Indiana St. remains in rebuilding mode

They have just four seniors and 14 true freshmen on their two-deep roster.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — When Trent Miles was a standout football player at Indiana State University the Sycamores were a power in the Football Championship Subdivision of the NCAA.

Back some 25 years ago Miles played on ISU teams in 1983 and 1984 that won nine games in each of those seasons and qualified for the playoffs. The 1984 team was ranked No. 1 in the division for most of the season.

Miles is now the head coach of the Sycamores and in his second season and still looking for his first coaching victory with the team.

The Sycamores, who will play host to Youngstown State on Saturday in a Missouri Valley Football Conference contest, have dropped four straight games this season, including last week’s MVFC opener at South Dakota State, 41-0.

Indiana State has lost 30 straight games since defeating Missouri State 28-22 back on Oct. 21, 2006. And the Sycamores haven’t been very successful against the Penguins in the past, losing 17 of 18 meetings, including the last 12 in a row.

Miles knew what he was getting into when he took over the job and even though the Sycamores went 0-12 a year ago he still saw a lot of improvement as the season went on.

This year Miles recruited 34 players, 31 of them were freshmen and three were transfers, and he feels it is the start to rebuilding the ISU program.

“We knew we weren’t going to come in here and turn this thing around in one year, but we did want to get things going in the right direction,” Miles said. “We felt that we’ve done that, now we have to get to that next level.”

The Sycamores have started the season with four losses, including a 26-20 overtime loss in the opener to Division II Quincy.

They have also suffered losses to Louisville (30-10) and Eastern Illinois (31-0). They have been outscored 72-0 over their last two games.

“We haven’t helped ourselves much this season with turnovers and other costly mistakes,” said Miles. “And things don’t get a whole lot easier this week with Youngstown State coming to town.

“They’ve just gotten better and better each week this year,” Miles said. “They have so many talented players on both sides of the football and we are going to have to play a lot better football this week to stay with them.”

The Sycamores have struggled on both sides of the football. They’ve scored just three touchdowns in four games and are averaging just 135.8 yards in total offense. That breaks down to 47.5 rushing and 88.2 passing.

They are a very young team with just one senior starter on offense and three on defense, while they have eight true freshmen on their two-deep offensive roster and six more on defense.

The Sycamores are led offensively by true freshman quarterback Travis Johnson, who has started the last three games. The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder has completed 22 of 46 passes for 152 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. His backup is sophomore Chris Stutzriem, who has thrown three interceptions.

The team’s top rusher is junior tailback Darrius Gates (5-9, 190) with 139 yards on 34 carries, while junior Antoine Brown, who has 101 yards on 53 tries.

The top receiver is junior wide receiver Larry Lacotti (5-10, 175) with eight catches for 52 yards.

Defensively the team leader is safety Dony McCleskey, who has 39 total tackles, two for losses and one sack, while defensive end Nate Brown leads the team with five tackles for losses and linebacker Santino Davis has two interceptions.

The team’s leading scorer is sophomore placekicker Braulio Martinez, who is 3 for 6 in field goals, with the longest 43 yards.

mollica@vindy.com

THE MATCHUP | YSU ISU

Team records 2-1 0-4

Points per game 26.3 7.5

Opp. points 26.7 32.0

Rushing Avg. 159.3 47.5

Passing Avg. 174.3 88.2

Total offense 333.7 135.8

Att.-comp. 71-45 88-42

Had intercepted 4 5

TD passes 5 2

Fumbles-lost 5-0 5-5

Kick Return avg. 18.5 21.2

Punt return avg. 4.2 11.9

3rd down conversions 16/40 15/55

4th down conversions 2/2 0/4

Total touchdowns 10 3

Time of possession avg. 31:59 27:57