By: Howard Woodard
It was a tale of two halves for SIU football (2-6) this past Saturday against Indiana State. After the Dawgs jumped out in front by three scores in the first 30 minutes, the Sycamores scored 20 unanswered points to get a homecoming victory in front of their fans.
The Salukis did want they wanted in all phases in the first half, where they used a tandem of true freshmen QB Jake Curry and also graduate assistant Michael Lindauer who put the pads back on a few weeks ago.
Lindauer got his first collegiate touchdown pass on a 1-yd lob to Keontez Lewis, who was wide open in the right corner of the end zone after miscommunication in the ISU secondary. Southern used Lindauer in specific situations as he was only 3/3 for 16 yards in the air and ran the ball 3 times for 60 yards. Curry also used his legs in this one, rattling off a 24 yd touchdown on a keeper where he faked a screen to cap an 80-yd drive.
After an interception by Ben Bogle with 14 seconds left in the second quarter, kicker Paul Geelen knocked a 37-yd field goal through the uprights to go up 17-0. But the tides turned in the third quarter as Indiana State returned a pick-six off of Curry on the Dawgs’ opening drive of the second half.
When SIU got the ball back, Lindauer was able to rattle off 52 of his 60 rushing yards on a RPO where he got free up the middle and appeared to be headed for 6 points but was stripped from behind and the Trees recovered at the 2-yd line.
They were then able to drive the length of the field to score a touchdown, aided by an extremely controversial call. During the drive, it appeared Saluki defensive end Jamond Mathis ripped the ball out of a Sycamores running back’s hands and ran it into the end zone, but the play was whistled dead from the stop of forward progress earlier on in the play.
It would prove to be another 14-point swing in this one. Once again, SIU would move the ball down the field, converting on a fourth down with a Willtrell Hartson run but he also coughed up the football. ISU recovered to set up their third scoring drive of the half finished by a 28-yd touchdown run by their QB Elijah Owens.
The Dawgs couldn’t put together a way to tie the game and fell in heartbreaking fashion on the road. jake Curry was 17/27 for 165 yards but there were costly drops by Keontez Lewis and Nah’shawn Hezekiah in the third quarter as well.
The Dawgs even had one of their best rushing performances with their backs averaging 4.43 yards per carry with Jerrian Parker and Jimmy Athans getting a majority of the attempts. SIU will stay on the road to play Missouri State (6-2) this Saturday, November 2 at 2pm.
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