CHARLESTON, Ill. (9-11-2004) The last time Indiana State won at Eastern Illinois, the Sycamores advanced to the NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs. They made a step in that direction Saturday night, with their first win in Charleston, Ill., since 1983. The victory capped the first-ever overtime game at EIU's O'Brien Stadium.

The Panthers marched the ball down the field on the first possession, capping it when Vincent Webb punched in a 10-yard run up the middle to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead with 10:43 showing on the clock. EIU's first drive went 10-plays for 68-yards and took 4:17 off the clock.

Indiana State seemed poised to answer, moving inside the Panther's 20-yard line on a third-and-eight play when sophomore Jake Schiff connected with freshman Markus Naves on a 17-yard pass play towards the right sideline. After the drive stalled, sophomore Kyle Hooper missed his second field goal attempt of the season wide right from 33 yards out.

The Sycamore defense surrendered a first down before senior Quincy Wallace pulled down his first interception of the season to give the Sycamores possession at its own 36-yard line. With sophomore Phillip Johnson under center, the Sycamores attained a first down on a strike to senior James Braden before Johnson heaved a long pass in the direction of sophomore Sam Logan, which was intercepted by EIU's Ben Brown just before the end of the first quarter.

Hooper redeemed himself with 9:27 left in the first half, when he connected on a career-long 46-yard field goal to move the Sycamores closer at 7-3. The score capped a seven-play, 15-yard drive that chewed up 3:17 of the clock. Hooper's previous career-best was a 39-yarder at SMS in 2003.

On the next drive, the defense created the second EIU turnover of the game when junior quarterback Andrew Harris fumbled as the ball slipped from his hands before he could make a pass attempt. Junior defensive end Kyle Mitchell applied the pressure on Harris and the ball fell at his feet and into his arms for a fumble recovery at the Panther 39-yard line.

ISU wasted no time converting as Johnson hit Braden on a deep pass to the five-yard line on the next play. Senior Jake Shields scored the first Sycamore touchdown of the season on a five-yard run around left end to boost ISU up 10-7 with 7:49 left in the half.

Eastern was able to convert two third down attempts on the ensuing possession, but after moving the ball down the Sycamore five-yard line, had to settle for a 21-yard Steve Kuehn field goal to tie the score at 10 with 3:30 remaining before the intermission.

After coming out of the lockeroom with the score tied at 10, the Panthers made the first big play of the third quarter when Lothe recovered a Shields fumble at the Sycamore 41-yard line following a completed screen pass. The Panthers moved the ball inside the 20 when Harris completed a 28-yard pass to Ryan Voss. Webb added a 12-yard scamper of his own to move to the four, then fumbled forward at the one on the next play where offensive lineman Jonathan Rueter recovered for a touchdown and the 17-10 lead with 11:13 remaining in the clock.

ISU moved the ball down to the Panther 36-yard line on the next possession, then the Panther defense made their second stand of the half on fourth-and-one as the EIU surge stopped junior Martuan Sample as he attempted to race around left end for the conversion.

Following an ISU punt, the Panther offense moved close to scoring range, but Kuehn just missed a 44-yard field goal wide left with under three minutes remaining in the third quarter. Johnson hit a streaking Naves down the left sideline on the first play following the missed field goal for a 39-yard gain to the Panther 35. The drive would stall; forcing a Brandon Anwieler punt to the EIU 16 after Johnson just missed a wide-open Jaime Petrowski following heavy pressure from the Panther defensive front.

Pinned inside their own one-yard line, Johnson threw his second interception of the game when a long throw across the field was intercepted by Chad Cleveland and returned for an eight-yard score. The interception return with 11:56 remaining in the contest gave the Panthers a 24-10 lead.

The Sycamores would not go away as Shields scored his second touchdown of the contest * his first multi-touchdown game since a 2002 Homecoming win over Northern Iowa. Shields plunged in from four yards out with 9:46 left to pull ISU within a touchdown at 24-17. They key play of the drive was a 20-yard completion from Johnson to Logan on third-and-one from the Panther four-yard line, in which he broke three tackles to move inside the Panther five.

The Sycamore defense forced a three-and-out as the Panthers' Tom Schofield punted to Wallace who returned the ball to the EIU 23 yard line. Following three incomplete passes, Hooper lined up for a 40-yard field goal attempt and hit the ball down the middle of the uprights to pull the Sycamores within four at 24-20 with 7:34 remaining in the game.

The ISU defense continued its strong fourth quarter play, when John Jackson recovered a Webb fumble at the Panther 48-yard line with just over seven minutes play on the second play from scrimmage of the EIU possession.

With redshirt freshman Ben Schmidt was forced into action, he converted a one-yard quarterback sneak on fourth-and-one. He completed a pass to Braden before Montfort rushed for a score putting ISU ahead 27-24 on a 16-yard race up the middle with 5:24 showing on the clock.

ISU defenders attempted to hold the lead, and were close when Andy Jones sacked Harris for an eight-yard loss, but a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct gave Eastern Illinois a first down at the ISU 18-yard line. On third down Harris scrambled to evade Sycamore rushers and located Jermaine Mobley for the go ahead score, but Steve Kuehn's missed extra point left EIU's lead at just 30-27 with only one minute to go.

With time winding down Schmidt calmly led ISU down the field and converted a crucial fourth-and-10 play with 16 seconds to go to Naves who led all receivers with 7 receptions and 111 receiving yards. Hooper converted a 40-yard field goal as time expired to tie the score at 30 and force overtime.

In the extra period, the Sycamore offense faced a third-and-eight on their possession when Petrowski converted a first down off a pass from Schmidt to move the ball to the 10. After Montfort moved the ball to the five on the ground, Schmidt was caught on a busted play for a loss. Montfort then moved the ball to the four-yard line on the ground which set up Hooper for his fourth field goal of the game.

Hooper connected on the 20-yard field goal to put ISU up 33-30 * besting his career-high of three field goals made in a game, set last year against Eastern Illinois. Hooper has made 13 career field goals in two seasons, seven of which have come against the Panthers.

Facing third-and-long Harris dropped back deep and heaved an attempt towards the endzone where redshirt freshman Derrick Williams sealed the win with an interception in the back of the end zone.

Johnson led all passers with 206 yards * hitting 15 of his 27 passes before leaving in the fourth quarter with a concussion. Schmidt came in to hit six of 12 passes for 62 yards in leading the game-tying and game-winning drives late in the game.