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Western Illinois University Athletics

Line
Daytona Dooley
28
Winner Youngstown St. YSU 4-3 , 2-2
27
Western Ill. WIU 0-7 , 0-4
Winner
Youngstown St. YSU
4-3 , 2-2
28
Final
27
Western Ill. WIU
0-7 , 0-4
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
YSU Youngstown St. 3 7 0 18 28
WIU Western Ill. 0 7 6 14 27

Game Recap: Football | | WIU Athletic Communications

WIU falls in final seconds on Homecoming

Youngstown State tops Leathernecks, 28-27

MACOMB – The Western Illinois football team fell a few seconds short of their first win of the season, falling at the final horn to Youngstown State 28-27 on Homecoming Saturday in Macomb.
 
The Leathernecks (0-7, 0-4 in the MVFC) led 27-17 after a five-yard touchdown toss from Clay Bruno to Naseim Brantley with three minutes, nine seconds left, but Youngstown State staged a furious rally, getting a touchdown and two-point conversion with 2:29 left, then after holding Western's offense,  before getting the game-winning 42-yard field goal as time expired.
 
"It's a tough loss, a tough one but this is a time we have to come back together and truly execute on every area so we can win games like this," Brantley (five catches, 66 yards, two touchdowns) said.
 
Despite the loss, Western Illinois played some of its best football in all three phases. Brian Bruce recorded the first Leatherneck punt block since Colton Folliard in 2019, Mason Laramie went 2-2 on field goals and 3-3 on extra points to boost the special teams, the offense ran for a season-high 160 yards and the defense held a formidable Penguin offense at bay the majority of the game.
 
"One of the biggest things, all three phases fed off each other, we blocked a punt, the defense picked us up when the offense needed picking up and the offense made some plays, we played by far our best complimentary football we've played," WIU coach Myers Hendrickson said. "We did not put it all together, but we're putting it together, blocking a punt, making field goals, when we got the ball in the red zone, we scored, we went 3-3.
 
"They were some good lessons learned, we won the penalty battle, we're close."
 
Youngstown State took an early 3-0 in the first quarter but in the second, the Leathernecks took their first lead of the day, and season, as Taj Sanders caught a six-yard scoring pass from Bruno to make it 7-3.
 
Youngstown battled back to lead 10-7 at half, but a pair of Laramie field goals (40 yards, 30 yards) gave the Leathernecks a 13-10 lead after three quarters.
 
The Penguins responded with a score in the fourth, but WIU answered on Bruno's pass to Brantley from 25 yards ended in a score to put Western ahead 20-17.
 
On the next YSU possession, Leatherneck linebacker Ryan Crandall made his presence known, intercepting a pass an returning it 32 yards to the YSU 21.
 
"I had a strong, quick drop, I think their guy ran a dig or curl but I read the quarterback's eyes," Crandall said. "He was behind me, so I jumped up and got it. I was hoping I could take it back."
 
Crandall had a career-high 10 tackles to go along with his first interception as a Leatherneck, but he was just one of several freshmen making an impact.
 
"True freshman, went out, had 10 tackles, an interception, he played a lot today," Hendrickson said of Crandall. He's trending the right way, he's a freshman but now playing like a sophomore because he was forced into it right away.
 
"There's no substitute for playing experience, no way to simulate it, it was amazing to see our freshmen step up, Taj Sanders had a great catch, Tahjae Mullix, Eli West, a lot of freshmen are playing good football for us. Mix that with our newcomers, T.J. Limehouse (team-high 11 tackles), Michael Newman (eight tackles) and our core guys who have been here like Juan DelaCruz, Cole Watts, Chod Morrow, Ludovick Choquette. It's definitely meshing now, it's the first time we're seeing it, but it's starting to take shape."
 
YSU would mount a rally though, scoring a touchdown and getting a two-point conversion to make it a 27-25 WIU lead with 2:29 to go.
 
After the Leathernecks recovered the onside kick, the Penguins forced a punt and were able to march the ball down the field and hit the 42-yard game-winner to beat the clock and Western Illinois.
 
"I love this team, we're seeing a ton of progress in the areas we talked about addressing," Hendrickson said. "We're calling this our new season, the second half of the year is a new season for us. We wanted to win the turnover battle and we did, which is huge for us. Getting takeaways, protecting the ball better on offense.
 
"Our team always plays hard, they play hard all the way to the finish, it's something we do, today we were just on the wrong side of it."
 
Erin Collins led the ground game with 61 yards on 10 carries. Choquette added 48 yards on 14 attempts. Bruno went 11-30 for 160 yards and three touchdowns. Brantley had five catches for 66 yards to lead the receivers.
 
Defensively, Limehouse's 11 tackles led the way while Crandall added 10 and Newman had eight.
 
The Leathernecks return to the road next week to take on Missouri State at 2 p.m. in Springfield, Missouri.
 
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