SATURDAY'S SCORES
#22 Tennessee State 29, @UT Martin 15
@#3 Eastern Illinois 55, Southeast Missouri 33
@Eastern Kentucky 24, Tennessee Tech 10
@Murray State 31, Austin Peay 3
#22 TENNESSEE STATE 29, UT MARTIN 15
MARTIN, Tenn. - – A stout defensive effort from the nation’s No. 1 ranked unit helped the Tennessee State football team defeat UT Martin, 29-15, on Saturday.
The Tigers (7-1, 4-0 OVC) only allowed 4.1 yards per play, recorded 12 tackles for loss (five sacks), tallied two takeaways and forced 19 Skyhawk penalties.
Freshman quarterback Ronald Butler led the offense, completing 11-of-19 for 160 yards and one touchdown. Junior Ryan Mitchell was Butler’s favorite target, as the receiver caught five passes for 84 yards and a score.
The contest started with five straight three-and-outs in which the teams combined for a total of two yards. On TSU’s third drive, Butler completed a 33-yard pass to Lavatiae Kelly, but the big play only led to another Tiger punt.
After forcing the Skyhawk offense of the field, TSU finally struck pay dirt with its first play of its fourth series as Butler found Mitchell on a crossing route. A good play-action sucked the UT Martin (4-3, 2-2 OVC) safeties towards the line of scrimmage, and Mitchell was a few steps passed his defender when he caught the ball at the opposing 40-yard line. From there, Mitchell did the rest, beating his man further for the score.
The pass and catch totaled 61 yards and Jamin Godfrey’s point after put TSU up, 7-0, with two minutes to go in the first quarter.
UT Martin’s offense responded on the next drive by moving the ball all the way down to the TSU 31 yard-line. D.J. McNeal fumbled on the ensuing play, and Nick Thrasher recovered, giving the Big Blue offense possession. The takeaway brought the first quarter to a close with the Tigers up by a touchdown.
The Tiger defense held the Skyhawks to 58 yards of total offense during the first 15 minutes. UT Martin quarterback Jarod Neal was just 2-of-6 for 12 yards and the Skyhawks committed six penalties for 30 yards.
Early in the second period, a fake punt from UT Martin sprung punter James Satterfield for a 21-yard gain – UT Martin’s longest of the game up to that point. The Skyhawks used short passes to ultimately set up a 40-yard field goal attempt. However, TSU’s Anthony Bass blocked the attempt and De’Ante Saunders returned the ball 54 yards for a Tiger touchdown.
The great play on special teams put Tennessee State in the driver’s seat, 14-0, with just over 10 minutes to go before halftime.
The Tigers struck again two plays later as Daniel Fitzpatrick picked off Neal at the 20-yard line and waltzed into the end zone untouched for TSU’s third touchdown of the game.
The interception was Fitzpatrick’s fifth this season and fourth in TSU’s last three games. He is now the FCS leader in interceptions.
The Big Blue defense came up with another key play on UT Martin’s next offensive possession. After two straight negative plays, Bass and Shipley wrapped up Skyhawk running back McNeal in the end zone for a safety. The score was TSU’s 23 point in a nine-minute and four seconds span.
UT Martin had one final chance to score before halftime, but a 68-yard drive yielded zero points, as the clock expired before the Skyhawks could attempt a 25-yard field goal.
The Tiger defense had eight tackles for loss in the first half, three of which were quarterback sacks.
TSU went three-and-out to start the third quarter and UT Martin took advantage with a 10-play, 49-yard scoring drive. Neal found Jeremy Butler on a fade route from 11-yards away to make the score, 23-7, in favor of the Tigers with six minutes gone in the second half.
Tennessee State could not answer on its next series, and was forced to punt. Martin bowled into Leon Holderhead, causing a running into the kicker penalty. On Holderhead’s next attempt, Jeremy Butler fumbled the kick and TSU’s Martine Stevenson recovered at the UT Martin 28-yard line.
The heads-up special teams play set up a 44-yard field goal from Godfery, putting TSU on top, 26-7, with under four minutes to play in the third.
Back-to-back sacks halted UT Martin’s next drive, and the Tigers took over on their own 15-yard line to begin the fourth. Butler engineered an 11-play, 82-yard drive that was aided by a 23-yard run from Broughton to set up a field goal attempt. Godfrey’s kick was deflected, but still went through the uprights from 20-yards away to put Big Blue in front, 29-7.
Broughton, who came into the game as the OVC’s leading rusher, finished the day with 86 yards on 22 carries for a 3.9 average.
The Skyhawks added a late touchdown when running back Trent Garland scored from two-yards out at the 1:33 mark. Garland then added the two-point conversion to make the final score, 29-15.
#3 EASTERN ILLINOIS 55, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 33
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois scored 27 first quarter points as the No. 3 Panthers eased past Southeast Missouri, 55-33, on Saturday afternoon in front of a homecoming record crowd of 11,549.
Jimmy Garoppolo opened the game red hot completing his first ten passes for 254 yards and a pair of touchdowns, all in the first 15:18 of the game. Garoppolo connected with Erik Lora for a 60-yard touchdown on the Panthers third play of their opening drive. Garoppolo found Adam Drake for an 82-yard touchdown down the seam on the first play of EIU’s second drive. It was the seventh time this season that Garoppolo has passed for 200 or more yards in the first half of a game with three games with 200-plus yards in the first quarter this season.
Garoppolo broke the EIU school record for passing yards in the first quarter on a pass to Adam Drake. Garoppolo passed New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton on the Panthers career list. Garoppolo passed for 376 yards and three touchdowns as he now stands at 10,841 career passing yards, currently 19th on the FCS career passing yards list. Garoppolo moved up to 14th on the FCS career touchdown passes list adding three more to give him 96 for his career. Payton’s school record was 10,655. Garoppolo also passed Murray State’s Casey Brockman for first place on the OVC career total offense list. Garoppolo ended the day with 10,741 career yards.
Lora hauled in eight passes for 131 yards. Drake had three catches for 138 yards. EIU finished with 670 yards of total offense, the fifth highest total in school history. EIU’s offensive line did not allow a sack and SEMO had only three tackles for loss in the contest.
Southeast Missouri cut the Panthers lead to 14-6 at the 6:53 mark of the first quarter as Spencer Davis caught a 15-yard pass from Scott Lathrop. The extra point was missed.
EIU tacked on two rushing touchdowns to close out the first quarter. Little had a 19-yard touchdown run at 5:39 while Taylor Duncan ran in from 10-yards with 1:43 remaining. Little opened the second half with a five-yard touchdown run as he finished the day with three touchdowns and 129 yards rushing. Duncan had 107 yards rushing. Jimmy Lera added a fourth quarter rushing score as EIU had 283 yards on the ground.
SEMO scored its second touchdown on special teams as the Redhawks had three touchdowns as a result of special teams. Justin Elias scooped up a blocked punt and scored from 29-yards out with 9:09 to play in the second quarter. Trailing 55-20, Davis returned a kickoff 93-yards for a touchdown with 1:26 left in the game. EIU would fumble the ensuing kickoff with SEMO recovering inside the 20-yard line. Paul McRoberts caught a 12-yard pass from Lathrop with 1:05 left to account for the Redhawks final score.
EIU limited SEMO to just 117 yards passing and 181 yards on the ground. DeMichael Jackson had 126 yards on the ground for the Redhawks.
The Panthers defense was led by Dino Fanti with eight tackles including a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss. Five other players had six tackles. Pat Wertz added one sack. Roper Garrett was the Redhawks leading tackler with 12 tackles.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 24, TENNESSEE TECH 10
RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University football team limited Tennessee Tech to 27 yards rushing and 200 total yards in a 24-10 Homecoming win Saturday afternoon at Roy Kidd Stadium.
EKU (4-3, 2-1 OVC) held Tennessee Tech to -14 rushing yards on its way to a 17-3 halftime lead. Through the end of the third quarter, the Golden Eagles managed just -7 yards on the ground and only six first downs.
Still holding that 17-3 advantage entering the final quarter, the Colonels went to the air to get some more breathing room. Facing 3rd-and-8 at Eastern’s own 17-yard line, junior quarterback Jared McClain found redshirt freshman Devin Borders for 33 yards and a big first down to midfield. Six plays later, sophomore wide out Jeff Glover found senior tight end Ike Ariguzo behind the defense on a trick play for a 29-yard touchdown pass.
The Golden Eagles (3-5, 0-4) finally scored a touchdown a few minutes later with Krys Cates caught a 16-yard touchdown pass. TTU had one more chance to cut into the deficit, but the Eastern Kentucky defense stepped up again on a 4th-and-1 play at midfield with five minutes left to ice the game.
The Colonels took the opening possession of the game and drove 64 yards in 10 plays over 4:44 to go on top, 7-0. McClain completed a 12-yard pass to Glover on third down early to keep the drive alive. The junior quarterback polished off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run.
A 29-yard field goal from Tennessee Tech’s Zach Sharp early in the second quarter got the visitors on the board.
McClain’s legs pushed Eastern to a 14-3 lead. This time the Hiram, Ga., native finished off a 12-play, 78-yard drive that took 6:10 off the clock with an eight-yard touchdown run. McClain broke the plain at the right corner just before the Golden Eagle defense caught up to him.
An interception by senior linebacker Anthony Brown at the TTU 31-yard line late in the first half set up a 26-yard field goal by junior Andrew Lloyd that sent the Colonels to the locker room in front, 17-3.
McClain finished the game 11-of-19 passing for 169 yards and also added 41 rushing yards on 12 carries. Glover and Borders combined for eight receptions and 132 receiving yards.
On defense, Brown posted five stops, a sack, an interception, a pass break-up and two quarterback hurries. Six EKU players tallied a tackle for loss in the win.
MURRAY STATE 31, AUSTIN PEAY 3
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State got a standout performance from it’s defense as it limited Austin Peay to 196 yards of total in offense in the Racers, 31-3, victory over the Governors Saturday afternoon at Stewart Stadium.
The victory improved MSU to 5-3, 3-1 OVC, while the Govs dropped to 0-7, 0-3 in OVC play.
The defense held the Govs to just 60 yards through the air and did not allow a play over 17 yards. The only points for the Govs came after a Racer turnover. APSU drove 38 yards late in the first half and got a 37-yard field goal from Chase Dunlap.
Qua Huzzie led the defense with six total tackles. Anthony Hayes recorded four tackles and 1.5 sacks. Josh Manning, Darian Yahyavi, Sam Small, Brandon Hathaway and Brandon Wicks each posted five stops.
Punter Steven Mix helped the defense by pinning the Govs deep in their own territory all game. Mix averaged 41.8 yards on five punts, with four of his punts downed inside the 20. He had two punts downed at the four, and another at the three in the first half.
Jaamal Berry was the catalyst for the Racers as he rushed for a season-high 146 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. He scored both of his touchdowns in the first half, as he went 40 yards in the first quarter, and three yards in the second quarter.
Marcus Holliday rushed for 55 yards and his third touchdown of the season. He rebounded from a fumble to follow a 23-yard run with a one-yard touchdown run.
With the Racers up 17-3 in the fourth quarter, Walter Powell broke a short pass for a 21-yard touchdown. He finished the game with six catches for 59 yards and a score. In the third quarter, Powell passed Marcus Harris to become the Racers all-time leading receiver. He now has 195 catches for 2,515 career receiving yards and 29 touchdowns.
Maikhail Miller was effective behind center as he went 19-for-22 for 160 yards and a touchdown.