Northeastern State squandered their largest lead of the season Saturday, allowing the final 28 points of a 35-16 loss to Lindenwood, marking a disappointing end to an already-dreadful season.

The RiverHawks finish the 2014 campaign 0-11. It's their first winless season since 2004 and the first time in program history they've finished a season with 11 losses.

NSU joins Cheyney (PSAC), Southern Nazarene (GAC) and Minnesota Crookston (NSIC) as the only winless teams in Division II (all 3 also finished 0-11). Crookston's losing streak extends to the final 4 games of last season. Cheyney has lost 31 games in a row, dating back to Week 1 of the 2012 season. Northeastern won their final game of the season in 2013 over in-state rival Central Oklahoma.

The RiverHawks were tied at 7 with Lindenwood at the half Saturday, marking only the second time all season they weren't losing at the half (they were tied at 7 with MSSU at halftime also). A 3rd-quarter safety gave NSU their first lead after the break in regulation all season. A 58-yard TD pass from QB Kevin Pantastico to Prince McJunkins extended the Northeastern lead to 16-9 with just over 8 minutes to play in the 3rd.

It didn't last long. Lindenwood linebacker (yes, linebacker) Connor Harris ran 62 yards on the next play for the 2nd of his 4 rushing TDs on the day. His 3rd touchdown gave Lindenwood the lead that they would never relinquish with under a minute to play in the 3rd.

Lindenwood's Harris finished the day with a game-high 14 tackles and 188 rushing yards on his first 11 career rushing attempts.

Meanwhile, NSU finished the day with just 24 rushing yards. It was the fourth game this season they finished with less than 50 yards on the ground.

Saturday's season finale with Lindenwood was only the 5th of 11 this year in which Northeastern ever held a lead. They held a 6-0 lead over Hays in Week 2 for 2:53 seconds, a 7-0 lead over Emporia in Week 4 for 3:27 (they also led 35-28 in the 1st overtime), a 7-0 lead over Missouri Southern in Week 7 for 7:39 and a 3-0 lead over Central Oklahoma in Week 10 for 5:36.

Pantastico finished the season with 14 INTs, tying a RiverHawks record for most in a single season.

Pantastico certainly wasn't the only one struggling in Tahlequah this year. NSU finished last in the MIAA in - are you ready for this? - scoring offense and defense, total offense, rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense, fumbles recovered and interceptions gained, sacks against, first downs on offense, third-downs on offense, penalties and red zone offense.

They even finished the season just 1 for 7 in field goals.

Northeastern finishes its 3rd season in the MIAA with a total of 6 wins since joining the conference in 2012. The season prior, they finished the regular season 7-4 as an independent and were awarded the MIAA's spot in the Mineral Water Bowl when the conference couldn't supply an above-.500 non-playoff qualifier.

The program's struggles aren't exactly new, though. In 2010, they finished 6-5 and actually shared an LSC North division title, but prior to that, they hadn't seen a winning season since back-to-back NCAA playoff appearances in 1999 and 2000.