The SIUC football team earned its first Gateway Conference win since 1993 as the Salukis shot down the Illinois State Redbirds, 14-11, Saturday, at McAndrew Stadium.

The Dawgs controlled the ball on the ground and came up with big plays on defense to put two consecutive home victories together for the first time in SIUC head coach Shawn Watson’s two-year tenure.

The Salukis defeat of ISU in front of 12,600 fans during Parent’s Weekend improves SIUC’s record to 3-3 on the season and 1-1 in the Gateway. The Redbirds, picked in the preseason to finish second in the conference, drops to 1-1 in league play and 2-4 overall.

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Watson said after a last weeks 52-3 loss at Indiana State, his squad needed a game like this.

It all came together this week, he said. This is the best growing experience I’ve ever been a part of.

SIUC rediscovered its running game that had averaged just 87 yards a game over the last four contests. The Salukis racked up 159 yards on the ground against ISU, led by freshman Karlton Carpenter’s 107 yards on 26 carries.

We wanted to come out and rush the football, Watson said. We decided as we went through the week that we needed to have a confidence-builder, and what better way to build confidence than to come out and rush the football and let our offensive line crush them up front?

We wanted our defense to win the ball game for us and we wanted to rush the football. We wanted to gain confidence for our future and to prove a point to our kids that they could get it done.

As for Carpenter, his 107 yards marked the first time in he had gained 100 yards or more in his brief collegiate career.

They (ISU) were running a 50′ defense and the (offensive) line was still blowing them away, Carpenter said. All I had to do was follow them and that’s that I did.

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Senior offensive lineman Chris Myers said last week’s loss to the Sycamores served as motivation for the Salukis play.

That Indiana State game was the biggest wake up call we’ve had, he said. And we know and we want the people to know we are not that kind of football team that lost 52-3, and we just dedicated ourselves to playing the kind of ball we’re are capable of playing.

In the previous three meetings with the Redbirds, SIUC’s defense had given up at least 34 points, but the Dawgs held ISU to just 11 points and came up with big play after big play.

The Saluki defense also helped out on the scoreboard when junior cornerback Cornell Baker intercepted an errant Bill Hagman pass and scampered 43 yards leaping over the goal line for the touchdown.

Baker credits a sound offensive scheme and a tough defense for the victory.

The key was the defensive pressure up the middle and offensive ball control, he said. The ball control offense kept the offense on the field and the defense just stepped up to any challenge that we faced.

The other huge defensive play came late in the fourth quarter when ISU had the ball 4th and two on their own 32 with 1:42 left in the game. Redbird quarterback Bill Hagman tried to hit receiver Jarrett Jackson over the middle with a slant but sophomore cornerback Freddie Taylor deflected the throw to seal the Saluki victory.

Senior safety Darnell Hendricks had high praise for the Dawgs’ cornerbacks and knew SIUC would prevail in the last possession.

I knew we were going to stop them, he said. Whenever we needed a play to be made one of us stepped up and made the play.

Cornell made it in the first half Freddie Taylor made it in the fourth quarter. Hats off to our cornerbacks. They came back from getting bombed last week, came back this week and played a hell of a game.

The Dawgs also got a big play from the special teams, as sophomore Reggie Fowler returned a Redbird punt 53 yards to set up a Danny Smith to Johnny Thomas 18-yard wide receiver screen pass for SIUC’s second score.

Hendricks was also very pleased with the fan support and the two home victories and looks to continue next week for Homecoming.

We’re going to label this the Dawg House’, he said. Everybody who comes into the Dawg House’ is going to be dog food.

Everybody is going to get ate up when they come to the Dawg House’. Southwest is coming in here next week and we’re looking to go 4-3 and 2-1 in the conference.

The Bears come to SIUC’s Homecoming with an 0-3 record next Saturday.