Western Illinois tops South Dakota 24-17

Published Oct. 6, 2012 7:43 p.m. ET

foxsports

Wil Lunt connected with Fredson Salomon on a 66-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter Saturday and Western Illinois held on to beat South Dakota 24-17.

The Leathernecks (3-2, 1-1 Missouri Valley) trailed 10-3 at halftime but Kieron James blocked a punt to set Western Illinois up in Coyotes territory, and Lunt threw a 25-yard TD pass to Salomon to tie it. Lunt later hit Charles Chestnut for 39 yards to the South Dakota 1 and Caulton Ray ran it in on the next play to make it 17-10 WIU late in the third quarter.

South Dakota (1-4, 0-2) tied it up quickly. After Jasper Sanders returned the kickoff 55 yards, three plays later Josh Vander Maten found Anthony Williams for 41 yards and the tying score. But Lunt and Salomon answered for the winning points with 7:40 left.

Nikko Watson ran for 138 yards for the Leathernecks.