Saturday’s other Missouri Valley Football conference games

Western Illinois 36, Indiana State 35

MACOMB, ILL.

Sean McGuire threw for a career-high 363 yards and three touchdowns and Western Illinois erased an eight-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat Indiana State. McGuire’s favorite target was Senior Lance Lenoir, who caught 11 passes for 204 yards and two scores. The Leathernecks (4-1, 1-1 Missouri Valley) trailed 35-27 entering the fourth and quickly cut their deficit to 35-33 on 9-yard TD pass from McGuire to Jamie Gilmore. A two-point conversion failed. On its next possession, Western Illinois seized the lead for good on a 41-yard Nathan Knuffman field goal, capping a 6-play 37-yard drive. Indiana State (3-3, 1-2) had three opportunities to answer, but were forced to punt twice and stopped on fourth-and-1 at the Leathernecks 29 with 44 seconds left.

South Dakota State 45, Southern Illinois 39

CARBONDALE, ILL.

Taryn Christion threw for a school-record 466 yards and five touchdowns to win a shootout with Southern Illinois. Christion broke the previous record held by Dan Fjeldheim, who threw for 460 yards against St. Cloud State in Sept., 2002. Jake Wieneke finished with 164 yards receiving and two touchdowns, while Dallas Goedert added 108 and one score for the Jackrabbits (3-2, 2-0 Missouri Valley). It was the third straight game that each went over 100 yards receiving. South Dakota State led 35-18 midway through the 3rd quarter before Jimmy Jones scored twice, once rushing and once receiving, to cut the Salukis deficit to 35-32 after three. But Christion answered with a 27-yard strike to Alex Wilde to push the score to 42-32, and South Dakota State hung on over the final 11:18. Josh Straughan threw for 380 yards and two scores for SIU (2-3, 0-2).

South Dakota 28, Northern Iowa 25

VERMILLION, S.D.

Chris Streveler threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third as South Dakota remained unbeaten at home after holding on to beat Northern Iowa in the 100th Dakota Days football game. UNI (2-3, 1-1 Missouri Valley) entered the game ranked 11th in all three Football Championship Subdivision polls but has lost three of its last four games. UNI had won seven of the previous eight meetings between the teams, including a 20-7 decision last year. Streveler ran 69 yards for a touchdown in the second minute of the game and put the Coyotes (2-3, 1-1) in front for good by hitting Tacari Carpenter with a 75-yard TD pass midway through the second quarter. The pair reconnected from 29-yards out in the third quarter to make it 28-17. Aaron Bailey sneaked in from the 1 to pull UNI within a field goal, 28-25 early in the fourth.

North Dakota State 27, Missouri State 3

SPRINGFIELD, MO.

King Frazier ran for two touchdowns as NDSU remained undefeated. Frazier had 126 yards on 19 carries for the Bison (5-0, 2-0 Missouri Valley Conference). Easton Stick threw for 159 yards and a score. Frazier’s first TD came on a 22-yard run on first down after teammate Aaron Steidl recovered a Missouri State fumble early in the fourth quarter. Later, he took it in from short yardage to make it 27-3 with 4:51 to play. NDSU netted 428 total yards and held the Bears (3-2, 1-1) to just 176 yards. Missouri State’s only score was a 50-yard field goal by Zach Drake midway through the first quarter.

Associated Press