Illinois State beats Moorhead State 41-13 in home opener

NORMAL, Ill. – The Redbirds bounced back from their week one loss to Oklahoma by an impressive home opener win against Morehead State, beating the Eagles 41-13. Quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse would sit out the first 25 minutes of the game leaving freshman Quarterback Beckham Pellant to start, going 4 for 9 for 61 with one touchdowns. Rittenhouse would enter the game late in the second quarter with Redbirds leading 10-6 and completed the game going 8 for 13 for 81 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Trickery by ISU came late in the first quarter when wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz completed a 28-yard pass to Luke Mailander which would put the Redbirds down at the one-yard line for Rittenhouse to enter and score his only rushing touchdown of the night making the score 17-6 and allowing the offense to begin torching the Moorehead defense.

Victor Dawson would lead the way for the Illinois State rushing attack with 10 carries for 88 yards. Sobkiwicz, Mailander, and Nick True each had a touchdown and combined for 155 yard receiving. The intense offensive performance was a great site compared to last week’s outing in Norman Oklahoma. Kicker Matt Maldonado went two for two on field goals with a career long 45-yard attempt.

Moorhead State Quarterback Carter Cravens would complete the night going 14/38 for 134 yards a touchdown, and interception and a pair of fumbles which were both turned over to the Redbirds. Craven’s best receivers Ryan Upp and Montez Green had only a singular touchdown and 105 yards between them. The Eagles rushed for a total of 100 yards with 86 coming from back Issac Stopke.

Defensively the Redbirds were stellar with another incredible interception by Shadwel Nkuba who has now gone back-to-back games with an interception.  And a game sealing 27-yard scoop and score touchdown by senior DB Cam Wilson off of a Solomon Oduma forced fumble. Transfer Safety La’shavion Brown led ISU with eight total tackles and linebacker Patrick Bauer had a sack and 2 and a half tackles-for-loss.

The Redbirds will travel to Charleston Illinois to face the Eastern Illinois Panthers next Saturday at 2. The 113^th meeting between the two teams in the Mid America Classic will be another opportunity for Illinois State to show defensive dominance and offensive cohesion against FCS opponents as the Panthers are coming off of a loss to Indiana State, 38-14.

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