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Western Illinois University Athletics

Gavin Ricketts at Illinois State, FCS Playoffs
WIU Visual Productions Center
19
Western Illinois WIU 7-6
36
Winner Illinois State ILS 10-2
Western Illinois WIU
7-6
19
Final
36
Illinois State ILS
10-2
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
WIU Western Illinois 3 3 6 7 19
ILS Illinois State 7 0 8 21 36

Game Recap: Football | | WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks End Season in FCS Second Round

Western wraps up 7-6 campaign following 36-19 loss at Illinois State

PHOTO GALLERY

NORMAL, Ill. – For the third straight meeting, Western Illinois took a third quarter lead on Illinois State. However, the Redbirds broke away late for a 36-19 decision Saturday afternoon (Dec. 5) in the Division I FCS Playoffs second round. Western closed out the season at 7-6 overall, its first winning record in five years.
 
The Leathernecks took a 12-7 lead in the third quarter following a 22-yard touchdown pass from Sean McGuire to Lance Lenoir. The second-seeded Redbirds (10-2) responded with two touchdown runs from quarterback Tre Roberson to take a 22-12 lead.
 
Western responded with a drive to cut the deficit to three points. McGuire found Jaelon Acklin for a 26-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter. The Redbirds made it a two possession game again with a 21-yard touchdown pass with 5:53 remaining and a score of 29-19 and added to the final margin with four minutes left on a Marshaun Coprich 72-yard touchdown run.
 
"Congratulations to Coach (Brock) Spack, his staff and their team. They played a really good football game," said WIU head coach Bob Nielson. "Obviously they've got a chance to win it all. They'll have a tough game next week but they're playing very well right now. They are doing what you have to do to win the playoffs."
 
Western could not convert a first down on its first two drives, then on the Redbirds' second possession, Illinois State struck first. Coprich scored a 3-yard touchdown and the extra point made it 7-0 with 6:31 in the opening quarter.
 
On their first play of the next drive, McGuire found Stacey Smith on a leaping catch into ISU territory. The drive culminated with a 41-yard field goal by Nathan Knuffman making it 7-3.
 
After not being able to capitalize on an interception earlier in the quarter, Western put points on the board following Timothy Smith's team-leading fourth interception on a Roberson pass. Knuffman kicked a career-best 43-yard field goal with 5:49 remaining, making it 7-6. The Redbirds missed a 52-yd field goal as time expired in the first half, keeping the score the same.
 
During Western's first drive of the third quarter, the offense marched 91 yards on 13 plays and capped it with the team's first touchdown of the game to take the 12-7 lead. McGuire's TD to Lenoir let the junior wide receiver tie the career receiving touchdown record (21 by Lito Senatus), and broke the season receiving yards mark as well (1,145 by Senatus).
 
McGuire threw for a personal-best 341 yards on 22-of-43 passing with an interception late in the game. Lenoir caught eight passes for 97 yards while Smith (four catches) added 93 yards and Joey Borsellino (six receptions) contributed 91 receiving yards.
 
Brett Taylor again paced the defense with a game-high 14 tackles. Senior Dallas Nichols added nine and David Griffith made seven tackles.

"We had a couple turnovers there in the first half that we should have put points on the board and we didn't. And in playoff games, you can't leave points on the field. And we left a few of them there in the first half. It was a really hard fought football game. That first half was like playoff football; you need more defense than you expect, which is how you have to win national championships. You have to play great defense. The really disappointing thing is we gave them a couple big plays there in the second half, and they've got the personnel to be able to make big plays. That's one of the things you have to do to beat Illinois State; you have to try to contain that big play capability, and we didn't do as good of a job as we needed to in the second half," said Nielson. "If you ask our guys right now, they'll say our goal was to win a national championship, which is our goal every year. I was certainly proud of the way our guys fought through a very difficult schedule in a great league and put ourselves in position to play in the national playoffs. And I feel very confident today that we demonstrated that we were a deserving team playing one of the nation's best, and playing them really tough."
 
Western's defense held ISU to 132 passing yards, but the Redbirds had a pair of 100-yard rushers in the seniors Coprich (217) and Roberson (111).
 
For the fourth straight postseason appearance, Western won its opening round game and lost its next contest – now 7-10 all-time in the Division I postseason.
 
GAME NOTES: Knuffman kicked his second and third career field goals from 40-plus yards… Lenoir caught a pass in his 30th consecutive game. The junior became just the second Leatherneck ever to reach at least 30 consecutive… Taylor caught a tipped pass and came up with his second career interception early in the second quarter…  Lenoir set his seventh record (game, season, career) during the game… Acklin caught his second touchdown this season and in his career… Western started eight seniors on both sides of the ball and 10 underclassmen… Attendance was 6,124… ISU out-gained Western 482-359… The Leathernecks were 2-of-14 on third downs while ISU was 10-of-16… Both teams were flagged twice for 15 yards… Nikko Watson ended his career with 2,844 rushing yards, the fifth-highest total in program history. The senior also rushed for 23 yards and had 13 100-yard games, both placing him in the 'Top 10'… The defense recorded 19 interceptions this year, the sixth-highest total in a season… The 3,288 team passing yards were the second-highest total while the 254 completions tied the record… For just the fifth time in program history, the offense surpassed 5,000 yards of total offense (5,119 – fifth most)… Lenoir enters his senior year with 197 receptions, 2,703 yards and 21 touchdowns – all WIU career records… Borsellino moved into a tie for fourth place all-time with 144 receptions and he's sixth with 1,863 yards all-time… Taylor finished the year with six takeaways (WIU record-tying four fumble recoveries and two interceptions) and 144 tackles... Lenoir's 1,635 all-purpose yards placed him eighth on the season 'Top 10'.
 
 
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