Sycamores defeat Eastern Illinois 23-7

ISU Sycamores drop Eastern Illinois 23-7

TERRE HAUTE, IN - (9-27-2003) — The Eastern Illinois Panthers (1-3) keyed on Indiana State’s and the NCAA’s leading rusher Jake Shields on Saturday, but Shields still managed to gain 77 yards on the ground with a touchdown as Indiana State defeated the Panthers for the first time since 1993 with an exciting 23-7 victory at Memorial Stadium. With the win, ISU moves to 3-2 on the season, their first winning record since they were 4-3 after defeating Southern Illinois in 1998.

ISU’s first score of the game came by virtue of a muffed punt snap by Eastern Illinois six minutes into the contest. ISU was able to only move the ball seven yards over five plays but a 31 yard field goal by Kyle Hooper gave the Sycamores a 3-0 leas with 8:32 left in the first period.

ISU’s next score was set up by a Jamal Brown interception of a Vincent pass early in the second quarter in which Brown returned the ball down to the Eastern 15-yard line. Shields dashed through the Panther defense on four straight plays, with the final one, a three-yard scamper over the left side to give the Sycamores a 10-0 lead with 11:40 remaining before the half.

The Sycamores would not go quietly as freshman Kyle James picked off a Harris pass — James’ second interception of the season. The Sycamores’ hit their longest touchdown pass of the year, a 34-yarder from Jake Schiff to Sam Logan, to put ISU up 17-0 with 8:48 left.

The Panthers came out of the lockerroom and Webb broke an 80-yard scamper down the Indiana State sideline with 8:30 left on EIU’s first play of their second drive to inch closer at 17-7.

Indiana State was able to mount a response in the third quarter as they marched the ball down the field holding onto a 17-7 lead for seven plays. The drive covered 54 yards and was capped by a 26 yard Hooper field goal with 5:11 left in the third stanza. In the fourth quarter, the Sycamores drove 86 yards for 11 plays that ended with a Hooper 26 yard field goal to give ISU a 23-7 lead. Schiff found Logan four times for catches of 19, 20, 5 and 26 yards on the drive.

ISU was able to run out the clock, when Rashawn Champion came down with his first career interception late in the fourth quarter and three straight runs sealed the 23-7 Sycamore win.

Shields led ISU in rushing with 77 yards and a touchdown while Schiff was 15 of 26 with one interception and a touchdown pass. Logan caught a career-high five balls for 104 yards and a touchdown while Hooper was a perfect three of three on field goal attempts.

Scoring Summary:

1st 08:32 ISU - Hooper, K. 31 yd field goal, 5-7 1:04, EIU 0 - ISU 3

2nd 11:40 ISU - Shields, J. 3 yd run (Hooper, K. kick), 4-15 1:32, EIU 0 - ISU

10 08:48 ISU - Logan, S. 34 yd pass from Schiff, J. (Hooper, K. kick), 3-46 1:02, EIU 0 - ISU 17

3rd 08:30 EIU - Webb, V. 80 yd run (Kuehn, S. kick), 1-80 0:13, EIU 7 - ISU 17

05:11 ISU - Hooper, K. 34 yd field goal, 7-54 3:14, EIU 7 - ISU 20

4th 02:34 ISU - Hooper, K. 26 yd field goal, 11-86 6:01, EIU 7 - ISU 23

Indiana State opens the Gateway Football Conference season on Saturday, October 4 with a 1:05 p.m. contest against Southern Illinois inside Memorial Stadium. USA-365.com provides live Internet audio streaming with Brian Fritz providing the play-by-play and Ben Wagner with the color commentary. The pre-game show starts at 12:45 p.m., with the kick-off set for 1:05 p.m., CDT / EST on www.USA-365.com.

New to USA-365.com this season is a special audio archive of the previous Indiana State University Football game. MP3 audio file downloads are updated each week and are now free at ISU Football MP3 Audio Archives.

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