GATEWAY Northern Iowa builds lead, holds off Western Illinois

Western Kentucky routed Indiana State, 59-14.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MACOMB, Ill. -- Tom Petrie threw four touchdown passes and Terrance Freeney ran for 123 yards Saturday as Northern Iowa built a big lead and held on for a 38-30 win over Western Illinois.
Northern Iowa (7-1, 4-0 Gateway Conference) went ahead 31-7 with 19 seconds to go in the third quarter when Petrie hit Curt Bradley on an 18-yard scoring pass.
After Russ Michna threw a 20-yard TD pass to Reggie Gray and then ran 11 yards for a score to get the Leathernecks within 31-20, Petrie found Marlus Mays for a 46-yard scoring pass to make it 38-20 with 9:25 to go.
Michna, who hit 20-of-38 passes for 321 yards, found Travis Glasford for a 2-yard TD with 6:10 left and Western scored one last time on Justin Langan's 25-yard field goal with 1:35 to play.
Western Illinois (5-3, 2-2) fell behind 17-0 but got a big lift just before halftime when Gray returned a kickoff 99 yards with five seconds to go in the second quarter.
W. Kentucky 59, Indiana St. 14
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Tony West rushed for 149 yards and a touchdown, and Lerron Moore added 148 yards and a score to lead Western Kentucky to a win over Indiana State.
The Hilltoppers (6-2, 3-1 Gateway Conference) racked up 443 yards rushing and scored on all six first-half possessions.
Quarterback Justin Haddix had three rushing touchdowns -- all in the first half -- as Western Kentucky built a 42-0 halftime lead over the Sycamores (3-6, 0-4).
S. Illinois 20-SW Missouri 6
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Muhammad Abdulqaadir, Tom Koutsos and Brandon Robinson led a balanced rushing attack as Southern Illinois beat Southwest Missouri State.
Abdulqaadir carried 19 times for 84 yards on 19 carries, Koutsos had 74 yards on 14 carries and Robinson had 71 yards on six carries as the trio combined for 229 of the Salukis 281 total yards.
Robinson set the tone early, running 52 yards on the game's first play from scrimmage. That set up an Abdulqaadir touchdown run to give Southern Illinois (8-0, 4-0 Gateway Conference) the lead for good at 7-3