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Western Illinois University Athletics

Lance Lenoir
14
Western Illinois WIU 3-1 , 0-1
52
Winner South Dakota State SDSU 2-2 , 1-0
Western Illinois WIU
3-1 , 0-1
14
Final
52
South Dakota State SDSU
2-2 , 1-0
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
WIU Western Illinois 14 0 0 0 14
SDSU South Dakota State 7 21 24 0 52

Game Recap: Football | | WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks Drop MVFC Opener

Western jumps out to early lead but loses at South Dakota State

BROOKINGS, S.D. – Western Illinois jumped out to an early 14-7 lead after the first quarter, but from there, #15 South Dakota State pulled away for a 52-14 victory on Saturday night (Oct. 1). It marked seventh-ranked Western's first loss both in Missouri Valley Football Conference play and overall (3-1, 0-1).
 
South Dakota State (2-2, 1-0) won the toss and elected to receive. Western forced a tackle for loss and a 3-and-out. On the punt, Stacey Smith got a piece of the ball setting up 1st-and-10 at the SDSU 41. Just five plays later, Sean McGuire found Lance Lenoir on a 6-yard touchdown pass. Nathan Knuffman's extra point made it 7-0.
 
The Jackrabbits marched down the field and responded with a 24-yard scoring pass from Taryn Christion to Dallas Goedert to tie the game. After the teams traded punts, Western took over on its own eight.
 
Smith broke off the team's longest run of the season, a 71-yarder and was brought down at the five. However, a penalty after the play moved the ball back to the 20. Four plays later, McGuire connected with Joey Borsellino on 3rd-and-goal from the three for the senior wide receiver's first touchdown this season and 12th of his career.
 
The duo of Christion and Goedert took control of the game from there, connecting from 25 yards out to tie the game at 14-all with just under 12 minutes left in the opening half. Nearly five minutes later, Goedert caught his third TD of the game, a 24-yarder to give SDSU the lead for good at 21-14.
 
SDSU drove to the redzone again right before halftime. On a play originally called an incomplete pass in the endzone, it was overturned after review for a 17-yard TD pass from Christion to Connor Landberg to give the Jackrabbits a 28-14 lead in the final seconds of the half.
 
During Western's opening drive of the second half, the Leathernecks committed their first turnover of the year. Christian Rozeboom picked off the pass and raced 37 yards for a touchdown to make it 35-14. Later in the quarter, the WIU defense held on third down and the Jackrabbits settled for a 38-yard field goal by Chase Vinatieri.
 
Goedert tied the school single-game record with a 70-yard touchdown catch when Western could not knock the ball away. On the ensuing drive, McGuire was forced out of the pocket and his rushed pass was intercepted by Dallas Brown at the 19 and returned for a touchdown to make it 52-14.
 
"It's a very disappointing loss considering the way we started the game. I thought our team was ready to play, I thought we demonstrated that during the first quarter but football is not won in one quarter," said Western head coach Charlie Fisher. "My hats off to South Dakota State, they played a wonderful game. We certainly didn't respond the way I thought we would the second quarter on when we weren't able to sustain anything and obviously not able to get them off the field. We have to coach better, we have to play better, we have to tackle better and we have to do a lot of things a lot better to get us a win in this league."
 
Lenoir took sole possession of the consecutive games with a catch record during the opening drive, now 34 straight games in his career. He finished with 10 catches for 84 yards.
 
McGuire completed 15-of-27 passes for 113 yards and the sophomore matched his career-high of two TD passes. Steve McShane rushed for 56 yards and caught four passes for 11 yards. Smith finished with 107 all-purpose yards. Trenton Norvell entered the game in the fourth quarter and went 5-of-10 passing for 46 yards.
 
Quentin Moon led the defense matching his career-high of nine tackles. David Griffith added seven, including two for a loss. Justin Fitzpatrick added seven tackles and a pass break-up.
 
Christion finished 22-of-31 for 361 yards and five TDs, four of those to Goedert who finished with 204 receiving yards on eight catches.
 
Fisher's message to his team post-game was simple.
 
"The message is you have to look at each game as a one-game season. It was disappointing but as we walk out of here, we lost just one football game. We can't let this carry on and lead onto other losses. We have to put this behind us, move forward. The best teams rise and fight again, and we have to do that. We have to find a way to get back on our feet. No one is going to feel sorry for us, and we certainly won't feel sorry for ourselves… We have to get back on our feet, get back to work and get ready to play at home for Homecoming against a good Indiana State team."
 
The Leathernecks return to Hanson Field next Saturday (Oct. 8) to play host to Indiana State. the Homecoming 2016 kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.
 
GAME NOTES: Borsellino caught a pass in his 27th straight game. He also moved into a tie for 10th place all-time in career touchdown catches. With 39 yards on three catches, Borsellino moved into fifth-place all-time with 2,087 yards… With his two extra points in the game, senior Nathan Knuffman moved past 200 in his career. He now has 201 all-time and with 117 career extra points he's now tied for fourth place all-time… Lenoir surpassed 4,000 career all-purpose yards (4,056)… Junior tight end Cal Breedlove made his first start as a Leatherneck… Smith's 71-yard run surpassed McShane's 70-yard TD run at Eastern Illinois in the season-opener… Western had owned a 20-0 scoring advantage in the second quarter after the first two games, but following the 21-point SDSU output now trails 28-20… Western failed to convert on fourth down for the first time this year, having been 3-for-3 prior to the incomplete pass late in the third quarter… SDSU out-gained Western 478-342, and was 5-of-10 on third down compared to the Leathernecks' 5-of-14… Attendance was 14,155.
 
 
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