Freshman Weston Schofield's Walk-Off Kick Lifts SIU Past No. 21 Northern Iowa

Weston Schofield is 5-foot-8, weighs 155 pounds and had never missed a field goal in college. After Saturday, he may never have to buy his own lunch in Carbondale again.

The true freshman from Jefferson City, Mo., drilled a 31-yard field goal as time expired, and Southern Illinois beat No. 21 Northern Iowa 20-17 on Saturday, Oct. 24, at Saluki Stadium. A crowd of 5,206 turned out for the Salukis' Blackout Cancer game, and when the kick went through, Schofield's offensive linemen threw him into the air while teammates chanted "Weston! Weston! Weston!"

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for SIU, which improved to 4-5 overall and 2-3 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. It was the Salukis' first win since Sept. 26 at Murray State. Northern Iowa fell to 3-4 and 2-2, its second straight league loss.

A grinding first half

Both teams spent the first quarter leaving points on the field. SIU drove to the UNI 27 on its first possession and was stuffed on fourth-and-1. Northern Iowa answered by driving to the SIU 17, then missed a 35-yard field goal.

The Panthers got the first break. Mekhi Toms intercepted a pass on the first play of SIU's next possession, his first takeaway as a Panther, and UNI turned it into points. Cyrus Courtney caught a 25-yard pass on the first play of the drive and finished it 11 plays and 65 yards later with a 4-yard touchdown catch on fourth-and-goal, the first touchdown of his career. Blake Pankratz added the extra point, and UNI led 7-0.

SIU got its answer with help from a flag. A UNI targeting penalty on punt coverage gave the Salukis the ball at their own 29, and quarterback DJ Williams eventually ran 18 yards for a touchdown to tie it at 7.

The end of the half was wild. SIU tried a fake field goal at the UNI 23, and Andrew Price sniffed it out. But Northern Iowa gave the ball right back when Ben Fiegel intercepted Jaxon Dailey and returned it 36 yards to the UNI 12. The Salukis got as close as the 3 before settling for a 21-yard Schofield field goal as the half expired. SIU led 10-7.

Trading blows in the second half

Northern Iowa owned the ball for long stretches after the break. Facing fourth down near midfield, Dailey hit Taj Hughes for 17 yards to keep a long drive alive. The Panthers stalled at the SIU 15, and Pankratz kicked a 32-yard field goal with 6:19 left in the third quarter, the first field goal of his career. The drive covered 15 plays and 62 yards and ate more than eight minutes. It was 10-10.

SIU answered quickly. Williams scored his second rushing touchdown of the day, a 7-yard run with about a minute left in the third quarter, and the Salukis led 17-10.

Then the fourth quarter became a battle of nerve. UNI went for it on fourth down at the SIU 42 with just under 12 minutes left and came up empty. On its next chance, Jackson Stortz sacked Williams on third-and-9, and Northern Iowa got the ball back at the 8:40 mark.

This time the Panthers finished. Hughes made a 37-yard catch, and Brady McCullough converted another fourth down with a 15-yard grab. On fourth down again, Dailey threw to Courtney in the back of the end zone. The officials ruled him out of bounds. Replay said otherwise, showing that his hand and shoulder hit the ground in bounds before his feet came down out. Touchdown. With 2:10 to go, it was 17-17.

The final drive

That left SIU with 2:10, the ball and a chance. The Salukis went 52 yards in nine plays, and they did it on the ground. Williams ran 11 yards for a first down to the SIU 48. Quade Chatmon ran 12 yards up the middle into UNI territory, then 15 more around the right side to the UNI 19. Northern Iowa burned its timeouts trying to save time, and two more SIU runs drained the rest of the clock.

Then Schofield trotted out for the biggest kick of his young career, from 31 yards. It was good. Game over.

The kick improved Schofield to 8 for 8 on field goals this season, and he is 14 of 15 on extra points. On Monday, the MVFC named him its Special Teams Player of the Week.

The players who decided it

Williams carried the SIU offense. He ran 14 times for 89 yards and both Saluki touchdowns, and completed 12 of 21 passes for 112 yards with an interception. Chandler Chapman ran seven times for 55 yards, and Chatmon ran seven times for 36, with two of those carries on the last drive doing most of the work. As a team, SIU ran 33 times for 191 yards, 5.8 yards per carry.

Defensively, the Salukis lived in the Northern Iowa backfield. SIU recorded 11 tackles for loss, and defensive end Ibrahim Sanogo, a graduate transfer from Albany, had 10 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and a sack. He was named the MVFC Defensive Player of the Week. Guard Derek Harden Jr. earned the league's weekly offensive line honor after grading at 96 percent and allowing no sacks in his 37th career start.

For UNI, Dailey completed 26 of 41 passes for 240 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Courtney caught six passes for 49 yards and both touchdowns. Xavier Terrell ran 15 times for 101 yards, the first 100-yard rushing game by a Panther this season. Calvin Jaworski led the defense with 13 tackles.

Stats that matter

Northern Iowa held the ball for more than 17 minutes longer than SIU, thanks to drives like the 15-play march in the third quarter. The Panthers converted several fourth downs and outpassed SIU by more than 100 yards.

But SIU averaged nearly 6 yards per carry, made 11 tackles in the backfield, and got the turnover it needed at the end of the first half. The Fiegel interception led to three points. In a game decided by three, those three were the difference. The full numbers are in the official box score (opens in a new tab).

What it means

For SIU, this was a needed reset. The Salukis had lost to Youngstown State, to South Dakota 31-10 and to Illinois State 35-14, and a fourth straight loss would have buried their season. Instead, they beat a ranked team. SIU's next game is at Indiana State on Nov. 7, followed by a home date with South Dakota State on Nov. 14.

For Northern Iowa, the loss stings. This team upset No. 3 Illinois State 28-21 in September and beat No. 4 North Dakota earlier this month. But after a 35-22 loss at Youngstown State and now this one, the Panthers have lost two straight in league play. Coach Todd Stepsis has a team that can beat anyone in the Valley, but it needs to start doing it again. UNI's next game was at home against Indiana State on Oct. 31.

The series is closer now, too. Northern Iowa led 21-18 coming into the 40th meeting. Both schools have more in their recaps, from Southern Illinois (opens in a new tab) and from Northern Iowa (opens in a new tab), and SIU has the MVFC honors (opens in a new tab) story.

The last word

SIU coach Nick Hill did not hide how much this one meant.

"To watch a team that's lost three games in a row, against a ranked opponent, to come and get a win that we needed in the worst way, I was kind of emotional coming off the field," Hill said.

And he knew who had earned the moment. "Honestly, just watching them, Weston, them celebrating. The locker room. I said 'I'm gonna keep it quick' in the locker room, and let them enjoy that."

Sources: Southern Illinois Athletics and Northern Iowa Athletics recaps, the official box score and Missouri Valley Football Conference weekly honors. More FCS and college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: SIU Athletics.