CARBONDALE Ill. - Taylor Rowan set a Western Illinois record with his 73rd consecutive extra point as the Leathernecks tied Southern Illinois at 24 in the fourth quarter, but Arkee Whitlock scored on a 10-yard run with 6:48 remaining to give the Salukis a 31-24 victory.

Herb Donaldson capped a 10-play, 65-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown run that tied the game at 24 with 9:04 remaining. Rowan's ensuing PAT surpassed Justin Langan's school record of 72 consecutive extra points, set during the 2003-04 seasons. The Salukis (5-0, 2-0) answered by driving 80 yards on five plays for the game-winning score as Whitlock rushed four times for 33 yards and quarterback Nick Hill connected with Alan Turner for a 47-yard completion.

The Leathernecks (3-3, 0-2) converted one third-down chance on their final drive, a 16-yard completion to Marco Thomas on third-and-three, but they fell short three plays later on third-and-11 at their own 35-yard line and couldn't convert on fourth-and-12, turning the ball over with 3:04 remaining.

The two teams traded scoring drives throughout the game. Southern took a 7-0 lead on its opening possession while Western controlled the ball for 8:54 on its opening drive and settled for a 24-yard field goal by Rowan. The Salukis struck again midway through the second quarter with a 1-yard run by Whitlock, the first of his three touchdown runs. Leatherneck quarterback Steve LaFalce answered with a 15-yard touchdown run of his own to bring Western within four, 14-10, but Whitlock scored on another 1-yard run with 35 seconds to play in the half. Western fullback Javid Milton scored the only points of the third quarter with a 7-yard touchdown run that made it 21-17 and Craig Coffin's 31-yard field goal gave Southern a 24-17 lead early in the fourth.

Donaldson rushed a career-high 27 times for 139 yards and a touchdown, while LaFalce completed 15 of his 28 passes for 161 yards, including 97 yards to Thomas, who caught nine passes. Whitlock ended the game with 216 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 33 attempts for the Salukis, while Hill completed eight of 11 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown.

Postgame Notes:
- For the second straight week, neither team sufferred a turnover.

- Taylor Rowan is a perfect 73-for-73 on PATs in his career.

- Herb Donaldson recorded his fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing game. His 139 yards were the most this season against the Southern Illinois defense, which entered the game ranked third in the nation in rushing defense.

- Javid Milton scored his first touchdown of the year and the second of his career.

- The Leathernecks had advantages in first downs (26-20), time of possession (34:37 to 25:33) and total offense (377-361).

- Southern was held 86 yards below their season average of 447 total yards per game.

- Western's three rushing touchdowns doubled the number allowed by Southern in its first four games.

Postgame quotes Leatherneck head coach Don Patterson:
"This was a game that was played well by both teams. You have to congratulate Southern Illinois for sticking in a game that could have gone either way."

"Even with the loss, I feel better about our team now than I did last Saturday night. We fought hard and we played better, just not well enough to generate a win."

"I have a lot of respect for Jerry Kill and his program. Both his program and ours have the right idea on recruiting character first, and we have very similar programs. We'll both end with successful seasons. That may be a bold statement for me to make at 3-3 right now but we have a lot of confidence in our system."

On the blocked punt in the first half:
"That turned out to be significant. We don't give away too many short fields. In fact, that was the only one of the day."