November 29, 2014
RICHMOND, Ky. – In the opening round of the 2014 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs, No. 21 Indiana State scored the final 36 points on the way to a 36-16 win over No. 16 Eastern Kentucky Saturday afternoon at Roy Kidd Stadium.
The Sycamores (8-5) advance to play No. 8 seed Chattanooga next Saturday, Dec. 6 in the round of 16. Meanwhile, EKU concludes its season with a 9-4 overall record.
Things looked promising early for the Colonels as the home team scored on the first four possessions to take a 16-0 lead. Eastern notched three field goals and one touchdown on those drives. However, on two of those field goal drives, EKU moved the ball inside the Indiana State five-yard line, but could not score a touchdown.
Indiana State cut the deficit to 16-7 when quarterback Mike Perish found Robert Tonyan in the back of the end zone with two seconds remaining in the first half. The Sycamores converted a 4th-and-2 play at the Eastern 10-yard line earlier in that drive behind Buck Logan’s six-yard rush.
The Sycamores scored on their first three possessions of the second half to take control of the game. Perish found Kyani Harris for a 57-yard touchdown strike to give the visitors their first lead of the game, 17-16. On Indiana State’s ensuing possession, Perish hit Gary Owens down the near sidelines for a 38-yard scoring pass to make the score, 24-16.
Indiana State put the exclamation point on its first FCS playoff win since 1983 when Mark Sewall returned an interception 48 yards to pay dirt a minute later to extend the cushion to 31-16.
After being held to 145 yards of offense in the first half, Indiana State piled up 311 offensive yards in the final 30 minutes. On the other hand, EKU’s offense was stifled to just 123 yards of offense following intermission.
ISU’s Perish completed 41-of-57 passes for a season-high 407 yards and three touchdowns. Sewall led the defense with eight stops and an interception.
For Eastern, junior running back Dy’Shawn Mobley netted 96 rushing yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. Senior kicker Andrew Lloyd converted all three field goal attempts – 21, 31 and 20 yards. Junior defensive back Stanley Absanon recorded two interceptions and five tackles.
NOTES
–Eastern Kentucky was looking for its first FCS playoff win since 1994. The Colonels are now 16-19 in 21 playoff appearances, but have lost seven straight playoff games.
–Indiana State was making just its third FCS playoff appearance and first since 1984.
–This was the first meeting between the two teams since 2000. EKU is 6-2 all-time against the Sycamores and had won six straight versus Indiana State.
