TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The road has been friendly to Illinois State during the FCS portion of the 2024 schedule and that trend continued Saturday against Indiana State at Memorial Stadium, as the No. 16 ranked Redbirds (8-3, 5-2 MVFC) scored 31 unanswered points to defeat the Sycamores (4-7, 3-4 MVFC) by a final of 31-19 to secure their fifth-straight road victory.
How It Happened:
• The Sycamores took the opening kickoff and proceeded to put together a 17-play, 75-yard scoring drive that took 9:19 off the clock that was capped off on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Elijah Owens to make the score 7-0 with 5:41 left in the opening quarter of play.
• The Redbirds knotted the game at 7-7 early in the second quarter, as Tommy Rittenhouse connected with Xavier Loyd on a 6-yard touchdown pass with 14:49 left in the second quarter.
• Illinois State took the lead on its next possession, as Rittenhouse connected with Daniel Sobkowicz for an 84-yard touchdown reception as Sobkowicz hauled it in with one hand and broke free for the score to extend the ISU lead to 14-7 with 10:07 left before halftime.
• Ian Wagner tacked on three more points with just 11 seconds left before halftime on a 26-yard field goal to make the score 17-7 at the break.
• The Redbirds took the opening kickoff of the second half and drove 70 yards in 12 plays to take a 24-7 lead with 9:52 left on the clock as Rittenhouse connected with Sobkowicz for an 8-yard touchdown pass.
• Wenkers Wright widened the Redbird lead to 31-7 with 4:12 left in the third quarter when he scored from 12 yards out to cap off a 7-play, 79-yard drive.
• With 6:00 left in the game, the Sycamores scored their second touchdown of the contest when Owens connected with Zavion Taylor on an 18-yard score but the two-point conversion attempt was broken up by Keondre Jackson to keep the score at 31-13.
• Indiana State would add a late touchdown on a 6-yard reception from Owens to Rashad Rochelle with 1:42 left in the game to bring the score to its final at 31-19.
Game Notes:
• Sobkowicz recorded a season-best 156 yards on eight receptions in the contest and recorded a pair of scores.
• Loyd hauled in a career-best 13 catches, one short of tying the school single-game record and finished with 94 yards and a touchdown.
• Wright scored his second touchdown in as many weeks and went over 900 yards rushing on the season with 64 yards on the ground.
• Rittenhouse tallied his second 300-plus yard passing game of the year, finishing with 319 yards on 29-of-41 passing and tied a career-best with three touchdown passes in the victory.
• Linebacker Tye Niekamp led the Redbird defense with 12 tackles, while Lavoise-Deontae McCoy added 11 with a sack against the Sycamores.
• Amir Abdullah, who was celebrating a birthday, continued to progress from his leg injury and had six tackles with a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss.
Next Up:
Illinois State wraps up the regular next Saturday at Hancock Stadium against North Dakota (5-6, 2-5 MVFC) for Senior Day, with kickoff slated for Noon CT.
