By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports
Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Eastern Illinois' consistency on
offense Saturday was something that Tennessee Tech couldn't match
and the Panthers (4-5/4-1 OVC) rattled off a 41-10 Ohio Valley
Conference victory over the Golden Eagles (3-6/2-4 OVC) in Tucker
Stadium. It was Tech's first loss at home this season after opening
with three consecutive victories.
Three times inside their own five-yard line, the Golden Eagle
defense tried to make goal line stands, but the Panthers always
found an opening.
The defending OVC champion looking to make a run at repeating,
Eastern Illinois outscored Tech 17-0 in the second quarter to take
control of what was a close game in the early going.
Transfer quarterback Jalen Whitlow picked apart the Golden Eagle
secondary, going 19-for-24 for 297 yards and four touchdowns. He
also ran 10 times for 45 yards and another touchdown to account for
342 yards of total offense and five scores.
The Panthers also got a solid one-two punch on the ground, with
Sheperd Little rushing for 92 yards and Taylor Duncan gaining 72.
EIU's third-leading rusher turned out to be punter Nick Bruno, who
raced 63 yards late in the game on a fake punt, a rumble down that
sidelines to the Tech eight that set up his own 23-yard field goal
for the games final score.
EIU marched 83 yards in 14 plays with the opening drive for a 7-0
lead, the touchdown coming on a fourth-and-goal from the one after
Tech had thrown up a wall on three straight plays. Whitlow lobbed a
pass to Joe Powell in the back corner of the end zone for the
touchdown.
The Golden Eagles replied with a 25-yard field goal from John Arnold to make it
7-3 after the first quarter. It came after James Huguely
forced a Panther fumble at the 46 and Harrison Reid
recovered for Tech. Tech moved 38 yards in 11 plays to set up the
score.
EIU put together a solid second quarter, starting by driving 55
yards for a touchdown when Whitlow ran the final yard for the
touchdown, despite another goal line stand by Tech. Five minutes
later, Bruno's 22-yard field goal capped a matching, 55-yard drive
for a 17-3 lead. Again, the Tech defense stood tough inside the
five.
Whitlow threaded a needle with a three-yard touchdown pass to Adam
Drake five minutes later to finish an 84-yard scoring drive and
make it 24-3 at the break.
Tech received the second-half kickoff and couldn't capitalize, so
punter Jonathan King
pinned the Panthers deep.
Still, that didn't slow the visitors, who got a 90-yard touchdown
pass from Whitlow to Drake to make it 31-3 early in the second
half.
Ladarius
Vanlier had perhaps the play of the day for the Golden Eagles,
spinning out of tackles three times to go 37 yards for Tech's only
touchdown of the day. That made it 31-10 midway in the third
quarter.
Once again, EIU systematically moved 66 yards for another
touchdown, this time picking apart Tech 9-out-of-10 plays on the
ground, and only one more than 10 yards. The final play was an
eight-yard touchdown pass from Whitlow to Drake to make it
38-10.
The long run by Bruno that led to a field goal with 3:37 remaining
capped the scoring.
Eastern Illinois finished with 598 yards of offense, getting 301
on the ground and 297 through the air. Tech had 150 rushing
yards and 89 through the air for 239 yards of offense.
Freshman linebacker Trey Thompson
and senior safety Austin Tallant
led Tech with 11 tackles each. Thompson recovered a fumble, while
Tallant forced a fumble. Senior Marty Jones and
junior Jay
Rudwall also hit double figures in tackles with 10 apiece.
Rudwall grabbed his first interception of the season. Huguely
finished with eight tackles, forced two fumbles and recovered one
fumble.
Junior linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill topped EIU with 19 tackles,
including four tackles-for-loss, and also intercepted a pass in the
end zone to deny a Tech scoring chance.
The game was the start of a three-game home stretch for the Golden Eagles, who will host Southeast Missouri next week for Homecoming. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m., with the game t
