University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Western Illinois
UNI Tops Western Illinois, 41-24
10/1/2005 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 1, 2005
UNI sophomore quarterback Eric Sanders led the Panthers to a 41-24 victory over Western Illinois this afternoon in Macomb, IL, the Gateway Football Conference opener for both teams. UNI improves to 3-1 overall, while WIU drops to 2-3.
Sanders led the Panthers rushing for the second consecutive game when he gained a career-high 68 yards on nine carries. His 68-yard TD run, aided by a key block by senior wide receiver Justin Surrency, was another career best and gave UNI a 34-17 lead with 10:16 left in the third quarter.
Sanders, now as the Panthers starting signal caller, also completed 18-of-26 passes with no interceptions for 244 yards and TDs of 38 yards to Patrick Hunter and 36 yards to Jamie Goodwin. Sanders came into the game as 1-AA's passing efficiency leader.
"Eric's (TD) run was the beginning of the end in the second half," UNI head coach Mark Farley said. "(WIU) had started building momentum."
It was an afternoon of big plays on both sides of the ball. UNI had nine plays go for at least 20 yards and WIU three. The Panthers gained 492 yards, 248 on the ground, but gave up 521 yards, including 368 through the air.
UNI got the ball rolling with Hunter's 38-yard TD reception with 5:27 left in the first quarter. He ended up leading the Panthers with five catches for 63 yards. The Leathernecks tied the score with 13:21 left in the half on a nine-yard pass play. UNI then scored 20 unanswered points. Goodwin's 36-yard TD catch came at the 10:49 mark. Terrance Freeney scored his first of two rushing tDs when he put UNI up 21-7 from 12 yards out with 7:09 left in the second period. The score came just 58 seconds after sophomore free safety Chris Parsons pounced on the first of his two WIU fumbles on UNI's 43 yard line. Jason Breeland's 42-yard run moved the ball to the Leatherneck 15 and two plays later, Freeney scored. David Horne added a five-yard TD run with 23 seconds and Brian Wingert's first PAT miss of the season left the Panther with a 27-7 lead. However, the half ended with UNI up just 27-14 after WIU scored on a 40-yard pass with just six seconds remaining on the clock.
WIU pulled to within 10 points twice in the second half. It kicked a 47-yard field goal with 11:50 left in the third period to close the margin to 27-17, but less than two minutes later Sanders scored on his 68-yard run. With 1:47 left in the third, WIU pulled back on a 66-yard TD pass to make it 34-24 in favor of UNI.
Freeney's four-yard TD with 12:42 left in the game ended all scoring.
"This is a load off our shoulders," Farley said. "We're coming off an open date, we had to go on the road here to Western Illinois on their Homecoming. It was critical to get this win.
"Our team displayed character," he said. "We didn't play a great game...We have a lot of diversity, we're more balanced...But we need to do something defensively. I don't want to get into shootouts."
Freeney ended with 78 yards and the two TDs on 19 carries. Hunter led the Panthers with five catches for 63 yards and the one TD. Junior corner Curtis Cooper recorded a game-high 11 tackles, including 10 solos and one tackle for loss. Besides his two fumble recoveries, Parsons had three solo tackles, one forced fumble and one deflection, while senior linebacker Darin Heideman also had one fumble recovery to go along with nine tackles, including two tackles for loss and one sack.
