By Tyler Wooten
GoSycamores.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. – Indiana State rode an impressive aerial performance to a close 22-14 victory over Southern Illinois at Saluki Stadium on Saturday afternoon, marking the third time in as many trips to Carbondale that the Sycamores have spoiled Homecoming for the Salukis.
Indiana State (4-4, 2-3 MVFC) lit up Southern (2-5, 0-4 MVFC) for 438 yards of total offense – 336 of which came through the air thanks to another spectacular day out of QB Isaac Harker (23-of-39, 336 yards, 3 TD) and two extraordinary outputs from receivers Miles Thompson (five catches, 147 yards, 1 TD) and Robert Tonyan Jr. (eight catches, 131 yards, 2 TD).
“It's great to get a win,” said ISU head coach Mike Sanford. “During the course of the year we've had two games early that were close games and we found a way to win them, and then we've had two close games the last two weeks that we didn't find a way to win for whatever reason. It's great to get over the hump and find a way to get it done. It wasn't perfect; we had to overcome a lot of adversity, but I'm very proud of our team that we found a way to win today.”
Things started out disastrously for the Sycamores, though, as Harker lost a bad snap deep in the ISU red zone barely three minutes into the game. Southern ended up scoring on the drive, but the Sycamore defense helped right the ship from that moment onward, allowing only one more Saluki score the remainder of the game.
Coupled with that was a 22-0 run by the Sycamore offense that found holes in the Saluki defense at the most opportune times.
Senior WR Robert Tonyan Jr. proved invaluable downfield with big catch after big catch, ending his day with 131 yards on eight receptions and two touchdowns. Today, Tonyan broke the all-time single-season receiving touchdown record of eight set by Steve Schmid in 1968 and tied by Gary Owens in 2015, hauling in his eighth and ninth touchdowns of the season.
Today proved a historic one for Indiana State's all-time leader in career receiving touchdowns, as he also moved up to third all-time in career receiving yards (1,986) and second all-time in career receptions (141). Tonyan has a way to go to break Sam Logan's all-time record of 196 career receptions, but he isn't far off from Logan (2,385) and Terry Bell (2,048) on the yards list.
Tonyan also helped make more history with fellow WR Miles Thompson. Combined the duo recorded 13 catches for 278 and three touchdowns, and in the process became the first duo of 100-yard receivers in the entirety of Indiana State Football history.
Much of Thompson's 147 yards came off a monstrous 85-yard TD pass from Harker with 12:34 left to play, the longest play from scrimmage for the Sycamores since LeMonte Booker's 87-yard run vs. Missouri State in 2014. This is Thompson's second consecutive game with 100-yards receiving or more, the first time a Sycamore has done that since Gary Owens in 2014.
Behind all this was sophomore QB Isaac Harker, who posted yet another 300-yard game with 336 yards and three touchdowns. Harker has thrown for 300 yards or more in four of eight games this season, following a season in which no Sycamore threw for 300 yards.
Offense wasn't the only name of the game, though, as two Sycamore linebackers caused plenty of problems for the Salukis on the defensive side of the ball. JUCO transfer Justin Hornsby had an insanely productive day, with 4.0 TFL for a loss of 22 yards and 2.5 sacks for a loss of 18 – on only five total tackles. Senior Jameer Thurman was again ISU's leading tackler with 13 total stops.
At 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the conference, Indiana State's final three games of the season have now become crucial to remaining in the playoff hunt: at Youngstown State on Oct. 29, vs. Northern Iowa on Nov. 5 and at North Dakota State on Nov. 12.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Football team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.
