McLean County Times

No. 15 Illinois State faced No. 2 North Dakota State in a Homecoming game at Hancock Stadium on Saturday. The Bison, now with a record of 4-1 (1-0 MVFC), secured a 42-10 victory over the Redbirds, who fell to 3-2 (0-1 MVFC). The match drew a crowd of 11,687 fans.

The game began with North Dakota State taking an early lead. They scored on their opening possession with a 7-yard shovel pass from Cam Miller to Bryce Lance, making it 7-0 with 6:45 left in the first quarter. NDSU extended their lead to 14-0 following a lengthy drive that ended with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Miller to Mekhi Collins just before halftime.

Illinois State responded quickly with a scoring drive of their own. Wenkers Wright's 2-yard touchdown run cut NDSU's lead to 14-7 late in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, NDSU increased their lead further. A 40-yard touchdown pass from Miller to Barika Kpeenu and a subsequent 14-yard touchdown run by CharMar Brown pushed the score to 28-7. Kpeenu added another touchdown with a 9-yard run later in the same quarter, bringing the score to 35-7.

NDSU's Cole Payton broke free for a significant play early in the fourth quarter, running for a 73-yard touchdown which made it 42-7. Illinois State managed one more score through Ian Wagner’s field goal from 38 yards out, finalizing the score at 42-10.

Quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse completed ten of fourteen passes for Illinois State, totaling 132 yards. He connected three times each with Xavier Loyd and Eddie Kasper for gains of 52 and 51 yards respectively.

Defensively, senior captain Keondre Jackson led Illinois State with nine tackles, including six solo stops. Tye Niekamp contributed six tackles and half a tackle-for-loss while Mark Cannon Jr. and Dillon Gearhart each recorded eight tackles.

Next week, Illinois State will travel to Carbondale to face Southern Illinois (2-3, 0-1 MVFC) at an evening kickoff scheduled for six p.m.

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