SYCAMORES TAKE DOWN NATIONALLY-RANKED LIBERTY TO BEGIN HOMESTAND TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Indiana State won for the third consecutive time as they downed No. 22/23 Liberty in front of 7,315 fans inside Memorial Stadium by the score of 39-18. The Sycamores improved to 3-1 on the season as they downed a nationally-ranked opponent for the first time since winning at No. 1 North Dakota State in 2012. Liberty saw its own three-game winning streak end as they dropped to 3-2. The victory improved the Missouri Valley Football Conference to 5-1 this season against ranked non-conference foes, tying a league record, while the league is also now 22-1 against FCS non-conference competition. Mike Perish continued his strong campaign by completing 39-of-51 passes for 340 yards and three first half touchdown passes. Perishs 39 pass completions are a new school record topping the previous record of 33 set by Blayne Baggett against Murray State in 2005. Perish also is the first Sycamore quarterback to record a trio of 300-yard passing performances in the same season, topping a previous best of two held by many. Perish now has 4,381 passing yards in his career as he passed Ronnie Fouch for fourth-best in the ISU career record book. Gary Owens led the way with 10 receptions for 71 yards, including one trip to the end zone. Owens is the first Sycamore to record double digit receptions since Carl Berman did it against Western Illinois in 2005. Nine different receivers caught passes on the day as Robert Tonyan added eight catches for 89 yards and one touchdown. A.J. Johnson caught six passes for 53 yards while Kyani Harris added six receptions for 36 yards. Buck Logan led the way on the ground with 17 attempts for 77 yards and one touchdown. Dimitri Taylor had two rushes for 52 yards in the victory. On defense, Jameer Thurman led the way with nine tackles and a forced fumble but it was Connor Underwoods eight tackles, including 1.5 for a loss and the same amount of quarterback sacks with a forced fumble and two hurries that paced the defensive attack. DeJuan Lang recorded a pair of interceptions in the victory. T.J. Tuuu added one quarterback sack while Brady Collins shared one with Underwood. Conlan Cassidy and Rondell Green added fumble recoveries. The Sycamores ended up making it three and a half games before their first turnover of the season. Despite a pair of turnovers, the Sycamores still finished plus two in the turnover battle and neither one of Indiana States miscues resulted in Liberty points. Meanwhile, the Sycamores now own a 49-0 advantage in points off turnovers as Libertys final turnover -- an interception -- resulted in a seven-yard touchdown run by Buck Logan with just under three minutes remaining in the game. Indiana State started fast with a 10-play, 67-yard drive while resulted in a 25-yard field goal from Eric Heidorn just four minutes into the game and a 3-0 advantage. The drive was keyed by an early 25-yard pass from Perish to Jamar Brown as well as 20-yard to Robert Tonyan to convert a third down. The Sycamores got all the way down to the eight-yard line on a rush from reserve Patrick Coyne. Indiana States defense held on Libertys opening drive before the Sycamores were pinned at their own three-yard line with a punt from Trey Turner. Liberty would take over at the ISU 28-yard line following a short punt from the Sycamores. It took the Flames nine plays to move 24 yards before settling for a 22-yard field goal from John Lunsford to knot the score at 3-3 with 4:30 remaining in the first quarter. Following a short drive, the Sycamores took over at their own four-yard line after another nice punt from Turner. Perish found Kyani Harris for five yards for the inital first down and Owens rushed for 11 yards to move the ball out to the 27. A late hit penalty helped the drive along before Perish found A.J. Johnson for 11 yards to move to the 29. After Dimitri Taylor caught a swing pass to move inside the 20, Perish found Owens over the middle for a 17-yard touchdown and the 10-3 lead with 11:19 left before halftime. The scoring drive covered 96 yards on 10 plays. Liberty answered in one play with a 71-yard strike from Josh Woodrum to Dante Shells to level the score at 10-10 with 11:03 remaining in the half. As they have all year, the Sycamores got a big 49-yard rush from Taylor to move down to the 26-yard line. After Perish found Tonyan for 19 yards, Taylor finished the drive on a six-yard touchdown pass from Perish at the 9:16 mark for the 17-10 cushion. Lang intercepted his first pass of the contest after a failed on-side kick attempt had set Liberty up in Sycamore territory. ISU could not capitalize on the turnover and punted back to Liberty. The Flames then went 31 yards in nine plays but not before a quarterback sack from T.J. Tuuu pushed the ball outside the 30. Lunsford still connected on the 48-yard field goal to draw Liberty within 17-13 with 3:16 to go. Indiana State finished the half on a brilliant drive with began with a pass to Harris and then a 16-yard rush from Logan. The Sycamores drove down to the Liberty 22 where they converted a 3rd-and-5 on a eight-yard pass to Tonyan. After one incompletion, Tonyan was the target again on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Perish with 10 seconds on the clock for the 24-13 halftime lead. The two teams traded punts over the third quarter and the Sycamores reached the Flames 11-yard line before a Perish fumble ended the drive. The Sycamores got the ball back on the next play with a Thurman forced fumble and Rondell Green recovery to set ISU up on the Liberty side of the field. ISU would not score again until mid-way through the final period on a drive which featured a third down conversion from Perish to Harris for nine yards and was helped by an 18-yard completion to Reyes and 12 more to Tonyan which placed the ball at the one. Perish finished the drive with a quarterback sneak with 6:10 remaining for the 31-13 advantage. Liberty came right back with a seven-play, 70-yard drive over the next 1:14 to draw within 31-19. The Flames saw their on-side kick attempt sail out of bounds with 4:50 to go. After a three-and-out, Umeh pinned the Flames inside their own five-yard line and on the next play Woodrums pass was intercepted by Lang -- his second of the game -- and set ISU up at the nine-yard line. Logan carried twice from there and scored from seven yards out for the 38-19 lead. The Sycamore defense held from there and ISU ran out the clock with a kneel down for the victory. The Sycamores return to action on Saturday, October 4 when they host nationally-ranked Northern Iowa inside Memorial Stadium. Kick-off is slated for 3:05 p.m. (ET). GOSYCAMORES.COM
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 01:09:24 +0000