FARGO, N.D. - In what shaped up as a battle of nationally-ranked defenses, Western Illinois scored early and would go on to a 28-16 win at 13th-ranked North Dakota State Saturday afternoon (Oct. 2) in the Fargodome. The Fighting Leathernecks improved to 2-0 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and 4-1 overall.
NDSU came into the game ranked fourth nationally in scoring defense while Western was sixth, but by halftime Western had already scored more points than the Bison had allowed in a game all year.
North Dakota State (3-2, 0-2) took the opening kickoff and raced 41 yards to midfield. Brock Jensen hit Warren Holloway for 32 yards to get inside the redzone, however, on the next play Mike Sigers fumbled and Dwight Harris recovered.
Caulton Ray broke off his longest run of the year, 36 yards, to get inside Bison territory. On 3rd-and-12, Matt Barr hit Lito Senatus for a first down. Bryce Flowers rushed inside the five, then Barr hit Senatus for a 6-yard touchdown. Charlie Jouett hit the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
The Bison took the kickoff and drove inside the 5-yard line. On 3rd-and-goal, Jansen looked for Holloway again, but Kieron James broke up the pass in the corner of the endzone. NDSU settled for a 21-yard field goal by Ryan Jastram.
Western took advantage of two penalties, including one in the endzone on pass interference to set up 1st-and-goal. Ray plunged over the top for a 1-yard score and 14-3 lead early in the second quarter. With his TD run, Ray extended his streak of rushing for a TD in every game this season.
The Leathernecks held NDSU to a 3-and-out, then took over on their own 21. A 10-play scoring drive was capped when Bryce Flowers broke a couple of tackles, ran out of a shoe, and scored from 18 yards out. The freshman running back joined Ray in scoring a rushing TD in every game this year, and Jouett's extra point gave Western a 21-3 lead midway through the second quarter.
Right before half, Western got into Bison territory but had to punt. NDSU used a 30-yard run by Jensen to get to the WIU 30, and the redshirt-freshman quarterback was tackled with four seconds left. After spiking the ball to stop the clock, Jastram nailed a career-long 47-yarder cutting the Leathernecks' lead to 21-6 heading into the locker room.
Western went 3-and-out on its first drive of the second half. On NDSU's first play, D.J. McNorton broke out of a pile for a 40-yard run. Mike Stieren and Brandon Kreczmer sacked Jensen on a 15-yard loss during the next snap, but on the following play Jensen found Holloway on a 47-yard completion to the six. McNorton got it down to the one, but the offense was stopped on the next two plays. On 4th-and-inches Jensen took it himself for the touchdown. The extra point made it 21-13 with just over nine minutes left in the third.
Barr and the offense responded with a momentum-changing score. The senior quarterback connected with Terriun Crump on a 39-yard reception into Bison territory. Flowers took a run down to the two, then three plays later Barr hit a wide-open Senatus on a 1-yard TD reception. Jouett made it 28-13 as the 10-play drive took nearly five minutes.
The Bison used another big gain to get into Western's side, this time a 42-yard run by Jensen. But the defense held NDSU and Jastram hit a 40-yard field goal, his third of the game setting a personal-high.
On 4th-and-5 and five and a half minutes left in the game NDSU went for it and got another big play from the wide receiver Holloway. Jensen found him down the right sidelines for a 42-yard gain. But the defense stepped up. Two incomplete passes set up third down. Alex Martinez stopped Jensen on third down then Stieren sacked Jensen to give the offense the ball on downs.
North Dakota State got the ball back and was inside the redzone, but the Leatherneck defense held on four straight plays. Western was able to run out the clock and seal the win.
Ray finished with 106 yards on 18 carries and scored a TD. Barr completed 17-of-24 passes for 175 yards and the two TDs. Crump set a personal-high with 75 receiving yards on five receptions while Senatus tied a career-high with his two touchdown catches.
The offense converted 7-of-13 on third down while Western's defense held the Bison to just 3-of-13.
Kreczmer paced the defense with 10 tackles, including two for a loss. Kyle Glazier added seven stops and Stieren had 1.5 sacks.
Jensen finished 12-of-27 for 239 yards, and added 69 on the ground. McNorton led the Bison with 104 yards on 16 carries.
Western travels to South Dakota State next Saturday (Oct. 9), kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Western won the toss and elected to deferred to the second half... The Leathernecks have scored first in all five games this season... Barr's first completion of the game went for 22 yards to Senatus. He had only 19 passing yards (4-of-11 passing) during the rainy win the previous week against Indiana State... The Bison used two timeouts during their FG drive in the first quarter... NDSU had allowed a season-high 16 points on two occasions heading into the game. Western had 21 points at halftime... The road team has won all four games in the series... This was head coach Mark Hendrickson's second win against a ranked FCS opponent (2-4 all-time)... Western has scored 20 or more points in 13 of the 20 career games Hendrickson has coached.
