SIU wins 11th-straight MVFC game
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[No. 3 Southern Illinois won its 11th-straight Missouri Valley Football Conference game and its 16th-straight league home game with a 27-8 victory over Youngstown State, Saturday on Family Weekend at McAndrew Stadium.
The Salukis have now won six straight games and stand at 6-1 overall and a perfect 5-0 in the conference. Their 11th-straight MVFC victory ties with Western Illinois' 11-consecutive from 1997-98 for the second most in league history.
Youngstown State fell to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in league play.
SIU starting quarterback Chris Dieker was knocked out of the game late in the first quarter with an injury, but redshirt freshman Paul McIntosh did a good job filling his void to lead the Salukis to the victory.
McIntosh completed 10-of-14 passes for 133 yards and he led Southern Illinois with 81 yards rushing on 12 carries. His 86-yard touchdown to Joe Allaria on his first pass of the game was the second longest in school history.
Allaria caught a five-yard out-route and after alluding a defender, he outraced the Youngstown State defense to the end zone for the first score of the game.
"That was probably one of the turning points in the game," head coach Dale Lennon said of the 86-yard score. "When Joe (Allaria) caught the ball I didn't think he could break it loose and then to see him beat everyone to the end zone was good. Paul McIntosh did a great job coming in and he gained the confidence of the offense."
Senior running back Deji Karim was held under 100 yards rushing for the first time since the season opener. However, he did eclipse 1,000 yards rushing on the season during the game and became the third fastest Saluki to reach 1,000 yards in a year.
Youngstown State had 346 yards of total offense, but only 50 on the ground. Penguin quarterback Brandon Summers led YSU with 296 yards passing on 30-of-45 attempts with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Junior cornerback Korey Lindsey led the Dawgs with 12 tackles, two interceptions and a half sack. He moved up into third place in school history with 13 career interceptions. SIU had four sacks in the game and senior linebacker Brandin Jordan accounted for 1.5 of those to go along with his six tackles and three quarterback hurries.
Bryce Morris and Allaria both had five receptions and Allaria's 108 yards receiving gave him his second 100-yard receiving game of the season. Karim added three catches for 24 yards to give him 91 all-purpose yards in the game, his lowest output of the season.
SIU's special teams got the ball rolling after a scoreless first quarter. Fred Wright blocked Ben Nowicki's punt at the Penguin 11-yard line and Rashad Graham picked it up for SIU and carried it down to the two.
Two plays later fullback John Goode scored his first career rushing touchdown on a one-yard plunge to give Southern Illinois the 7-0 lead at 13:39 of the second quarter.
McIntosh, who came in late in the first quarter for the injured Dieker, then got SIU a 14-point lead with his first pass of the game. That's when he found Allaria for the 86-yard touchdown.
The Penguins had a chance to get on the scoreboard late in the second half, as they drove down to the Southern seven-yard line. With a false start and a third down stop, the Dawgs forced Youngstown State to kick a 25-yard field goal. The kick by Stephen Blose never got off the ground and thus the Salukis held a 14-0 lead at the half.
Southern Illinois got its third touchdown of the game on its first drive of the second half. Karim, who went over 1,000 yards rushing on the drive, put it in on a two-yard run. It was his 18th career touchdown run, which ties for the ninth most in school history.
Junior kicker Kyle Dougherty would add a 44-yard field goal at 1:35, giving the Salukis a 24-0 lead after three quarters.
Youngstown State ended a seven-quarter scoreless drought against SIU by scoring a touchdown at 9:55 of the fourth quarter. Summers found Aaron Pitts for a 56-yard touchdown pass and then the Penguins added on a two-point conversion to cut the Saluki lead down to 24-8.
After the Salukis ran off a good chunk of the clock on a drive into YSU territory, Dougherty hit his second 40-yard field goal to make it a 27-8 game. The 45-yarder at 6:17 was his seventh 40-yarder of the season.
With a pair of Lindsey interceptions late in the game, no more points would be scored and the Salukis walked away with the 27-8 victory.