TERRE HAUTE, IND. ? The 2008 Indiana State football season came to an end with a heartbreaking 27-24 loss in overtime to the visiting Missouri State Bears in a Missouri Valley Football Conference game Saturday in ISU's Memorial Stadium. With the loss, ISU falls to 0-12 on the season, while the Bears improved to 4-7 overall.
“I thought our kids played extremely hard, especially in the second half,” head coach Trent Miles said. “At halftime, we challenged our players and lived up to the challenge in the second half.”
Indiana State got the ball first in overtime with Baulio Martinez booting a 39-yard field goal. But Missouri State came right back, as Bears quarterback Cody Kirby rumbled 19 yards for the touchdown to give Missouri State the win.
Missouri State took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, using just four plays to go 91 yards for the first touchdown of the game on a 16-yard run by Miguel Warren with 6:03 left. Matt Hottelman booted the point after for the Bears.
In the second quarter, Kingjack Washington capped off a 12-play, 77-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run for Missouri State's second touchdown of the game. Hottelman again booted the point after to give the Bears a 14-0 lead with 10:11 remaining in the first half.
A bad snap on a punt attempt gave the Bears an opportunity for their third touchdown, starting from the Sycamore four-yard line. But Indiana State got the ball right back when Missouri State's Washington was stripped of the ball by ISU's Jayden Everett, who also recovered the fumble at the ISU five yard line.
The Sycamores took advantage of the turnover, marching 95 yards in 14 plays to cut the Missouri State lead in half. Darrius Gates capped the drive with a seven-yard run around the right side and Braulio Martinez booted the point after as the Sycamores trailed 14-7 with 4:13 left in the third quarter.
After holding Missouri State on their next possession, the Sycamores took over at their own 18-yard line and promptly marched down the field, going 82 yards in nine plays to tie the game on a one-yard run by Gates. The touchdown was set up by a 67-yard run by Gates that moved the ball down to the Bears five-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Four plays later, Gates took the ball over the left side on fourth-and-one and stretched the ball across the goal line for the touchdown with 12:25 left. Martinez booted the extra point attempt to tie the game at 14-all.
Indiana State got the ball back with less than two minutes to play and the Sycamores needed just 42 seconds to take the lead for the first time in the game. Starting from their own eight-yard line, Brock Lough ran 14 yards to the Indiana State 22 yard line. Gates broke free and rambled 77 yards down to the Missouri State one and then Ryan Roberts dove over the top of center Jack Byrne for the touchdown. Martinez's point after kick made it 21-14 with 46 seconds left in the game.
Missouri State came right back, scoring on a 19 yard pass from quarterback Cody Kirby to Chris Geisz on the final play of the game. Hottelman booted the point after to tie the game at 21 and send the game into overtime.
“We got after the team at halftime,” Miles commented. “The first half was unacceptable. We had to challenge this team at halftime and our kids went out and played hard in the second half and had a good chance to win. Today we got beat by the better team, we got beat by a good coach.”
Gates led the way for the Sycamores with a career-high 237 yards rushing and two touchdowns on the day. Gates became the first ISU runner to eclipse the 200 yard mark since 2006, when Tony West amassed 217 versus Murray State. C.J. Cook led the way for the Sycamores defense, recording a career-high 14 tackles, including three solo stops. Donye McCleskey and Jayden Everett each added 11 tackle for the Sycamores as well.
