Jake Anderson (left) celebrates with teammate Reese Edwards after Illinois State’s 35-27 victory Saturday at Houck Stadium in Cape Girardeau, Mo. (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePigskin.com)
By Barry Bottino
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – When it was time for Illinois State players to sing their fight song Saturday, the Redbirds had one – and only one – choice for a lead voice.
“Jake! Jake! Jake! Jake!” players shouted as they gathered in front of ISU fans along the north sideline at Southeast Missouri’s Houck Stadium.
With a raised helmet and wide smile, sophomore Jake Anderson roared through the fight song just as the Redbirds’ defensive tackle had created an uproar with his game-changing 55-yard interception return for a touchdown in No. 12 seed ISU’s 35-27 victory against SEMO in a first-round FCS playoff game.
The win sent ISU (10-3) to its sixth win in a row and a second-round game at No. 5 seed UC Davis at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7.
With just over 2 minutes left in the second quarter, outside linebacker Jalan Gaines deflected a pass by SEMO quarterback Paxton DeLaurent. That’s where Anderson came in.
“Gaines got his hand up, batted the ball down,” Anderson said. “It kind of fell right into my lap and I just didn’t break stride.”
As Anderson chugged down the field with DeLaurent giving chase, the Illinois State sideline erupted.
“I saw it all. It happened in like slow motion,” ISU quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse said. “It was like a scene out of a movie. I’ve never seen that in my life.”
DeLaurent closed the gap but didn’t catch up to the 6-foot-5, 290-pound Anderson until the end zone.
“I was hoping he wasn’t going to catch me,” Anderson said with a laugh. “That last five yards, I thought, ‘I might just have to dive for this one.’ I don’t know how much more gas I had in me, but I made it.”
Anderson’s interception led to a 21-7 lead and was one of eight turnovers the Redbirds collected Saturday.
“Football’s a momentum game,” Anderson said. “If you can get that momentum and keep it rolling, everyone feeds off that.”
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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