The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 52

Sports Sunday, November 28, 1999 The Pantagraph p.ili i jj mim'wi- i. i 1 3) rn Division I-AA First Round Illinois State 56, Colgate 13 nr AT To) LnJ LTQ 1 jr. fwSV'- Ai I 1 0'. Li -J f2 i I I tllirf rv, i The PanlagrapliSreVE SMEDLEY Above left: Illinois State's Ryan Szokola powered his way to a touchdown on a punt return in the third quarter Saturday at Hancock Stadium. Above: ISU coach Todd Berry celebrated with the Redbirds after the win over Colgate.

Left: ISU's Aveion Cason picked up yardage by jumping over Colgate's Rashard Raigns in the first quarter. Playoff Results Hofstra 27, Lehigh 15 Florida ASM 44, Appalachian State 29 Massachusetts 30, Furman 23 Georgia Southern 72, Northern Arizona 29 North Carolina 24, Tennessee State 1 0 Youngstown State 30, Montana 27 Troy State 27, James Madison 7 1 4 i 7 Redbirds pound Colgate to earn first playoff win, advance to quarterfinals By RANDY REINHARDT Pantagraph staff Six Colgate University supporters filed past a somewhat indifferent yellow-shirted Hancock Stadium security guard to the grass in front of the east bleachers and performed one push up for every point their team had scored. Thanks to Damian Gregory and his cohorts on the Illinois State defense, the Red Raider faithful were in no danger of returning to Hamilton, N.Y., muscle bound. The 305-pound Gregory had three sacks from his defensive tackle position and the Redbird linemen bullied their smaller Colgate counterparts on both sides of the football in ISU's 56-13 Division I-AA first-round Bracket Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Saturday Dec. 11 Dec.

18 16 NC All games played at higher seed except national title game. 9 Youngstown "This is a step in the right direction for us. We 're just now getting started." ISU's Damian Gregory 5 Troy State -'eve--. playoff romp Saturday before a crowd of 7,133. "I felt our size would be the big difference in the game.

Occasionally, we used our speed, but I think it was more of a power game," said Gregory. "This is a step in the right direction for us. We're just 13 Florida ASM 3 Hofstra National champion 6 Illinois State i 4T 10 UMass Championship game to be held at Chattanooga, Tenn. 2 Ga. Southern See Back Page for Laurenti comes through for Redbirds ISU notes Roundup of Saturday's games The PanlagraphSTEVE SMEDLEY Exhibit Gateway Conference deserved more playoff teams xcuse me, your honor.

May I approach the bench? now getting started. Next for the sixth-seeded Redbirds (10-2) is a quarterfinal game against No. 3 seed Hofstra (11-1) at Hempstead, N.Y., next Saturday at 11 a.m. Hofstra ousted 14th-seeded Lehigh, 27-15. "That was fun," said ISU coach Todd Berry after the first playoff victory in school history "We haven't necessarily played great football lately It was nice to see us get some confidence and play well." The Redbirds scored on six straight possessions (not counting surrendering the final 23 seconds of the first half on a kneel down) in the second and third quarters to bury the overmatched Patriot League champions.

"My hat's off to Illinois State. They've got a very good team," said Colgate coach Dick Biddle, whose team bowed out at 10-2. "I'm disappointed because we have a much better team than what we did today. We got behind early. In those type of games against good competition it sometimes steamrolls." Having lost the ball on downs at the Colgate 4-yard line on its first possession, ISU faced a fourth-and-19 at the Colgate 29.

Redbird quarterback Dusty Burk found an amazingly open Jon Laurenti for a 29-yard touchdown at the 2:49 mark of the first quarter. "We just blew a coverage," said Biddle. Laurenti struck again in the second quarter, blocking a Red Raider punt that was scooped up by Kernard Killingsworth and returned 20 yards for a touchdown. "The blocked punt was huge," said linebacker Ryan Szokola. "It was really an emotional high for the team.

We wanted to go for the kill and finish these guys off, and that's what we did." Tailback Aveion Cason ran for second-quarter touchdowns of 16 and 3 yards. The first came as Cason lined up at quarterback, took a shotgun snap and ran through the left side. Cason charged practically untouched over right guard for the second score on fourth-and-1 from the 3. Cason, who tacked on a 21-yard touchdown sprint in the fourth quarter, finished with 156 yards on 21 carries. ISU rolled up 282 yards rushing on a Colgate See ISU, Back Page Randy Kindred Specifically, ISU is headed to Hempstead, N.Y., next Saturday for a quarterfinal game with No.

3 seed Hofstra. Barring upsets, the Redbirds will not have another home game, which begs the question: Will anyone notice? A crowd of 7,133 attended the first home playoff game in school history, less than half of Hancock Stadium's capacity. Yes, it was Thanksgiving weekend. Yes, some of the locals were out of town. Yes, the students were gone though ISU did open the dorms for those who wanted to return to campus early Still, the reality is the No.

5-ranked team in the country, with an offense producing 34.3 points per game, was outdrawn Saturday by Famous Barr. Throughout the long, agonizing years of the pre-Berry era, the familiar refrain from townspeople to ISU See KINDRED, Back Page type of conference we play in and the competition we play," ISU quarterback Dusty Burk said. "Indiana State and Southern didn't have the best records, but they were in every game and every game was tight. "I feel bad for Northern Iowa because they had a very good team and they probably did deserve to get in. But it's not up to us." Nor is it up to Berry, who conceded choosing only 16 teams is "a difficult thing." Still "If you look at the top 16 teams in the country, Northern Iowa should be one of those," he said.

"Certainly I haven't seen everyone (in the playoffs) on tape. I just know that in my four seasons in the Gateway, this was by far the best it has been. "I felt like if we didn't play outstanding every week, we were going to lose. I think that's prepared us very well for where we're at right now." In light of evidence provided Saturday at Hancock Stadium, the time has come to amend the case of Northern Iowa vs. the NCAA Division I-AA football playoff selection committee.

Please be advised this is now a class-action suit, on behalf of every member of the Gateway Conference. Given that Illinois State pounded a 56-13 lump upon Patriot League champion Colgate University, and seeing as how ISU had to scratch and claw to beat Southwest Missouri State (46-42), Indiana State (20-17) and Southern Illinois (55-48) the bottom three in the Gateway standings it has become clear the entire conference, and not just 8-3 Northern Iowa, might have been worthy of a spot in the 16-team playoffs. "I would vote for that," ISU coach Todd Berry said. Granted, Southwest Missouri (5-6 overall), Indiana State (3-8) and Southern Illinois (5-6) may have lacked consistency. But if the three "worst" teams in the league can take the 6-0 conference champion to the wire, doesn't it speak volumes about the strength of the league? Especially when that sixth-seeded champion goes out and makes 10-1 Colgate, the No.

11 seed, appear as if its players like injured Redbird tailback Walter James were riding stationary bicycles? "I think this tells a lot about the.