Ohio Valley Conference

Portions Provided By MUR Sports Info.
Murray State senior kicker Shane Andrus knocked home a 52-yard field goal as time expired, sending Murray State to a 37-35 win over No.2-ranked Eastern Illinois on Saturday at Roy Stewart Stadium. The win earned the Racers a share of the 2002 Ohio Valley Conference title and the conference's automatic bid into next week's I-AA playoffs.

The Racers (7-4, 5-1 OVC) appeared to have lost its chances at the title late in the game when EIU's Andre Raymond scored on a 2-yard touchdown with just :23 seconds left, giving the Panthers a 35-34 lead.

MSU took the EIU (8-3, 5-1 OVC) kickoff trailing by one point and started from its own 33-yard line with :20 seconds to go. On the first play of the drive, junior quarterback Stewart Childress found senior wide receiver Marcus Christon for a 24-yard gain moving the ball to the EIU 43-yard line.

After an incomplete pass and an MSU timeout, Childress found sophomore tight end Jimmy St. Louis for an 8-yard gain moving the Racers to the EIU 35-yard line with :04 seconds left setting up Andrus' game-winner. Andrus finished the day 3-of-3 on field goals and 4-of-4 on extra points.

EIU and MSU finish as co-champions in the OVC, but the Racers earn the automatic bid to the playoffs by winning the head-to-head tiebreaker. This is the first conference title and the first playoff berth for MSU since former Racer coach Houston Nutt's 1996 squad achieved both feats.

MSU remained unbeaten (6-0) at home this season and the win was the Racers' fifth-straight overall this year. The loss ends EIU's 14-game conference winning streak dating back to the 2000 season.

The Racers and Panthers battled for 60 minutes and combined for 859 yards of total offense. MSU was out-gained 507-352 in total yardage but turned four EIU turnovers into 13 points.

EIU quarterback and two-time defending OVC Offensive Player of the Year Tony Romo had another stellar day throwing for 302 yards on 33-of-47 passing and two touchdowns. He also had a pair of costly interceptions.

Leading the way for the MSU defense was junior linebacker Bobby Sanders with 12 tackles, while senior cornerback Mandrell McGregory added 11 tackles, eight solos and an interception.

Senior tailback Billy Blanchard led the Racer offensive attack with 110 yards rushing on 25 carries and two touchdowns. Blanchard finished the regular-season with 1,056 yards. Childress was 14-of-23 passing for 169 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

MSU held a 17-15 halftime lead only to see EIU score the only points in the third quarter, a 10-yard touchdown pass from Romo to Adam Parsill with 2:59 left, to take its first lead of the game at 23-17.

The Racers responded by regaining the lead at 24-23 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Blanchard with 13:33 left in the game.

The MSU lead was pushed out to 31-23 just 27 seconds later on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Childress to sophomore wide receiver Leonard Nutter. The score was setup after MSU linebacker Tyrone Parks intercepted Romo at the Panther 26-yard line and returned it to the 25.

After an Andrus 25-yard field goal with 6:20 left pushed the lead to 34-21, EIU came roaring back cutting the lead to 34-29 after Raymond scored on a 7-yard touchdown run with 3:30 to go.

The EIU defense held MSU on three plays and took over at its own 27-yard line with 2:08 to go setting up its final drive of the game.

The Panthers are likely to join Murray State in the playoffs next week.The teams will learn their playoff opponents on Sunday at noon when the NCAA Division I-AA Playoff pairings are announced.