Nov 3, 2001
NORMAL, Ill. - Both Western Kentucky University and Illinois State ran the ball convincingly to score on each team's opening drive of Saturday's game at Hancock Stadium. The difference was that the Hilltoppers continued to run. And run. And run.
Donte Pimpleton rushed for a career-high 245 yards and two touchdowns as the seventh-ranked Toppers recorded an opponent-record 474 yards rushing to hand the Redbirds a 58-14 Gateway Football Conference defeat in Western's final road game of the regular season.
WKU (7-2, 4-1 Gateway) -- which won for the fifth straight week and earned its fifth consecutive league victory -- also scored the most points by a visitor at Hancock Stadium, a record previously set by Western Illinois on Nov. 7, 1970. ISU (1-8, 1-4) fell to the Hilltoppers for the first time since Sept. 15, 1990, as Western leads the all-time series, 6-2.
Pimpleton's performance was the sixth-highest rushing total in school history and the ninth-best effort in the Gateway record book. Seven of his nine carries were for more than 10 yards as the senior averaged 27.2 yards per rush, the third-highest average per attempt in the WKU record book with a minimum of four carries. Pimpleton, who has now rushed for 1,000 yards in his career, scored on a 15-yard run in the first quarter to give Western the lead for good and also had a 90-yard touchdown run on the Toppers' second play of the second half -- that tied the fourth-longest rush in school history.
"I asked Willie (Taggart) about taking Donte out in the middle of the third quarter because he was in danger of breaking his record," said Western head coach Jack Harbaugh. "But Willie wanted to see it happen.
"Donte is a fifth-year guy who has faced adversity in football and off the field. He never gets discouraged and was prepared to lead the offense today. It's a great lesson in life."
DeWayne Gallishaw added 90 yards and two scores on just eight attempts, while Keith Brooks ran for 41 yards, and Ronnie Lilly and Jason Johnson each gained 33 -- it was Johnson's first action since the Hilltoppers' game at Wisconsin on Sept. 29. WKU's rushing total and total offense (478 yards) were both season highs.
Brooks gave the Hilltoppers a 6-0 lead on the opening drive of the game with an 11-yard run at 12:30, but the extra point failed because of a bad snap. The Redbirds answered with a six-play, 52-yard march that Willie Watts capped with a 2-yard run, giving ISU a one-point lead five minutes in.
It was at that point that Pimpleton gave WKU the lead back for good, sparking a run of 38 unanswered points, when he scored from 15 yards out at 8:23. Johnson's 2-yard run gave the Hilltoppers a 20-7 lead at the end for the first period, with Peter Martinez adding a 37-yard field goal and Gallishaw scoring on a 5-yard dash to help WKU build a 30-7 halftime lead.
Pimpleton, Gallishaw and Curtis Hamilton all had touchdown runs as the Toppers scored 21 points in the third quarter, their most in one period this season. Gallishaw had a 45-yard run on Western's first offensive play after Pimpleton's 90-yard score.
The scoring closed when Joseph Jefferson returned a punt 95 yards for a touchdown with less than four minutes to go in the game, the longest return in school and conference history.
ISU's only touchdown of the half came on a 33-yard pass from backup quarterback Kevin Zouzounis to Vito Golson with 4:17 to go in the third period.
"This was a very, very rewarding win," Harbaugh said. "Our offense stepped up today and played closer to last year's team. It was good to see us move up and down the field scoring points. We did an excellent job up front, coach (Keven) Lightner had those guys ready to play."
The Hilltopper defense forced a season-high five turnovers with two fumble recoveries and three interceptions. Kyle Moffatt had a game-high 12 tackles and recovered one fumble, and Erik Dandy made 10 stops with three behind the line of scrimmage and a forced fumble. Jon Drummond had eight tackles, including a career-best four tackles, while Jefferson and Bobby Sippio also collected interceptions. Randall Johnson recovered the other loose ball for WKU.
Watts had 110 yards rushing, the most by a Topper opponent this season and the first time an opposing rusher has had at least 100 yards since Carlos Daniels recorded 103 for Western Illinois in WKU's season opener. Zouzounis was 15-of-22 passing for 169 yards, but was intercepted twice, while Dusty Burk completed 8-of-12 attempts for 86 yards in the first half. Mark Schaeve had a game-high seven receptions for 107 yards, with Golson finishing with 61 yards on five catches, all in the second half.
"This is an outstanding offensive football team, they have two very good quarterbacks and Watts is a fine tailback," Harbaugh said. "They did move the ball and control the clock, but our defense stayed patient on most of their plays and did an excellent job."
WKU returns home to play host to nationally-ranked Northern Iowa next Saturday at 4 p.m. (CST), in a game that will determine the winner of the Gateway's automatic bid to the NCAA I-AA playoffs.
-- WKU --
