A strong MSU defense held nationally-ranked Tarleton State to just 66 yards rushing on Saturday.
Unfortunately, the effort wasn’t enough as the Indians lost 19-3 in front of 9,500 fans at home.
MSU started and finished their scoring with a 25-yard field goal by Kristian Foster in the first quarter.
Tarleton suspended their top rusher, Derrick Ross, giving MSU a chance to take away some of their ground game.  Backup Carl Steward carried the ball 24 times for 73 yards.
The Indians took starting quarterback Rob Shipley after he completed two-of-six passes for just 43 yards, and had two rushes for negative yardage.  Second string quarterback Adam Johnson proved capable of taking over, completing 12-of-23 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown.
The lone touchdown came on a five-yard toss to Steward that gave the Texans a 7-3 lead they took into halftime.
The Indians had a chance to score on a field goal attempt with just seconds left in the first half, but a bad snap flew over Foster’s head.
MSU was left without the score and their starting kicker for the rest of the game. 
MSU was left without the score and their starting kicker for the rest of the game.
“I was convinced going into halftime that we were the better team,” head coach Bill Maskill said.
The second half started slow for both teams, as neither scored in the third quarter.
Unfortunately for the Indians, the Texans seemed to conserve their scoring energy for the fourth quarter.
Tarleton kicker Drew Womble knocked through a 49-yard field goal just minutes into the fourth quarter, increasing the Texans’ lead to seven.
Indians cornerback Marcus Stenix returned a punt 72 yards for a touchdown, but it was called back by an apparent holding call.
“We were right back in the ball game and the crowd was back in the ball game, and it’s brought back by the penalty,” Maskill said.
Whether they were self-inflicted or ref-inflicted, penalties were the Indians’ achilles heel for the second straight week.
The team racked up 17 penalties for 156 yards in their first game of the season in a 19-14 win over Southwestern Oklahoma.
This week, the Indians were penalized 13 times for 90 yards.
“A penalty here, a penalty there,” Maskill said as he scratched his head. “We had too many damn penalties.”
MSU quarterback Rahsaan Bell was sacked twice in the game, including once in the end zone for a safety that put the Texans up 12-3.
Tarleton would seal the victory on a 27-yard touchdown off a Bell interception with barely a minute left in the game.
The defense was led by Cornelius Cooper with his nine tackles and 2.5 sacks on the night.
Kevin Taulton chipped in eight tackles.“We have a very good defense,” Maskill said. “The defense stopped the run in three quarters. We can’t give up long passes though.”
Bell completed 20-of-42 passes for 195 yards and two interceptions.
“He didn’t have time to throw the ball,” Maskill said of Bell. “He can’t be running around without protection.”
Wide receiver Andre Kelsick led the Indians’ receivers with five grabs for 88 yards.
The Indians now take their 1-1 record to Southeastern Oklahoma State, who are 2-0 and fresh off a 41-27 victory over Angelo State.

 
Perfect: 3-0 starts puts MSU on Right Track
David Roach | Staff Reporter

The Midwestern State University men’s soccer squad has blasted off to a perfect start this 2004 season mainly due to their outstanding defensive play as a whole.
In fact, the Indians (4-0, 3-0) have not allowed a single goal scored against them this year.
“Overall, our team defense has been very good,” graduate assistant coach Alan Koch said Monday. “Our back four and goalkeeper have all done especially well.”
Koch – who spoke on behalf of the Indians, as head coach Doug Elder was unavailable for comment due to illness – was speaking of seniors David Stockton (goalkeeper) and Chris Pickle, juniors Reni Fulkerson and Greg Daley, and freshman Sean Gill.
Gill, a true freshman out of Rider High School, is the lone local player for MSU.
In order to win, though, a team must also be able to put some points on the board, and the Indians are doing just that.
MSU has scored 11 total goals on the year with senior leader Myron Davis and junior Chad Rakestraw owning six of those combined (three each).
“Davis has been working tirelessly,” Koch said. “He’s off to a good start.”
Rakestraw scored the Indians’ only goal during their 1-0 shutout over Saint Edwards University at Austin, Texas. Fulkerson was attributed with the assist as he made what must have been a great, diagonal pass across the field to Rakestraw who buried it in the near corner of the goal.
That victory, a tough and trying one for sure as the MSU bus broke down in Stephenville on the way to Austin, was the Indians’ first in the new Southwest Soccer Conference combining teams from the Lone Star, Heartland and Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association Conferences.
“I think it’s a fantastic soccer conference,” Koch said. “There are many good teams playing in this conference, and so we’ll probably see some teams coming out of it do well in region and NCAA Tournament play.”
Koch went on to describe how the Indians were able to perform the way they did against St. Edwards with such a distraction as waiting for another bus to pick them up at Stephenville.
“It was a long trip for sure,” Koch said. “You worry that those things may carry onto the field. It disrupted our preparations, because we did not have time to go through our usual warm-up routine when we did reach Austin. But, our guys dealt with the adversity and broke through to get the win.”
Three players ended up being ejected from that game including one Indian, as emotions must have been running quite high.
“It was a brutal battle,” Koch explained.
According to Koch, senior forward Garnet Chisholm, of Jamaica, has been another key player offensively for this Indian team.
“He (Chisholm) played through injury all of last year,” Koch said. “Now, he is full of life again.”
Chisholm scored one of MSU’s three goals in its 3-0 shutout over Missouri Southern at Memorial Stadium Friday night. Davis scored the other two.
“It was nice to give the home fans something to take with them,” Koch said.
The Indians, at home once again, shut out Northeastern State Oklahoma, 3-0 during the heat of the day Sunday afternoon.
“We knew it would be tough, and the guys kind of wilted in the heat throughout the game,” Koch said. “But, we did what we had to.”
MSU will go to Canyon this Friday to take on rival West Texas A&M.
“There certainly is no love lost between these two teams,” Koch conferred.
The only problem, or challenge, currently facing the Indians in Koch’s eyes is the way they are going about their business on the turf.
“There is definitely some room for improvement,” Koch said. “But, the results have been good. I think the guys realize the tough games we have ahead of us, and they will step up to the level of play they are truly capable of.”
Scary thought for the competition, huh?