YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - The Indiana State football program secured its first winning season since 1996 - a span of 13 seasons with a record under .500 - with a thrilling 30-24 road victory over Youngstown State in front of 10,483 at Stambaugh Stadium.

ISU improves to 6-4, 4-3 MVFC while YSU finishes its season with a record of 3-8, 1-7 MVFC.

The Sycamores posted back-to-back winning seasons in 1995 (7-4) and 1996 (6-5) and have failed to finish over .500 since those two campaigns. Those memories were erased with today's victory over the Penguins which assures that ISU can finish no worse than .500 this season. The win was only the second for the Sycamores in 20 tries against Youngstown State, both of which have come on the road (the other was in 1995).

ISU also snapped a 36-game road losing streak with the victory over the Penguins, earning its first victory away from Memorial Stadium since a 2004 overtime victory over Eastern Illinois and posted the program's first road conference victory since a 2002 win at Southern Illinois.

The Sycamore efforts was led by junior quarterback Ronnie Fouch who completed 16-of-23 passes for 290 yards and four touchdowns. Fouch tied the school record with seven games this season of over 200 yards passing (all have come in succession) and his four touchdowns passes against Youngstown State marks the third time he has accomplished the feat this season (also against Quincy and Illinois State). His 20 touchdown passes this season is a new single-season ISU school record breaking the old standard of 17 set by Jeff Miller in 1985.

Fouch's 20 touchdown passes are also a big reason why ISU has now scored 330 points this season which is the most ever scored by a Sycamore team in one year breaking the old record of 319 set by the 1992 squad. ISU also has posted 45 total touchdowns this year which is two more than the 43 scored by the Sycamores of that same 1992 campaign.

Fouch's top target on the day was tight end Alex Jones who caught five passes for 147 yards and a pair of touchdown catches while Bryant Kent finished with four receptions for 79 yards and a pair of scores.
Indiana State converted a pair of two-point conversions in the game, the first after their first score in which the Penguins were flagged for offsides on the Sycamores' first two attempts, giving the Trees the football inside the one-yard line. ISU then converted a second two-point conversion in the game's second quarter to move ahead 23-17.

Defensively, the Sycamores were led in tackles by sophomore Jacolby Washington with 14 total tackles, including 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. The Sycamores recorded four interceptions in the contest the most since the 1980 campaign when ISU picked Eastern Illinois off five times. Leading the way in the secondary was Calvin Burnett who posted a pair of interceptions for 39 yards while CJ Cook ended a second quarter Penguin drive with a pick and nine-yard return and Larry King ended a fourth quarter YSU march with an interception in the end zone.

ISU's leading rusher was Darrius Gates who finished with 73 yards for 16 yards while Brock Lough added 49 yards on eight carries.

YSU jumped on top of the Sycamores 7-0 with 12:36 left in the first quarter by going 23 yards on six plays as Adaris Bellamy plowed into the end zone from one-yard out. The Penguin score was set up by a Gates fumble on the Sycamores' second play from scrimmage.

ISU answered with 11:56 left in the opening stanza on a 68-yard touchdown pass from Ronnie Fouch to Alex Jones which was the longest scoring catch of Jones' career and the second longest scoring strike of the season. With YSU holding a 7-6 lead, the Penguins jumped offsides on successive PAT attempts, which allowed the Trees to hand the ball off the Gates from one-yard out for the two-point conversion and an 8-7 lead.

After a defensive stop, the Fouch struck again, this time a 50-yard TD to Kent with 6:45 left in the first quarter to give the Sycamores a 15-7 lead. YSU came right back with a five-yard run by Jeamaine Cook to make it 15-14.

After a 19-yard field goal by YSU's Stephen Blose with 7:27 left in the second quarter, YSU took a 17-15 lead. ISU would be the last team to score before the break as Fouch found Kent across the middle from 11 yards out with 1:45 left before intermission and a two-point conversion pass from Fouch to Riston gave ISU the 23-17 advantage.

Cook intercepted Kurt Hess on the next drive and gave the Sycamores the chance to extend their lead and appeared to do just that as Fouch got to the one-yard line after scrambling out of the pocked. Fouch went airborne at the one in an attempt to score by fumbled the ball out of the back of the end zone to keep the score at 23-17 at the half.

ISU got a defensive stop to open the third quarter and padded their lead with an eight-yard scoring pass from Fouch to Jones with 12:14 on the clock to make it 30-17. YSU got another one-yard TD rush from Bellamy with 1:46 left in the third quarter to make it 30-24.

The Sycamore defense took over from there as the YSU offense entered the red zone twice in the game's final quarter. The first drive ended with King's interception mid-way through the fourth quarter and the final drive ended at the 11-yard line as time expired with Hess' pass went through the back of the end zone to secure ISU's historic road victory over Youngstown State.

Indiana State closes out the regular season in search of their seventh victory of the season on Saturday, November 20 when the Sycamores travel to Southern Illinois. Kickoff is set for 2:00 p.m. (ET). With Western Illinois' 20-10 loss at Southern Illinois today, the Sycamores are currently tied for second place in the league with the Leathernecks as both teams have identical 4-3 league marks. SIU is now 4-6, 3-4 MVFC heading into next weekend's matchup