Salukis here Saturday

By Pete Mollica

Southern Illinois take on the Penguins at Stambaugh Stadium at 4 p.m.

YOUNGSTOWN — While Southern Illinois was running wild in a 60-7 victory over hapless Indiana State last Saturday, first year coach Dale Lennon was happy to see some of things that he’s been working on with the Salukis finally coming together.

Southern Illinois (3-2, 2-1 Missouri Valley Conference) will bring its act to Youngstown State Saturday for another key conference battle with kickoff slated for 4 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.

“Saturday was what we needed. We were able to accomplish a lot of the things we wanted on offense, defense and special teams,” said Lennon.

“We still have a long way to go and it doesn’t get any easier this week heading to Youngstown, even if they are having a lot of problems with injuries and such. We still have to go there and play and that’s never an easy task,” he added.

Lennon took over the Salukis’ program this season after nine very successful seasons at Division II North Dakota, including a 14-1 record in 2001 that led to the national championship.

“When you take a job like this, naturally you have big shoes to fill,” he said. “I wanted to go someplace that had success and knows what being successful is all about. We came down here because we wanted to have a chance at winning at national championship, and this is a program that is so very close to doing it.”

Coming into this season Lennon had to replace a record-breaking quarterback in Nick Hill and a 1,000 yard rusher in John Randle.

Sophomore Chris Dieker (6-foot-5, 227 pounds) has taken over the quarterback duties and in five games has completed 64-of-117 passes for 816 yards and eight touchdowns. He’s been intercepted three times.

Senior running back Larry Warner (5-5, 169) is the rushing leader with 386 yards on 69 carries and four touchdowns. The speedster also is the team’s leading kickoff return specialist averaging 33.8 yards per return and has returned two kickoffs for touchdowns, the longest being 97 yards.

Dieker has three receivers with 10 of more catches this year. Leading the way is senior wide receiver Damian Sherman (6-4, 213) with 15 catches for 267 yards and three touchdowns, while Warner has also caught 10 passes for 61 yards. The team’s second leading receiver Bryce Morris, with 13 catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns, won’t play against the Penguins. He and senior linebacker Justin Thurston have been suspended by Lennon for the next two games for violation of team rules.

The Salukis have experience and depth on the offensive line led by two seniors and three juniors. Senior guard Aaron Lockwood (6-2, 303) is the most dominate returning veteran.

Defensively the Salukis are led by junior linebacker Brandin Jordan (5-11, 230) who has 35 tackles, two for losses and one sack and also has an interception. Junior safety Marty Rodgers (5-10, 184) is second with 33 tackles including four for losses, while senior linebacker James Cloud (6-2, 216) has 32 stops, eight for losses, four sacks and three forced fumbles.

Southern Illinois is plus-7 in turnover margin. They’ve recovered 10 fumbles and picked off seven passes, while giving up just seven turnovers.

They also have a strong kicking game led by junior punter Scott Ravanesi who is averaging 44.3 yards on 22 punts this season, five of them inside the opponents’ 20 yard line.

Sophomore place kicker Kyle Dougherty has made 6-of-8 field goals, including two 40-yarders, one of them in the final seconds against Northern Iowa that gave the Salukis a 27-24 victory.

mollica@vindy.com