BOSTON – The University of Maine football team’s 20-14 victory over Northeastern University Saturday was a microcosm of its season.

Only this time, the Bears created a happy ending instead of a frustrating one.

Lamir Whetstone’s 59-yard kickoff return following a Northeastern touchdown late in the third quarter set up Jhamal Fluellen’s game-winning 23-yard TD run.

The Bears also received four pivotal defensive plays, three by end Jovan Belcher, to shut down the Huskies the rest of the way. An impressive time-consuming drive late in the fourth quarter put the finishing touches on their triumph at Parsons Field.

Maine’s fourth straight victory over the Huskies snapped its six-game losing streak that included two overtime setbacks and a one-point loss in which the Bears (2-6, 1-4 Colonial Athletic Association) failed to make clutch plays.

Northeastern (1-7, 0-5 CAA) had taken its only lead, 14-10, when Maurice Murray capped a 12-play, 83-yard drive with a school record-tying 36th career rushing touchdown, this one coming on a 4-yard run.

But Whetstone’s return set up the Bears at the NU 29 and, three plays later, Fluellen scampered 23 yards off the right side to give the Bears a lead they would never relinquish.

“We knew after they scored we had to get a big return to get the momentum back in our favor and that’s what we did,” said Whetstone. “It was supposed to go to the outside, but I cut it back inside and went untouched until the kicker [Ron Conway] tackled me.”

Whetstone credited his blockers for doing a great job opening up the lane for him. He also said he knew they would be kicking to him because return partner Antonio Walcott had already returned a punt 43 yards to set up Maine’s first touchdown, a 36-yard pass from Farkes to Landis Williams in the second quarter that made it 10-0; and Walcott had also scooted 30 yards on a kickoff return.

“[Whetstone’s return] put the momentum back in our favor. It makes it so much easier for our offense and tougher for their defense when you only have to go 20 or 30 yards,” said Maine redshirt freshman quarterback Farkes.

“That was a big momentum swing,” said NU coach Rocky Hager, whose team has lost five straight. “We lost discipline in the lane, we got ourselves out of position. They did a decent job of blocking and their returner did a nice job finding the crease and sticking it upfield.”

Fluellen said Williams threw a key block on his TD run.

“Landis did an excellent job. He blocked the corner[back], and once I was able to turn the corner, there was just daylight,” said Fluellen, who posted his third consecutive 100-yard rushing game (126 yards on 26 carries).

Belcher made sure the Huskies didn’t regain momentum on the next series as he sacked Anthony Orio for a 9-yard loss and tackled elusive Alex Broomfield for a 7-yard loss on the next play.

Belcher’s most important play came after NU recovered a fumble and had third-and-three from the M-47 early in the fourth quarter.

He stepped into the hole and stopped Murray for no gain to force a punt.

“[Murray] looked right at me. I knew he was going to get the ball and I knew he was going to come my way. He had been coming my way the whole game,” said Belcher.

“It was a power [read] and they made the play. They were in the right spot at the right time,” said Murray, who finished with 127 yards on 22 carries.

Junior free safety Jonathan Calderon’s interception halted NU’s next drive and paved the way for the time-consuming 12-play, 40-yard drive that culminated in Bobby Donnelly’s second field goal of the game with 47 seconds left.

“I saw the quarterback scrambling that way [Orio’s right], so I went that way and shortened the field on him. Then I read his arm,” said Calderon, who stepped in front of tight end Brian Mandeville.

“I was trying to make a play. Simple as that,” said Orio.

Maine’s offensive line, led by junior center Ryan Canary, took over after that and helped Fluellen and Farkes churn out three first downs.

“We wanted to get this win, big-time,” said Canary. “We bore down, we blocked everyone, we played physical and we played fast.”

Farkes completed 11 of 22 passes for 142 yards and Williams caught eight balls for 107 yards. Belcher finished with eight solo tackles, including two sacks, plus four assists, and linebacker John Wormuth had had three tackles and five assists. Maine put good pressure on Orio all afternoon.

Orio completed 11 of 16 passes for 110 yards, including a 33-yard TD strike to Tony Lott that cut Maine’s lead to 10-7. Linebacker Joe Mele had a game-high 16 tackles (10 solos), and LB Cornelius Bunch was in on nine.

The Bears return home to play Towson Saturday at noon.

BLACK BEARS 20, HUSKIES 14

Maine (2-6) 3 7 7 3 – 20

Northeastern 0 7 7 0 – 14

M – Donnelly 31 field goal

M – Williams 36 pass from Farkes (Donnelly kick)

N – Lott 33 pass from Orio (Johnson kick)

N – Murray 4 run (Johnson kick)

M – Fluellen 23 run (Donnelly kick)

M – Donnelly 31 field goal Maine Northeastern

First downs 18 13

Rushing att.-yards 45-193 38-128

Passing comp.-att. 11-22 11-16

Passing yards 142 110

Total yards 335 238

Punts-avg. 5-37.8 8-42

Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-1

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 5-39 3-40

Rushing

Maine: Fluellen 26-126, Farkes 14-47, Cotrone 3-22, Henderson 1-0; Northeastern: Murray 22-127, Broomfield 8-39, Orio 8-minus-38

Passing

Maine: Farkes 11-22-0-142; Northeastern: Orio 11-16-1-110

Receiving

Maine: Williams 8-107, Fluellen 2-27, Brusko 1-8; Northeastern: Lott 4-60, Mandeville 2-19, Plum 2-18, Broomfield 2-8, Murray 1-15

A- 4340