Something good finally happened for the Valparaiso football team.

The Crusaders, mired in a miserable four-game losing streak, snapped out of it Saturday in Buies Creek, N.C., with a dominating 47-14 victory over new Pioneer Football League foe Campbell.

Valpo (3-7, 2-5) took advantage of five turnovers, including four interceptions. Kyle Himmelwright had two picks, and Merrillville grad Anthony Curry returned another interception 38 yards for a touchdown during a 24-point outburst in the first 8:09 of the third quarter.

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It was Curry’s sixth interception of the season, which leads the PFL.

“We got good play from a lot of guys on defense, our secondary and the defensive line,” Valpo coach Stacy Adams said. “There was about a 30- or 40-mph win, and their head coach chose to have the wind in the fourth quarter.

“So their quarterback was throwing into the wind in the third quarter. Anthony made a good play, and then he had to make a couple people miss and got into the end zone.”

Campbell (1-9, 0-7), the nation’s lowest-ranked team in the Sagarin ratings, started the game with an 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Brandon Chandler that put the Crusaders in a quick 7-0 hole.

But Valpo, with redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Upshaw making his first career start, put together a solid drive that ended with a 23-yard field goal by Andrej Skiba. The freshman kicker added a 27-yarder early in the third quarter.

Fifth-year senior Josh Regent-Smith, a little-used running back, scored his first career touchdown on a 10-yard run late in the game.

“The guys on the sideline were chanting his name,” Adams said. “We tried to get him a TD last year against Jacksonville before we found out he was coming back for another season. The whole team was excited about it.”

The Crusaders dominated on the ground, gaining 342 yards rushing. Halfback Ross Wiemer led the way with 148 yards on 21 carries with one TD. Defensively, the Crusaders played one of their better games of the season, giving up only a late TD with second-teamers playing.

Valpo ends the season next week at home against Drake (5-5, 3-4), which lost 41-9 at Jacksonville on Saturday.

“It is nice to get a win,” Adams said. “It feels good to get this and then we need to get the last one for a two-game winning streak. That would do a lot for our team.”

VU football team snaps four-game skid
By Paul Jankowski, The Northwest Indiana Times
http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2008/11/16/sports/college_sports/doc400f2f2a9ba75ed9862575020081ed40.txt