Carbondale, Ill.  —  Trailing by 11 points entering the fourth  quarter after two special teams touchdowns put it in an early hole, the Western Kentucky University football team was 15 minutes from having its season come to a premature end for all intents and purposes — a fourth loss would have virtually eliminated the Hilltoppers from postseason consideration.   However, senior Justin Haddix returned from a third-quarter knee injury to engineer a pair of touchdown drives in the final eight-plus minutes Saturday to give WKU a 27-24 come-from-behind Gateway Football Conference victory over No. 13 Southern Illinois at McAndrew Stadium, ending the Salukis’ three-game series win streak in the process.   The Toppers improved to 4-3, 3-1 in the league, with their second straight victory after Haddix connected with Jake Gaebler for a 31-yard score and Lerron Moore closed out the scoring with a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:20 remaining in the game.  SIU (5-2, 2-2 GFC) fell for the second time in as many weeks.   The defense helped set up a short field for the Toppers early in the fourth quarter when Jon Hedges’ sack of Nick Hill and a Scott Ravenesi 27-yard punt gave the ball back to WKU with 1st-and-10 at the SIU-48.

 On third down Haddix found Seth Tamme for a 15-yard gain, then he hit Gaebler on the next play from scrimmage to draw the Hilltoppers to within 24-19 with 7:01 to go after Gaebler was stopped just short of the goal line on the two-point conversion attempt.   It was Gaebler’s 10th catch of the night, the eighth time in school history that a WKU player has recorded double-digit receptions in a game.  He finished with a career-best 133 yards to lead all receivers.   The Hilltoppers then forced another 3-and-out — in fact, WKU limited the Salukis to just 48 yards and three first downs over the final 30 minutes — to get the ball back.  On the first play of the Toppers’ final drive, Haddix found Jessie Quinn down the right sideline for a 41-yard gain to put WKU in the red zone.  Moore carried on four of the next six plays, giving the Hilltoppers a 25-24 advantage when he rushed up the middle for a 3-yard score.  Haddix connected with Chris Brunemann for the two-point conversion and a three-point lead.   Travis Watters interception of Hill on 1st-and-15 from the SIU-33 ended the Salukis’ final comeback attempt.  It was WKU’s sixth consecutive contest decided by seven points or less.   “We play games like this every week, we just don’t come out on the right end all the time,” said Hilltopper head coach David Elson.  “I can’t say enough about the character and determination of our players, especially the seniors — Justin and Lerron stepped up and led this team.   “Our guys responded to adversity.  A lot of credit goes to the leadership on this football team, because they made plays.  We had confidence that we could come back and win it, and sure enough we did.”   SIU returned two punts — one following a block — for touchdowns in building a 24-10 halftime lead.  Ian Lundy blocked Tanner Siewert’s punt with five-and-a-half minutes left in the opening quarter, and Alan Turner picked it up at the WKU-12 and ran untouched down the left sideline to give SIU a 7-0 lead — it was the second straight year that the Dawgs have blocked a Topper punt and returned it for a score.   Then, already leading 14-7 early in the second quarter, the Salukis doubled their advantage just under 11 minutes before the half when  Craig Turner returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown.   The latter Turner finished with 135 yards on three punt returns and 233 total yards running back kicks.   The Hilltoppers began gaining momentum with their first drive of the second half, taking more than eight minutes off the clock before Chris James converted a 41-yard field goal.  However, on the fifth snap of the 17-play possession, Haddix was injured and did not return the rest of the march.  Brandon Smith came in relief, rushing for 14 yards and completing a 9-yard pass to Gaebler to keep the drive alive.   Haddix did finish 19-of-29 passing for 268 yards, with the fourth-quarter touchdown pass and no interceptions, after returning on WKU’s next possession.   “When it first happened, I thought I was out,” he said of the injury.  “I came over and Doc E [WKU athletic trainer Bill Edwards] taped me up a little bit and put a new brace on it.  A lot of guys made plays for me in the end.  We knew at the break that this game was something we really wanted, and we didn’t play our style of football in the first half.  It was a total team victory.”   In addition to Gaebler’s performance, Quinn caught five passes for a career-high 100 yards while Tamme added two receptions for 35 yards.   Moore complemented the attack with 34 carries for 121 yards, as he moved into the top five all-time on the Hill with 254 career points after posting the 21st 100-yard effort of his career.  Andrew McCloud  added 25 yards on five attempts as WKU outgained the Salukis, 443-200, in the contest including holding a 231-48 advantage in total offense in the second half.   Andre Lewis and Marion Rumph each had eight tackles to pace the Hilltoppers, who held the Salukis to season-low totals of 129 yards rushing and 71 yards through the air as well as 200 yards overall.   Blake Boyd had five tackles, including a sack, and Rashad Etheridge added five stops as well.  Both of Hedges’ solo tackles came behind the line of scrimmage.   SIU was 1 yard away from taking a 7-0 lead with just over nine minutes left in the first quarter when Ross Dickens’ hit caused and a Hill fumble that the lineman recovered on the WKU-1 yard line.  Moore helped the Hilltoppers get out of the shadow of their own end zone by carrying four times for 26 yards, but the drive stalled at the WKU-29 when Haddix’ pass fell incomplete.  The Salukis drew first blood at that point with the blocked punt.   The Toppers answered with an eight-play, 73-yard drive that ended with Moore’s 2-yard touchdown run at 1:37 that evened the score, but the Salukis regained the lead when John Randle scored from 9 yards out on the second play of the second quarter.  After SIU’s second special teams touchdown, the schools ended the half by trading field goals.   Randle’s 71 yards rushing on just nine carries paced the Salukis, as Arkee Whitlock was held below 100 yards for the first time this year — he finished with 15 rushes for 66 yards.  Hill was 7-of-14 passing, with three SIU receivers making two catches apiece.   Trevor Moe’s 12 stops led all players, with Brandin Jordan and Craig Turner adding 10 tackles each for the Salukis.   WKU returns home for the first time in three weeks when it plays  host to Indiana State Saturday at 4 p.m. (CDT) on Homecoming weekend.   The Sycamores picked up their first win of the season, 28-22, over Missouri State earlier in the day.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 30th, 2006 at 1:01 pm and is filed under Sports News.