NORMAL, Ill. – A return home treated No. 17 Illinois State well against Northern Iowa, as the Redbirds (6-3, 3-2 MVFC) scored 14 first-quarter points and never looked back in a 31-16 victory over the Panthers (2-7, 0-5 MVFC) on Saturday in front of 7,756 fans at Jay and Lori Bergman Field at Hancock Stadium.
How It Happened:
• After the Redbird defense forced a punt on the first drive of the game by UNI, the Redbird offense drove 80 yards in 13 plays to find the end zone, as quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse ran it in from four yards out to make the score 7-0 in favor of the Redbirds with 4:59 left to play in the first quarter.
• On their second offensive possession of the contest, a 42-yard connection from Rittenhouse to wide receiver Luke Mailander set up a two-yard touchdown run by Seth Glatz that pushed the lead to 14-0 with 1:31 left in the opening quarter.
• Following La'Shavion Brown's first interception of the season, the Redbirds had great field position and need just four plays to put more points on the scoreboard as Rittenhouse connected with Javon Charles on a 19-yard touchdown pass to bolster the ISU lead to 21-0 with 7:20 left in the second quarter.
• The Panthers would get their first points of the game with just 24 seconds left before halftime, as Max Bartachek connected on a 28-yard field goal to cut the ISU lead to 21-3 with 24 seconds remaining on the clock.
• With 9:11 left in the third quarter, the Panthers scored their first touchdown of the contest on a 2-yard touchdown run by Harrison Bey-Buie which capped off a 7-play, 58-yard drive as the score moved to 21-10 in favor of Illinois State.
• The Redbirds answered the UNI touchdown with one of their own, as Victor Dawson capped off a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive with a 9-yard touchdown run with widened the Illinois State lead to 28-10 with 4:30 left in the third quarter.
• UNI trimmed the ISU advantage to 28-16 on a 41-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jaxon Dailey to JC Roque Jr. just 13 seconds into the fourth quarter but the PAT attempt bounced off the right upright no good to keep the Redbirds lead to 12 points.
• Illinois State would add three points late on a 32-yard field goal by Matt Maldonado to push the score to 31-16 with 1:53 left in the game and an interception by Cam Wilson would seal the win for the Redbirds.
Game Notes:
• The Redbird offense racked up 430 yards of total offense in a balanced effort, that features 202 yards rushing and 228 yards passing.
• With his 31 yards rushing, Wenkers Wright moved his career rushing total to 2,541 which moved him into seventh place on the school's all-time rushing list … he is just four yards from pass Pierre Rembert (2,544) for sixth place on the list.
• Rittenhouse's rushing touchdown in the first quarter was his third of the season and Glatz's was his first of the year.
• The touchdown catch by Charles was his third of the season and third in four games for the Redbirds.
• Dawson's rushing touchdown in the third quarter was his second of season … he finished the game with a season-best 101 yards on 17 carries with the touchdown.
• Lord caught a career-high 10 passes for 50 yards, breaking his career-high for the second week in a row.
• Garret Steffen had a big day for the Redbird defense, as she tied for the team lead with seven tackles and added two sacks in the win for the Redbirds.
• The Niekamp brothers both had great days on the defense, as Tye recorded seven tackles and 1.5 TFLs and Dexter finished with three tackles, a sack and 1.5 TFLs.
Next Up:
The Redbirds will travel to Terre Haute, Indiana, to take on the Indiana State Sycamores (3-6, 1-4 MVFC) next Saturday at Noon at Memorial Stadium.
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