Gateway Players of the Week - Nov. 8

This week’s Players of the Week in the Gateway Football Conference are WR/RS Steven Rush of SMS; LB Karl Maslowski of Western Kentucky; P Pat Jordan of Indiana State; and Brad Durham of SMS.
Offensive
WR/KR Steven Rush, SMS
Jr., 5-11, 196, Omaha (Neb.) North High
Rush caught 6 passes for 249 yards and four touchdowns and returned three [...]

Gateway Players of the Week - Nov. 2

This week’s Players of the Week in the Gateway Conference are QB Joel Sambursky of Southern Illinois; LB Erik Dandy of Western Kentucky; RS Michael Sparks of SMS, and Ben Deike of UNI.
Offensive
QB Joel Sambursky, Southern Illinois
So., 6-0, 195, Liberty (Mo.) High
In a game that was dominated by two of the league’s best defenses, QB [...]

Panthers, SIU Extend Win Streaks

On Oct. 25, UNI handed Western Illinois its second-straight home loss as the Panthers won for the seventh-consecutive game to improve to 7-1/4-0 Gateway. The No. 9 Panthers won, 38-30, as QB Tom Petrie threw for four touchdowns.
Tom Koutsos Tom Koutsos and the Salukis are 8-0 after a 20-6 win against SMS on Oct. 25.
Meanwhile, [...]

Weekly Football Notebook - Oct. 12

It’s Homecoming in Normal, Ill., and the Illinois State-Western Kentucky game
is part of the Gateway Television Network. Mitch Holthus, Richard Baldinger and
Scott Warmann will call the action from Hancock Stadium, beginning at 2:30 pm
CDT.
The game will be seen live on the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network and
will be joined in progress at 3 pm by [...]

Glasford’s 5 TDs Key Western Win

Travis Glasford scored five times to help No. 2 Western Illinois to a 54-20 win at Youngstown State on Saturday. Meanwhile, Southern Illinois’ Tom Koutsos scored three times to lift the Salukis to a 6-0 record for the first time since 1983 and became the league’s all-time leading rusher in the process.
Elsewhere, UNI edged Indiana [...]

Gateway Holds 4 of Top 12 Spots

Western Illinois creeped a step closer to No. 1 McNeese State, as the Leathernecks received 18 first-place votes in the Sports Network poll, but Western remains No. 2 after defeating previous No. 5 Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers dropped to No. 9 in the Sports Network poll, while Southern Illinois jumped three spots to No. 8, [...]

Gateway Players of the Week

This week’s Gateway Players of the Week are RB Demetrus Johnson of Illinois State; LB Lee Russell of Western Illinois; OL Justin Rich of Southern Illinois; and RS Michael Sparks of SMS.
Demetrus Johnson Demetrus Johnson
Offensive
RB Demetrus Johnson, Illinois State
5-9, 185, Jr., Milwaukee, Wis.
Homestead High/Minnesota transfer Johnson had the best game of his career, as the [...]

Western Grabs I-AA’s Top Ranking

Following a decisive 34-12 win over I-A Eastern
Michigan on Thursday night, the Western Illinois Leathernecks have jumped from
No. 4 to No. 1 in this week’s Sports Network/CSTV I-AA Top 25 poll.

Western, which is top-ranked for the first time since The Sports Network poll
became an NCAA ranking of record in 1993, earned 41 first-place votes and [...]