Salukis dominate all three phases in 37-20 win at Indiana State
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Offense, defense and special teams all had a big hand in Saluki Football’s 37-20 win at Indiana State on Saturday night.
The Salukis (5-5, 3-3) dominated a contest that wasn’t nearly as close as the 17-point margin might indicate. Leading, 34-6, early in the fourth quarter, Southern emptied its bench, and the Sycamores (2-8, 0-6) put up a couple late scores to make the score look respectable.
SIU quarterback DJ Williams matched a career-high by throwing four touchdown passes in three quarters of play. He turned the game over to backup Jake Curry in the fourth.
“The offensive line gave me some time to do some things and the receivers just made plays,” Williams said. “You got to get the ball to your athletes and allow them to be who they are.”
One of those athletes who had a special night was wide receiver Kyle Thomas, who hauled in seven catches for 114 yards and three touchdowns.
“First of all, KT's an unbelievable person, and at the end of the day, he puts so much work in,” Williams said. “We've grown a connection. I just trust him to win one-on-one matchups and that's what he does.”
The first touchdown of the game was a 57-yard moon launch, in which Williams spun away from defenders before finding Thomas wide open down the left sideline.
“That was old-school DJ Williams and it was good to see,” said head coach Nick Hill. “He scrambled out and threw that thing 60 yards in the air. That got us going.”
Williams also completed a pair of pretty fade passes for touchdowns of 18 and seven yards to Thomas. After the final TD, Thomas’ teammates mobbed him on the sideline and put a stocking cap on his head — a hat trick.
“It just felt amazing,” Thomas beamed. “All glory to God, really just giving me the strength, wisdom and goodness just to catch the ball, to focus, to make the big play, and just to put me in this position.”
SIU’s starting defense was dominant. So dominant, in fact, that Indiana State had less than 100 yards of offense through the first three quarters.
Defensive end Ibrahim Sanogo picked up another 1.5 tackles for loss, increasing his league leading total to 15.5 on the season. Safety Matt McClelland and cornerback Sebastian Vargas-Escobar each had second-half interceptions.
“We did a really good job up until those last few drives,” McClelland said. “We knew they were gonna try to throw as much as possible, so we game-planned really well to shut down the pass. We just did our jobs and didn't try to do too much.”
In a word, the special teams was, special, starting with return-man Tae Marrero. He dashed, darted and broke tackles on a punt return of 51 yards, plus a kickoff return of 48 yards. Marrero added three catches for 46 yards for good measure.
“I’m just here to make a play,” Marrero said. “I’m trying to help the team out any way possible. When I have the ball in my hands, I know there’s something special that I can do with it, and I put that on display tonight, but I couldn't do it without my teammates blocking for me and without coach (Nate) Frame as the game-planner.”
Marrero wasn’t the only specialist to impress. Punter Elijah Gorman bombed a punt 60 yards and placed another one at the Indiana State 1. Kicker Seth Adams booted a 50-yard field goal, and Weston Schofield added two shorter field goals to remain a perfect 10-for-10 on kicks this season.
“We have great special teams units and it wins you games,” Hill declared. “It’s a third of the game for a reason. When you can find explosives plays that set up scores, it wins games in November.”
Southern has won two-straight and has league-leading South Dakota State coming to Carbondale next weekend. The Salukis could still make the playoffs with two more wins.
“Next week's a big one versus a big team that everybody thinks we can't beat,” Williams said.
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