A Dominant Second Quarter Leads Illinois State Football to Win Over Southern Illinois

Image courtesy of Illinois State athletics

NORMAL, Ill. — A 28-point second quarter from Illinois State football soared the Redbirds to a 35-14 win over Southern Illinois on Saturday in an in-state Missouri Valley Conference matchup. 

ISU has now beaten every in-state directional school (Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois, Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois) in the same season for the first time since 1940.

Junior quarterback Beckham Pellant posted a 156.4 passer rating, putting together one of his best performances in a Redbird uniform. His 191 yards on 16 completions marked a career high, while he also recorded his first career rushing touchdown. 

Victor Dawson led the Redbirds on the ground with 82 yards, marking a new season high.

The first quarter started slow for both teams and neither could find the endzone. 

Despite a slow start for the offense, the Redbird defense asserted itself early. SIU faced a fourth-and-5 situation at ISU’s 32-yard line, but a sack by Solomon Oduma forced a turnover on downs.

Oduma finished the game with two sacks, a forced fumble and seven total tackles. 

The Redbirds regained possession with 5:37 left on the clock in the first but could not find the maroon-colored paint. However, the offense struck first in the second quarter.

Seth Glatz returned to the field for Illinois State after suffering an injury earlier in the year, and the offense took advantage of his energy. Glatz rushed for nine yards in three consecutive plays to set the offense up on the 1-yard line.

The Redbirds go-to RB, Dawson, took the handoff from Pellant to find the endzone and gave ISU a 7-0 lead with 13:06 left in the half.

The Redbird defense forced another three-and-out and the offense took care of business on the next drive. Pellant led a 75 yard drive and set them up for a second-and-5 situation.

Freshman quarterback Chase Kwiatkowski entered the game and ran the ball into the endzone, extending Illinois States lead to 14-0. 

SIU looked to get themselves on the board on its next drive, but the dominance of ISU’s defense remained steady.

DJ Williams looked to find a man, but the senior could not escape the thrash of ISU’s defensive line. Ben Harman took down Williams for a six yard loss, but the quarterback could not hold onto the ball and Harman forced the fumble. The junior jumped on top of it to bring ISU’s offense back on the field at SIU’s 29-yard line.

Pellant and the offense quickly capitalized on the turnover, as the quarterback scored on a 10-yard rushing touchdown to give Illinois State a three-score lead.

The Saluki’s suffered from deja vu on their next drive as La’Shavion Brown forced another strip sack and Harman once again recovered the fumble.

With just over a minute left in the first half, Pellant found Dylan Lord in the endzone to make it 28-0 just before the break. 

The second half of action slowed down for the Redbirds until Luke Mailander joined in on the action for the longest play of the day. Pellant found Mailander downfield for a 57-yard touchdown to top off a three-play, 99-yard drive.

The wide receiver led the Redbirds with 90 yards on four receptions while recording his first touchdown of the season. 

The Redbirds’ fifth touchdown finally sparked the Southern Illinois offense. With 5:20 remaining in the third quarter, the Salukis reached the end zone for the first time.

On the next drive, facing a fourth-and-four situation, Williams launched the ball to Kyle Thomas for a 29-yard touchdown to make it 35-7 to close out the third quarter scoring.

More than halfway through the final quarter, SIU forced a three-and-out for the Redbirds. Hayden Futch’s 37-yard punt was caught by Tae Marrero Jr. at the ISU 45-yard line and the returner ran it to the house for SIU’s second score of the game.

Despite a late effort, the Redbirds stayed composed on all three phases for the rest of the game, earning their first conference win of the season. 

The star for ISU was linebacker Mason Kaplan, who recorded five solo tackles and 13 total tackles.

ISU looks to keep itself in the win column at 2 p.m. on Oct. 24 in its Homecoming game against Indiana State at Hancock Stadium.

For all things Redbird football, stay tuned on wznd.com.