the players did a great job of implementing them.

“In the first, obviously they were throwing shorter passes, trying to hold on to the ball and things like that,” Hammock said. “We made some adjustments, tightened up the coverage, forced them to try and throw the ball down the field. And obviously we were able to get some picks from that.”

Running back Gavin Williams, who had a 53-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, said the win was a big one for the Huskies as they move to within three wins of becoming bowl eligible.

The Huskies host Eastern Michigan at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The Eagles moved to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the MAC with a 28-14 home win against Kent State.

“We’ve been close a bunch of weeks, but just push it through,” Williams said. “Just lean on each other. We know the defense has our back, and the offense has the defense’s back. And special teams has both our backs. If one needs more help, lean on the other two. That’s just a great way to play team football, and we did a great job today.”