Western Illinois safety Malini Ti’a (33) defends on a pass play Saturday in the Leathernecks’ 17-16 victory against Tennessee State. (Photo by TSUTigers.com)
By Barry Bottino
For a team that has leaned on its offense most of the season, Western Illinois broke a five-game losing streak Saturday thanks to its defense.
Western outlasted Tennessee State, 17-16, at Nissan Stadium in Nashville with a defensive unit that had two interceptions, five sacks and 14 tackles for loss.
The victory was WIU’s first in the Ohio Valley Conference-Big South Football Association this season. The Leathernecks – who have been hampered by numerous injuries on offense – rallied to win Saturday after losing the last two league games by a combined six points.
“We needed this one bad,” WIU head coach Joe Davis said. “We’ve certainly been close the past few weeks. We found a way, as a team, to finish this one out.”
Safety Malini Ti’a returned a tipped pass 20 yards for a first-quarter touchdown for WIU (2-7 overall, 1-4 OVC-Big South).
With 3:01 left in the game, freshman cornerback Don Paul Keith grabbed an interception at the WIU 32 with the Tigers driving.
“We knew today that we were going to need defensive turnovers,” Davis said. “We were down significantly on offensive personnel. We played a lot of guys who got their first significant snaps on offense. Going against a good Tennessee State defense, we knew points were going to be hard to come by.”
Western entered the game averaging nearly 355 yards per game but managed only 10 first downs and 196 yards.
Freshman quarterback Cason Carswell finished 14-for-31 passing for 133 yards. His one TD pass was a 40-yard toss to Demari Davis, which gave Western a 14-10 second-quarter lead.
Two third-quarter TSU field goals gave the Tigers (2-6, 0-4) a 16-14 lead with 3:14 to go in the period. Western’s Antonio Chadha kicked his longest field goal of the season – a 51-yarder – with 47 seconds remaining in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Western collected seven tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception.
Game changers
3:32, 1st quarter: Ti’a grabbed a tipped pass out of the air and returned it 20 yards for WIU’s first TD of the day.
0:47, 3rd quarter: Chadha connected on a 51-yard field goal to give Western the lead for good at 17-16.
3:01, 4th quarter: With TSU driving late, Keith intercepted Tigers’ QB Byron McNair in WIU territory.
Nifty ‘Necks
Prairie State Pigskin chooses the top three Western Illinois players in Saturday’s game:
Christian Pierce, LB: Along with eight total tackles, he had four tackles for loss.
Kevin Washington Jr., LB: The transfer from Bethune-Cookman piled up eight tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks.
Chadha, K: The Fred Mitchell Award nominee booted his longest field goal of the season, a 51-yarder in the third quarter.
What it means
The Leathernecks snapped a five-game losing streak and head into a bye week with their first OVC-Big South victory of the season under their belts.
What’s next
The Leathernecks have a bye week Nov. 1 – the latest one among all four Illinois FCS schools – and return to the field Nov. 8 at home against Lindenwood.
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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