University of Northern Iowa
Western Illinois
Panthers Pound Western Illinois, 36-13
10/23/2004 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 23, 2004
PANTHERS POUND WESTERN ILLINOIS, 36-13
Cedar Falls, IA- The offense moved the ball, the defense dominated, and the University of Northern Iowa football team came away with a decisive 36-13 victory over Western Illinois. Terrance Freeney starred for the Panthers, rushing for a career-high 262 yards and adding two touchdowns in the winning effort.
The Panthers sprinted out of the gates, showing a variety of formations and keeping the Leatherneck defense on its heels. Freeney capped off the opening UNI drive with a 26 yard scamper, reaching pay dirt as the clock neared the twelve minute mark.
The Panther defense stuffed WIU's offense forcing a punt, and putting the ball back into the offense's hands. UNI drove 73 yards to its second touchdown, an 11 yard connection between quarterback Eric Sanders and tight end Patrick Hunter with just over six minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Titus Ivory sacked Leatherneck QB Steve LaFalce for a safety, adding two points to UNI's total, and bringing the score to 16-0.
WIU kicked the ball back to the Panther offense with the clock at 4:46. UNI orchestrated a clock-eating, 12 play, 87 yard drive that ended with Sanders throwing his second touchdown pass of the game, this time to tight end James Lindgren. The 27 yard strike put the score at 23-0 and capped off an impressive first quarter for the Panthers.
The Leathernecks ended the shutout with a 42 yard field goal near the start of the second quarter, but the Panther offense continued to fire on all cylinders. UNI spent nearly six minutes on an 11 play, 81 yard march, capped off by a three yard touchdown run by Freeney. The touchdown, Freeney's second of the game, put the score at 30-3 with just 31 seconds remaining in the half. WIU drove 57 yards in those 31 seconds and kicked a 40 yard field goal with the clock showing zeroes, bringing the score to 30-6, and ending a first half that was thoroughly dominated by the UNI Panthers.
UNI deployed a "kill the clock" strategy in the second half, offering the Leatherneck defense a steady diet of between the tackles running from Freeney and Richard Carter. Kicker Brian Wingert connected with a 22 yard field goal with 3:44 remaining in the third quarter to put the score at 33-6.
The Western Illinois offense showed signs of life in the fourth quarter, covering 43 yards in under a minute and scoring with 8:15 left in the contest, bringing the score to 33-13. The scoring drive proved to be too little, too late, however, as the Panther offense continued to pound the ball between the tackles and eat clock. Wingert kicked his second field goal of the day at the 5:32 mark, putting the score at 36-13. The Panther defense shut down the Leatherneck offense for the final five minutes and sealed the 36-13 victory.
"It was a great team win," said head coach Mark Farley. "Everything you put on paper and try to execute, you hope it comes out like that."
As a team, the Panthers piled up 526 yards of total offense with 406 coming from the ground game. Freeney led the rushing attack with 36 carries for 262 yards and two touchdowns. Carter ended the night with 123 yards on 13 carries. The senior added two kick returns for 58 yards. "Our offense came out and rushed the ball tonight," Farley said. "To rush for those kind of yards against a team like Western Illinois is tremendous."
Sanders turned in an efficient performance, completing nine passes for 120 yards and pair of scores. The redshirt freshman also had four carries for six yards. "He's running our offense very efficiently right now," Farley added. "Today's performance was just another impressive feat by Eric."
Defensively, UNI held the Leatherneck rushing attack to just 11 net yards. As a whole, the defensive unit sacked WIU quarterbacks four times with senior Ryan Arnold leading the team with 1.5. The Panthers dropped Leatherneck ball-carriers behind the line of scrimmage 10 times, pushing the WIU offense back 44 yards. "I feel that this offense is one of the best coached offenses in 1-AA," Farley continued. "To do what we did against their offensive unit today was another great effort and accomplishment by our guys."
The Panthers continue their Gateway Conference schedule in the dome next week against Southwest Missouri State. Kickoff is at 4:05 pm.
