The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 19

SPORTS Section SUNDAY, September 17. 2006 Bryan Bloodworth, Sports editor, (309) 829-9000, ext. 246, e-mail: sportspantaqraph.com ILLINOIS STATE 44, EASTERN ILLINOIS 30 ftssbiras on tte offensive Top picks Today's events GOLF College women Illinois Wesleyan Fall Invitational at Ironwood Golf Course TENNIS College women Illinois State at Michigan State Invitational VOLLEYBALL College Missouri State at Illinois State, 4 p.m. Complete listing of events, Page D2 Surfing Television AUTO RACING: 12:15 p.m. NASCAR Nextel Cup Sylvania 300 TNT BASEBALL: 1 p.m.

San Francisco at Cardinals WBUI (23), WAOE (59) BASEBALL: 1 p.m. Cincinnati at Cubs-WGN BASEBALL: 3 p.m. White Sox at Oakland Comcast FOOTBALL: Noon NFL: Houston at Indianapolis -CBS (3), (31) FOOTBALL: Noon NFL: Detroit at Bears FOX (43), (55) FOOTBALL: 3 p.m. NFL: Kansas City at Denver CBS (3), (31) FOOTBALL: 7:15 p.m. NFL: Washington at Dallas NBC (17), (25) Complete TVradio listings, Page D2 mm -c jut .1 mm Inside ISU starts slow, finishes fast to upend Panthers By Randy Relnhardt rreinhardtpantaqraph.com NORMAL A scoreless first quarter got the Illinois State offense down only on the scoreboard Saturday at Hancock Stadium.

ISU stormed back behind the passing of Luke Drone and the rushing of Pierre Rembert to erase an early 10-point deficit and claim a 44-30 nonconference victory over Eastern Illinois before a crowd of 12,512. The No. 7-ranked Redbirds snapped a second-half tie with two touchdowns and held on to improve to 2-1. No. 18 Eastern slipped to 1-2.

A 4-yard Rembert touchdown run gave the Redbirds the lead for good, and a 4-yard scoring pass from Luke Drone to Pierre Jackson gave ISU a 37-23 advantage. After stopping Eastern on downs with 8:40 remaining, ISU appeared to be solidly in control. But freshman tailback Geno Blow fumbled on the next play and the Panthers' Ben Brown recovered. Eastern took advantage by pulling within seven points on an 11-yard pass from quarterback Mike Donato to Ryan Voss with 4:43 remaining. Faced with killing the remaining time on the clock, the ISU offense did just that and more.

Taking over at the 20-yard line, the Redbirds used a key pass from Drone to Jake Rourke and a dominating rushing attack to move down the field. Rembert rushed for a key first down on third-and-3, and Rafael Rice ran for PantagraphB MOSHER Illinois State's Ronnie Tate, left, pressures Eastern Illinois quarterback Mike Donato as he tries to throw a pass during their game Saturday night at Hancock Stadium. The Redbirds won the game, 44-30. yards and was not intercepted. Eastern's Vince Webb ran for 107 yards on 24 attempts.

Donato completed 13 of 28 for 141 yards but was intercepted three times. SEE REDBIRDS NEXT PAGE over the Panthers and its seventh in the last eight games in the longest running college rivalry in Illinois. Rembert had his third straight 100-yard game with 105 yards on 24 carries. Drone completed 17 of 26 for 288 another first down after Eastern used up its allotment of timeouts. Rice then broke free for a 26-yard touchdown with 35 seconds left to add an exclamation point to the victory.

It was ISU's fourth straight triumph SYRACUSE 31, ILLINOIS 21 MT. ST. JOSEPH 28, IWU 7 mini stuck in wrong tense Joining the club Nationals star Alfonso Soriano became the fourth player in Major League history to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in the same season. Page D8. September swingers Cardinals, White Sox continue their quests for playoff berths.

Page D8. The rundown laconelli named Angler of the Year KIMBERLING CITY, MO. -Mike laconelli won the Bassmaster Angler of the Year award, the top honor in the world of competitive fishing. The 34-year-old laconelli, who grew up in the Philadelphia suburb of Runnemede, clinched the title Saturday while competing in the Rock, the Bassmaster Elite Series season finale being held this weekend on Table Rock Lake, laconelli, who finished the season with more than 2,400 points, earned $125,000 for winning the angler of the year title, the first time he has won the top prize he finished eighth in 2005 and in third in 2004 "I can go for the rest of my career and never win an event and be really happy," he said Saturday night. "I've achieved one of the biggest goals of my life." IWUhit by quick barrage CWt fx Juice may quench thirst in future, but present stays dry By Randy Kindred rkindredpantagraph.com CHAMPAIGN Those who stuck around Saturday got a glimpse into the University of Illinois' football future.

They also endured three full quarters of the present in a 31-21 loss to victory-starved Syracuse. The Illini committed 12 penalties for ASS PANTAGRAPH STAFF CINCINNATI The Mount St. Joseph football team erupted for 21 points in a stunning 2-minute, 14-second stretch of the third quarter to claim a 28-7 nonconference victory over Illinois Wesleyan Saturday before a crowd of 1,975 at Schueler Field. Mount St. Joseph, which held a slim 7-0 halftime lead, improved to 3-0 while dropping IWU to 1-2.

It was the first meet I 7 A. 1 106 yards, dropped nu- merous passes and had a costly fumble in help-I ing the visitors snap an By the time freshman I I quarterback Isiah 1 1 I "Juice" Williams fired 1 I I two long fourth-quarter Juice Williams touchdown passes, Illinois trailed 31-7 and many in the crowd of ing between the teams. "The third quarter was like a nightmare," said IWU coach Norm Eash. "They got 21 points and we went into a little bit of shock there. It was Associated PressSETH PERLMAN Illinois' quarterback Tim Brasic, center, holds on to his helmet after a Syracuse defenseman grabbed his facemask during their game Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Champaign.

Syracuse won the game, 31-21 Mike Mastro 40,657 had left Memorial Stadium. "The things that are unacceptable are the penalties," said Illini coach Ron Zook. "It's ridiculous. We don't condone it. We sure don't let them do it in practice.

I don't know whether it's a thing of focus or maybe we're doing too much. "The dropped balls are another thing I'm getting tired of seeing. We have to catch the football." The nonconference game started ominously for the Illini (1-2), who hoped to rebound from what Zook called an "embarrassing" 33-0 loss at Rutgers a week earlier. Late in the first quarter, Illini safety just a snowball effect." Mount St. Joseph, which is receiving votes in the d3football.com national poll, went ahead 14-0 at the 8:14 mark of the third quarter on a 3-yard touchdown run by Mike Lovell.

The Lions struck again two plays later when Phil Poetter intercepted a pass by IWU quarterback Brandon Cotter and re "That was a ridiculous play," Illini linebacker Leman said. "When you cause a fumble as a defense, usually the defense recovers it. Then to have them not only recover but run for a touchdown, that's a big blow." Illinois tied it early in the second quarter with a 15-play, 76-yard scoring drive capped by senior quarterback Tim Brasic's 5-yard run. SEE ILLINI PAGE D3 Kevin Mitchell laid a hard hit on Syracuse quarterback Perry Patterson, forcing a fumble. The ball bounced sideways and into the hands of Orange receiver Taj Smith, who raced 41 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

"You get a great hit, just like you talk about. The ball's on the ground and boom, they pick it up and go score," Zook said. "It's like there's a black cloud. There's not, but LEFTY'S CORNER turned it 12 yards into the end zone to make it 21-0 with 6:34 left in the quarter. IWU's freefall continued 34 seconds later when Matt Lawless blocked a Sam Vizza punt An avenue to reward sportsmanship U.S.

women remain undefeated in Worlds SAO PAULO, Brazil Candace Parker had 16 points and nine rebounds to help the undefeated United States rout Cuba 90-50 in the first game of second-round play in the Women's World Basketball Championships. Tina Thompson and Diana Taurasi added 13 points each for the United States, 4-0 in the tournament but credited with a 3-0 mark in Group because only first-round games against teams that advanced count in the second-round standings. Taurasi scored 10 of the United States' first 20 points and also had five assists. Michelle Snow had six points and nine rebounds. Online Racing around Get up-to-the-minute news from the NASCAR scene by going to www.pantagraph.com Monday NFL Week 2 Find out if the Bears knocked off Detroit and other results of the second week of the NFL season.

Jaryee Maples the-sportsmanship program to a local level. "We sent letters to the coaches at ISU, Wesleyan and the high schools in McLean County. "The response maybe wasn't as great as we had hoped for, but we kind of got started late with the idea and got the letters out late. And I'm not really sure people understood what we were trying to do. We really hope it takes off this year and we can help more schools promote sportsmanship through this program." Sportsmanship winners last year included Dan Franz of Normal Community, Jeff Heffren of Normal West and Brent Holtz of Bloomington.

The recipients were selected by their respective school officials. SEE LEFTY NEXT PAGE Bryan Bloodworth Any time sportsmanship can be promoted, it's a good thing. Dick Manard, the owner of Awards and Recognition of Bloom-ington, believes so strongly in that cause that he initiated a program last year to honor football players from McLean County high schools, along with Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan, for demonstrating good sportsmanship. "I was involved at a level in the ARA (Awards and Recognition Association) sportsmanship program that it got me interested in doing a similar thing locally," Manard said. Manard served on the ARA sportsmanship screening committee last year that helped select DeAngelo Williams as the inaugural national winner.

and Joel Steinmetz recovered the ball in the end zone for a 28-0 advantage. "I thought there were some breakdowns on our special teams which you can't have against good football teams," Eash said. Mount St. Joseph used a trick play to take the lead in the final minute of the first half. Lovell set up his own 11-yard TD run by completing a 38-yard halfback pass to Don Haggard on a 3rd-and-9 situation from the IWU 49.

Williams, a former Memphis University running back now with the Carolina Panthers, was honored for demonstrating sportsmanship through his actions on and off the football field. "I didn't see any reason why we couldn't do the same thing here," added Manard, who was the first person in his business across the nation to bring SEE IWU PAGE D4.