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Nov. 14, 2005
Football: Penguins Claim Share of Title, Bishop Player of the Week
St. Louis, Mo. -- The Youngstown State clinched a
share of its first-ever Gateway
Football title on wild final day of
conference action on Saturday. YSU
took care of business early in the
day beating 12-th ranked Western
Kentucky 42-10 at Stambaugh Stadium.
That evening, UNI came-from-behind
to beat Southern Illinois 25-24 as
the Panthers, Salukis and Penguins
all finished with 5-2 marks and
claimed a piece of the title.
UNI earns the league's automatic NCAA Postseason bid
by virtue of wins over both SIU and
YSU.
The Penguins' last conference title was in 1987 when they won
the Ohio Valley Conference crown
along with Eastern Kentucky. YSU
also won the Mid-Continent
Conference title at the Division II
level in 1978 and 1979.
On Sunday, senior punter/kickoff specialist Joe Bishop was
named the Gateway Player of the Week
for the second time this season.
Bishop’s had a solid day on punts and kickoffs in YSU’s 42-10
victory over Western Kentucky. His
first two kickoffs reached the end
zone and were not returned past the
15-yard line. The YSU defense then
forced turnovers to set up two short
touchdown drives. Two more of his
kickoffs went for touchbacks while
one was returned just to the 20. Two
of his four punts were placed two
inside the 20-yard line at the WKU
11 and 3-yard line.
He was named the Gateway Special Teams Player of the Week for
his efforts at UNI earlier this
season.
Illinois State junior wide receiver Laurent Robinson was
named the conference's offensive
player of the week.
Robinson hauled in 14 catches for
292 yards and three touchdowns in
Illinois State’s 70-28 rout of
Indiana State. Robinson’s 14 catches
tied the Illinois State single-game
record, which also ranks No. 2 in
Gateway history. His 292 yards set
the standard for both Illinois State
and the conference, while it was
also the second best performance in
all of Division I football this
season.
UNI senior linebacker Darin Heideman was named the Gateway's
Defensive Player of the Week.
Heideman led UNI with nine total
tackles, including seven solos in
the win over SIU. He also had a
tackle for loss of four yards and
recovered an SIU fumble on the UNI
24-yard line with 9:50 left in the
game, which led to a touchdown. He
had the tackle on a fourth-and-four
play which stopped the Salukis on
their own 49, which turned the ball
back over to the Panthers with 19
seconds left in the game to preserve
the win.
It marks the first time in the 20-year history of the conference
that three teams have tied for the
league championship. On four
previous occasions, the co-champs
each made the playoffs. Since 1995,
the Gateway has had two teams
qualify for the playoffs every year,
including a league-high four in
2003. |
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