TERRE HAUTE, Ind. ? Indiana State played its second-straight game at home on Saturday, this time against Missouri Valley Football Conference foe Illinois State in both team's conference opener. Indiana State (0-5, 0-1 MVFC) scored on its first drive of the game, but the Redbirds (2-2, 1-0 MVFC) controlled the rest of the game and cruised to a 57-6 victory in front of 3,971 fans at Memorial Stadium.
The Sycamores went to the groung on their first offensive possession of the game to move the ball 60 yards to the Illinois State six-yard line. Antoine Brown had 42 of the yards, 36 coming on one play as the sophomore rushed to the Illinois State 12. The drive stalled at the Redbird six-yard line and Corey Varnadore booted a 35-yard field goal to give Indiana State an early 3-0 lead with 10:19 left in the first quarter.
Illinois State came right back and scored on five of their first six possessions. The Redbirds scored on a one-yard run by Geno Blow with 5:51 left in the first quarter and then added 16-yard pass from Kevin Brockway to Garin Harcar with 51 seconds left in the first quarter to make the score 14-3.
After a stalled Indiana State drive, the Redbirds tacked on back-to-back field goals by placekicker Steven Fetzer to take a 20-3 lead. The first was a 24-yard boot with 12:20 left in the half and the second was good from 40 yards with 8:46 left on the clock.
Illinois State then tacked on a touchdown just before halftime to take a 27-3 with 1:28 left. The Redbirds capped off the a quick three-play, 53 yard on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Brockway to wide receiver Eyad Salem.
The Sycamores showed some spark after a 34-yard kickoff return by Koby Kraemer. Indiana State moved the ball quickly into Illinois State territory with a methodical eight-play, 27 scoring drive capped off by a 44-yard yard field goal by placekicer Braulio Martinez with two seconds left to play. The Redbirds then downed the kickoff to take the 21-point lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Redbirds tacked on two more scores in the third quarter to widen their lead over the Sycamores. Blow scored on a one-yard run with 10:41 left to make the score 34-6. Illinois State picked up two more points when Indiana State quarterback Calvin Schmidtke covered up a bad snap in the endzone at the 10:26 mark of the third quarter to make the score 36-6.
The Redbirds then added a two-yard scoring run from Walter Mendenhall that capped off a six-play, 26 yard scoring drive to make the score 43-6 with 7:39 left in the third quarter. The score would stay that way until the 11:02 mark in the fourth quarter, when Mendenhall dashed 40 yards to paydirt to give the Redbirds a 50-6 lead. A 17-yard scoring strike from Drew Kiel to Kevett Mickle with 6:37 left made it a 57-6 contest and the score stayed that way as the Redbirds defeated the Sycamores and picked a win in both team's conference opener.
Running back Antoine Brown led the way on the ground for the Sycamores with 68 yards on 11 carries while wide receiver Ryan Patrick added two catches for 13 yards. Blow paced the Redbirds on the ground with 119 yard on 23 carries to go along with two touchdowns. Mendenhall finished day with a solid game as well, with 103 yard on 10 carries with two scores. Brockway finished 6-for-13 for 108 yards passing and two scores.
Indiana State returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 11, when they travel to Carbondale, Ill., to face off against the nationally-ranked Southern Illinois Salukis. Kick off is set for 2:30 p.m. ET at McAndrew Stadium.
