The No. 7 SIU football team kept their opponent’s faces long and the stat sheet longer Saturday on its way to a record-setting 58-3 thrashing of Arkansas Pine-Bluff.

The Salukis scored a season-high eight touchdowns and notched 36 first downs – the most in school history – in a balanced offensive performance.

Five players scored rushing touchdowns for the Salukis and three different quarterbacks completed passes to 12 different receivers in the contest for a total of 272 yards through the air.

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Senior quarterback Nick Hill accounted for 244 of the passing yards and two touchdowns thrown, and senior Phil Goforth led the way for the receivers with three catches for 74 yards and one score.

Head coach Jerry Kill said the diversity of the offense and the ability of multiple players to execute helped keep the Golden Lions’ defense on its heels.

“We’ve really worked hard to use different personnel groupings, keep people off balance, throw the ball on first down more, and I think our kids are starting to understand what we want,” Kill said.

Senior running back John Randle returned from an injury that had sidelined him for the previous seven quarters of Saluki football to lead the way for a 314-yard Saluki rushing attack with 113 yards rushing and one touchdown.

Randle said he was excited to be back on the field, but knew before halftime when the Salukis led 30-0 he would not be in the game for long.

Randle was assisted in his absence by freshmen rushers Richard White, a running back who notched two touchdowns and 64 yards in his first game for the Salukis, and quarterback Joe Allaria, who carried the ball eight times for a total of 47 yards and one score.

Hill said the offense thrived largely because the Saluki defense, which allowed a season-low three points, was able to keep them out on the field and in the faces of the overworked Golden Lions’ defenders.

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Randle said the offense’s ability to produce had less to do with the specific defense they were facing and more to do with the offense being where they should be.

“We just put a hat on a hat – first down, first down, score,” Randle said.

Sean McGahan can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 269 or [email protected].