MACOMB, Ill. – Western Illinois staged a late rally, but could not recover the on-sides kick as the Fighting Leathernecks dropped a 34-28 decision at home to Southern Illinois. The loss was the fifth straight for Western in Missouri Valley Football Conference play (3-7 overall, 1-5 MVFC).

Down two scores at halftime, J.C. Baker and the offense put the team right back into the game thanks to a season-long 63-yard touchdown run to make it 20-14. The momentum shifted late in the quarter due to a breakdown on special teams.

The defense held Southern (5-4, 3-2) to a punt on the Salukis' opening drive of the half. Western marched 73 yards but had the drive stall inside the redzone. Nathan Knuffman lined up for a 32-yard field goal. Bryan Presume blocked the field goal, scooped up the loose ball and raced 85 yards for the touchdown.

"Obviously our protection broke down twice today and overall we didn't kick or punt the ball very well. With the wind the way it was if you just look at the difference between the ways their kicker and punter kicked the ball and how our kicker and punter kicked the ball it made a huge difference in field position and you have a ten-point turnaround when you get a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown. Not that that's the difference but those ten-points would have made a difference today," said Western head coach Bob Nielson.

Two drives later, Trenton Norvell and the offense used two big penalties to get down to the 1-yard line. Baker punched it in for his second TD of the quarter to make it 27-21. Southern's return and a penalty gave it the ball inside Western territory. The Salukis scored four plays later to make it a two-possession game again.

Western got inside the redzone midway through the quarter but couldn't come up with a touchdown catch as the ball was knocked away on fourth down. A deep pass on 3rd-and-long was intercepted, but after the defense held, Norvell marched Western down inside the five again. Facing 4th-and-goal from the three, Norvell lofted a ball to Lance Lenoir, Jr. who got his foot inbounds as he fell down for the touchdown with 30 seconds left.

Knuffman's onside attempt bounced out-of-bounds and Southern took a knee for the victory.

"I'm not disappointed with the effort of our guys; I thought we really battled today. I thought our plans were good. That's a really good defensive football team and to have 460 yards of offense is a positive thing but obviously the goal is to win the football game and we hurt ourselves today. And it's really disappointing," said Nielson. "We had kicking game mistakes and this is the second game in a row we're talking about kicking game mistakes and that can't happen any longer. We have to continue to put that as a practice emphasis, which it was this week. It obviously didn't pay off. We have two weeks to address those issues."

The Leathernecks battled back from an early deficit for the second straight week. SIU went 12 plays on the opening drive for a touchdown. After Western could not move the ball outside its 10-yard line, Knuffman's 9-yard punt gave Southern the ball on the 13. The Salukis scored three plays later on a 6-yard pass.

Western answered late in the first quarter on a 9-yard pass from Norvell to Lenoir.

Baker rushed for the most yards in two years, netting 163 yards on 25 attempts. He scored two touchdowns in a game for the third time this season. The JUCO transfer is now two yards shy of 1,000 on the season.

Norvell was one yard shy of his season-high passing, completing 25-of-50 passes for 277 yards and two TDs. Lenoir finished with four catches for 62 yards, and matched his personal-best of two touchdowns.

Joey Borsellino turned in game-highs of 10 receptions for 110 yards. He became the third different Leatherneck to record 100-receiving yards in a contest, and his 10 receptions were the most by a receiver in three years.

Luke Venegoni and Kevin Kintzel added eight tackles each.

"Offensively we attacked them very smart all day. When they pressured us we were able to throw the football and when they tried to play coverage we were able to run the football and that's our philosophy. I thought from an execution standpoint Trenton played maybe his best game of the year and we obviously got a great game out of JC Baker, I thought our running backs played well and for the first time we had multiple guys on the perimeter step up," stated Nielson. "A lot of those guys are new to the program this fall. They're building confidence and getting better but you have to get better in all three areas. Teams in this league are too good. If you're just good offensively and not good in the kicking game you're going to get beat… They're [Southern] a very good rush defense. Like I said I think our plan was good and our execution was pretty good. We put 28 points on the board and frankly it should have been more. We had two red zone possessions where we came away with nothing and one of them turned into seven points for them."

Macolm Agnew rushed for 107 yards and a touchdown for SIU. Bryan Presume had a game-high 11 tackles with his blocked FG and touchdown.

The Leathernecks enter the bye week before closing out the season with consecutive games on the road, starting at Indiana State on November 16th. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. central.

GAME NOTES: The Leathernecks found out prior to the game that former assistant coach (and current Missouri Southern assistant) Derek Moore was killed in a shooting at Joplin, Missouri, on Friday night. Moore served as the tight ends coach at Western from 2010-12… Junior defensive back Martinez Davis picked off his second pass of the season inside the red zone to stop a Saluki drive... The interception was Davis's seventh of his career, more than any other active Leatherneck... For the fifth time in program history Western had three different players record a 100-yard game receiving, and the first since 2009. Of those three, two are true-freshman – Lenoir and Borsellino – along with JUCO transfer Hi-C Scott… Lenoir caught his team-leading seventh touchdown… Baker can make it 17 times with a 1,000-yard rusher in program history with two more yards. He currently has 176 carries, and with one more carry to accomplish the feat he would become the fifth-quickest to 1,000 in terms of number of carries… Baker leads the team with six rushing TDs… Norvell broke the Western record for most passing yards by a freshman. He now has 1,746 yards, surpassing Paul Singer. With 16 TD passes, Norvell already broke Singer's previous record of nine in that category and needs three more to join the season 'Top 10'… The Leathernecks dominated in total yards, 460-278, and in first downs (29-16). Those 29 first downs were a season-high… Western averaged just 22.7 yards on six punts, and none longer than 30 yards… Both teams converted seven times on third down, SIU was 7-of-15 while Western was 7-of-17.

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