Northern Iowa 58, ISU Sycamores 6

ISU Sycamores drop homecoming game to Northern Iowa, 58-6

TERRE HAUTE, IN (11-6-2004) - The Indiana State Sycamores (4-6, 1-5 GFC) dropped its second straight Homecoming contest as they fell 58-6 to Northern Iowa (5-4, 4-2 GFC) on Saturday afternoon in front of 5,261 fans at Memorial Stadium.

ISU would score twice off the leg of sophomore kicker Kyle Hooper as he hit field goals from 34 and 46 yards. The 34-yarder opening the scoring in the contest before Northern Iowa scored 30 unanswered points to take a 30-3 lead heading into the final minutes of the first half. With just one tenth of a second remaining before the half, Hooper tied a career-best with a 46-yarder to get ISU back to within striking range at 30-6.

The Sycamores showed life within the first five minutes of the second half as the defense held strong and the offense moved the ball, but were forced to punt. Justin Surrency's 68-yard punt return for a touchdown with 9:48 left in the third stanza put UNI ahead 37-6 and seemed to take the wind of out of ISU's sails.

After Panther quarterback had tossed four first half scores, UNI used the ground game as they added three rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter for the 58-6 win.

Sophomore wide receiver Sam Logan made seven catches for 89 yards in the game, while sophomore quarterback Phillip Johnson was 13-of-33 in the air for 156 yards.

Junior linebacker LaDrelle Bryant led the Sycamores with eight tackles and a forced fumble. Doc Gooden recorded only four tackles but had a 23-yard interception in the first half.

Hooper now has 15 field goals on the season, and needs three more next week in the season finale to tie the school record of 18.

Scoring Summary:

1st 08:09 INSU - Hooper, Kyle 34 yd field goal, 11-62 4:06, UNI 0 - INSU 3

06:23 UNI - Cutright, Brian 17 yd pass from Sanders, Eric (Wingert, Brian kick), 4-64 1:42, UNI 7 - INSU 3

03:09 UNI - Gibbs, Beau safety, , UNI 9 - INSU 3

02:56 UNI - Hunter, Patrick 55 yd pass from Sanders, Eric (Wingert, Brian kick), 1-55 0:08, UNI 16 - INSU 3

2nd 10:34 UNI - Surrency, J. 10 yd pass from Sanders, Eric (Wingert, Brian kick), 6-31 3:18, UNI 23 - INSU 3

00:13 UNI - Thorn, Andy 5 yd pass from Sanders, Eric (Wingert, Brian kick), 14-80 6:12, UNI 30 - INSU 3

00:00 INSU - Hooper,Kyle 46 yd field goal, 3-36 0:00, UNI 30 - INSU 6

3rd 09:48 UNI - Surrency, J. 68 yd punt return (Wingert, Brian kick), , UNI 37 - INSU 6

03:21 UNI - Freeney, T. 2 yd run (Wingert, Brian kick), 7-32 4:15, UNI 44 - INSU 6

00:53 UNI - Sanders, Eric 14 yd run (Wingert, Brian kick), 3-34 1:00, UNI 51 - INSU 6

4th 10:41 UNI - Lizzi, Jim 9 yd run (Wingert, Brian kick), 4-30 1:57, UNI 58 - INSU 6

Indiana State travels to the NCAA Division I-AA's top ranked team in Southern Illinois to finish off the season next Saturday at 6:00 p.m., CST. The Salukis defeated Illinois State 41-14 earlier today to clinch at least a tie of the Gateway Football Conference Championship. USA-365.com provides live Internet audio streaming with Brian Fritz providing the play-by-play and Pete Emmert with the color commentary. The pre-game show starts at 5:40 p.m., with the kick-off set for 6:00 p.m., CST on www.USA-365.com.

COMPLETE GAME STATISTICS