SATURDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Illinois 52, @Southeast Missouri 13
UT Martin 21, @Tennessee State 16
@Austin Peay 20, Murray State 13
@Tennessee Tech 39, #12 Eastern Kentucky 31
EASTERN ILLINOIS 52, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 13
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Eastern Illinois defense forced five turnovers as the Panthers picked up an Ohio Valley Conference road win at Southeast Missouri, 52-13, on Saturday afternoon.
Jourdan Wickliffe had two interceptions while Anthony Goodman and Anthony Standifer each had one pick. The Panthers recovered a first quarter fumble as they improved to 2-5 overall, 2-1 in the OVC. SEMO dropped to 4-4, 2-2 in the OVC.
Both offensive units opened the game with three-and-out offensive series. The Panthers broke through first as Jalen Whitlow hit Adam Drake on a third and one play-action pass that resulted in a 50-yard touchdown reception for Drake. The senior receiver finished with seven receptions for 110 yards as he needs one more reception to break into the OVC career top ten.
Southeast Missouri climbed to within one point on a pair of Ryan McCrum field goals, the first from 51-yards out. The second McCrum field goal came after EIU was stopped on a fourth down at the Redhawks 10.
Whitlow pushed the lead to 14-6 to open the second quarter with the first of his three rushing touchdowns. Whitlow added a 12-yard touchdown run with 2:14 left in the first half that put EIU up 21-13. His final rushing touchdown was in the fourth quarter. He rushed for 75 yards while going 17 of 30 passing for 213 yards.
Nick Bruno put EIU up 24-13 at the half with a season best 45-yard field goal. SEMO’s first half touchdown was on a 6-yard Spencer Davis touchdown reception. Standifer ended a late first half SEMO drive with an interception at the 10-yard line. Standifer had three tackles with the interception and a pass break-up.
EIU’s defense pitched a shutout in the second half as the Panthers allowed 125 second half yards with Darnell Lee leading the defensive unit with ten tackles. Adam Gristick added eight tackles.
EIU finished with 548 yards of total offense. Jimmy Lera had the Panthers final score on a record tying rush of 96-yards. He tied the school record set by Poke Cobb in 1976 against Tennessee Tech. Taylor Duncan added a short rushing touchdown and Whitlow hit Drake for a 5-yard strike in the third quarter.
UT MARTIN 21, TENNESSEE STATE 16
NASHVILLE - For the second consecutive year and fourth time since 2012 the University of Tennessee at Martin football team has clinched at least a share of the eighth annual Sgt. York Trophy with the 21-16 victory over Tennessee State at Hale Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Skyhawks (3-5, 2-3 OVC) picked up their first road victory at Tennessee State since 2008 and first victory at Hale Stadium in school history. The Skyhawks will have to wait until next week if they will bring the Sgt. York Trophy back to UT Martin when they play host to Austin Peay. UT Martin currently sits at 2-0 in the quadrangular season series between the four OVC football playing schools (Austin Peay, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and UT Martin) located in the state of Tennessee.
Much of today’s victory is credit to the stellar play of the Skyhawk defensive unit. Despite giving up 367 yards of total offense as opposed to 210 yards gained, the Skyhawks forced two fumbles, recovered one fumble, returned an interception for a touchdown and tallied six tackles for loss.
Junior quarterback Jarod Neal took all snaps under center for the Skyhawks, effectively managing the game while converting on 11-of-18 pass attempts for 67 yards and one touchdown. Eight receivers tallied at least one catch while Kyle Kerrick, Ladevin Fair and Caylon Weathers each notched a pair of receptions. Converted offensive lineman Corey Rogers tallied the team’s lone touchdown reception.
Four Skyhawks saw their names called in the run game, led by the play of Reuben Duckworth and his 14 carries. Duckworth tallied 59 yards on the day, along with one touchdown. Najee Ray tallied 60 yards on 10 attempts while Abou Toure reach the 1,000 yard career plateau with his first of 12 carries on the afternoon, finishing with 48 yards in the game.
The defensive unit forced two turnovers on the day, including one fumble recovery and an interception return for a touchdown. Leon Carlton III tallied seven tackles while six players recorded at least a part in a tackle for loss. Nick Brown notched the team’s lone sack while Keith Jones recorded his first career interception, returning it 42 yards for a touchdown.
Tennessee State (4-4, 1-3 OVC) dropped its third consecutive game despite tallying 314 passing yard. Quarterback Michael German led the Tigers under center, converting on 18-of-36 attempts for 314 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Ryan Mitchell was a standout for the Tigers in the receiving game, catching six passes for 156 yards and one touchdown. Weldon Garlington also got in on the action, notching five receptions for 99 yards and a touchdown.
After neither team could get anything going in the first quarter, the Skyhawks got onto the scoreboard on their first drive of the second quarter. Beginning their drive on the UTM 30, Ray scampered on four consecutive rushing attempts for a combined 40 yards and into TSU territory. From there the drive belonged to Duckworth. Duckworth would tally four rushing attempts before punctuating the drive with a 10-yard rushing touchdown over the left side. The touchdown gave the Skyhawks the 7-0 lead with 11:33 to play in the half and was Duckworth’s first of his Skyhawk career.
Tennessee State would look to answer the Skyhawk touchdown by putting points up of its own on the following possession. After beginning their drive on their own 25, German would connect with Mitchell for a 39-yard completion to move into Skyhawk territory. A nine-yard sack by Brown would back the Tigers up before a personal foul penalty would give TSU another first down to work with. TSU would later convert on another 25-yard completion to Garlinton before settling for a 34-yard field goal to bring the score to 7-3 with just under six minute to play in the half.
UT Martin would go into the half with a 7-3 lead, totaling 147 yards of total offense as opposed to Tennessee State’s 141 yards. The big advantage for the Skyhawks in the first half was 110 yards on the ground while TSU tallied 118 yards through the air.
The Skyhawk defense continued to impress in the opening minutes of the second half, much like the first. With Tennessee State beginning its first possession of the second half on its own 33, the Tigers tallied four consecutive rushes for a first down. With a first down, German would turn to the air but heavy pressure from Deante Glover would cause a quick pass right into the hands of nose tackle Jones, who would return the interception 42 yards for a touchdown. The defensive score is the first interception return of the season and just the second set of defensive points. Following the point after attempt, the Skyhawks would hold a 14-3 lead just over two minutes into the half.
Weighing heavily on the play of their defense, the Skyhawks would set up another scoring drive on the shoulders of the defensive unit. After a punt pinned the Tigers on their own 10 yard line, Nick Dance would get to the running back on the first play from scrimmage and strip the ball loose before Tony Bell would recover the fumble on the TSU 12.
With the offense taking over with just 12 yards to score, Toure would rush up the middle to pick up five yards. Following the rushing attempt, Neal would find converted lineman Rogers for a 7-yard touchdown completion – the first of his career - to stretch the Skyhawk lead out to 21-3 with 1:31 to play in the third quarter.
Following the score, Tennessee State would look to get back into the game on its following possession. After beginning their drive on the TSU 26, the Tigers would get the offense moving. German would convert back-to-back pass attempt to Garlington and Mitchell for 27 and 13 yards, respectively. German wouldn’t be done, hitting his receivers on his next two attempts before finding Garlington for a 26-yard touchdown down the middle of the field. Following the extra point, the Skyhawks would hold a 21-10 lead with 14:17 to play in the game.
After exchanging punts on the next two drives, the Tigers made the game interesting late in the fourth quarter. Faced with first and 10 on its own 25, Tennessee State would turn to German who would find Mitchell for a 75-yard touchdown reception, scampering the length of the field to bring the game to 21-16 score. Looking for a two-point conversion to bring the Tigers within three points, they would convert the play before being called back on a penalty. The second attempt was no good.
The Skyhawks would look to ice the game in the final five minutes, taking over on their final drive with 4:34 to play. The running back duo of Ray and Duckworth would slowly move the ball down the field before milking the clock to exhaustion and give the Skyhawks their second consecutive victory.
AUSTIN PEAY 20, MURRAY STATE 13
CLARSKVILLE, Tenn. - Freshman Jared Beard caught three touchdown passes from fellow freshman Mickey Macius while another freshman Otis Gerron ran for 137 yards as Austin Peay State University ended the nation's longest Football Championship Subdivision losing streak at 18 games as the Governors held off Murray State, 20-13, Saturday night, in Governors Stadium.
The Governors previous win came against Tennessee Tech, Nov. 17, 2012. It also was second-year coach Kirby Cannon's first win as Governor mentor. The Governors improved to 1-6 on the season and 1-2 in the OVC while Murray State fell to 2-5 and 1-3 in the OVC. It was APSU's first home win against Murray State since Nov. 23, 1991.
The Governors were able to record that victory by forcing five Murray State turnovers—three of the turnovers ended up in the hands of sophomore cornerback Rod Owens. It was APSU's first forced turnovers since Week 2 against Chattanooga. The Govs turned those turnovers into two touchdowns while the Racers were only able to manufacture two field goals off two APSU turnovers.
APSU actually took its season's first lead in the second quarter as a result of a turnover. Rod Owens picked off KD Humphries, the reigning FCS Offensive Player of the Week, at the APSU 31 and returned it 39 yards to Murray State 30. On the next play, Macius hooked up with Beard for their first of three scores—a spectacular catch just inside the right pylon at the goal line. As a result, APSU also was able to take its first halftime (7-3) lead since the 2012 Tennessee Tech contest.
The Racers regained momentum to open the second half, scoring on its first drive as Pokey Harris culminated a 62-yard drive with a 24-yard TD run to take a 10-7 advantage.
But the Govs responded immediately with a sustained drive of their own, thanks largely to a roughing-the-passing penalty on a fourth-and-goal play. Macius' passing and Gerron's running got the Govs into scoring position. After the roughing-the-passer penalty gave the Govs new life at the seven, Macius found his fellow freshman in the flat and Beard picked his way into the end zone for an APSU 13-10 advantage.
That would be a lead the Govs would not relinquish. In fact, a mishandled 51-yard Ben Campbell punt set up APSU's final score. Owens fell on Janawski Davis' punt reception muff at the Murray 20-yard line. After a pass from Macius to Gerron pushed the ball to the Racers 14, Macius found Beard, who made a leaping fingertip grab on a fade route in the end zone's left quarter to give APSU a 20-10 advantage.
After the Governors defense held Murray State on consecutive drives to start the fourth quarter, the Racers took advantage of a Governors fumble, taking over at the APSU 31. Again, the defense held the Racers to a field-goal attempt as Carson Greifenkamp punched one through from 28 yards to cut the deficit to 20-13 with 4:49 remaining.
After forcing the Governors to punt, the Racers took at their own 44. They quickly move into striking territory, advancing to the APSU 37. But on a second-down play, Humphries found Jeremy Harness for an 11-yard completion to the APSU 26 but cornerback Montez Carlton forced a fumble, with sophomore linebacker Antonio Turner pouncing on it with 3:01 left.
Murray State burned their last two timeouts after two short runs before Macius and Beard hooked up one more time on a 11-yard pass play to give APSU a first down. Gerron then put the game away with a 41-yard run to the Murray State 22.
APSU coach Kirby Cannon, in fact, then had to call timeout when his club could not line up properly in the victory formation—it had been a while (700 days) since the Govs tasted victory.
Macius finished the contest 18 of 22 passing for 235 yards and no interceptions. The 82 percent passing was the Govs' first 80 percent passing effort since Jesse Kellogg completed 87.5 percent (21 of 24) of his passes against Kentucky Wesleyan, Sept. 27, 2003, during the non-scholarship era.
Beard finished with seven catches for 88 yards while Gerron ended with 137 yards rushing for his second straight 100-yard performance.
Defensively, Owens had two interceptions, a fumble recovery, seven tackles (one for loss). Meanwhile, inside linebacker Adam Noble ended the day with 10 tackles to lead in that category.
TENNESSEE TECH 39, #12 EASTERN KENTUCKY 31
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - It was a night that Marty Jones and Tennessee Tech fans won't soon forget.
A sixth-year senior who is closing in on his third degree, Jones tied an OVC record with four interceptions, led all players with 12 tackles, and ran in a critical two-point conversion to lift Tech (3-4/2-2 OVC) to a 39-31, come-from-behind victory over 12th ranked Eastern Kentucky Saturday night in Tucker Stadium
Tech rallied from a 21-point, fourth-quarter deficit to stun the Colonels (6-1/3-1 OVC) and hand EKU its first loss of the year.
Junior Ladarius Vanlier returned a punt 79 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter, and capped the scoring with a 63-yard touchdown run with two minutes to play to take some of the drama out of the finish. The speedy junior had 19 carries for 140 yards and finished the contest with 264 all-purpose yards.
Trailing 31-10 to open the final period, senior quarterback Darian Stone connected on three touchdown passes to lead the comeback, two of them going to Brock McCoin. The redshirt freshman grabbed 11 passes for 128 yards, and scored on a 14-yard strike to open the comeback and 27 yards to pull Tech within one point.
Jones, who led all players with 12 tackles, also made what might have been the biggest play of the night. After Tech drove 62 yards in four plays to pull within 31-30 with 3:41 to play, the sixth-year senior, who holds on kicks, mishandled the snap on the PAT that was set to tie the contest. He picked up the ball, raced around the left side, and dove over a couple of tacklers into the end zone to put the Golden Eagles up, 32-31.
The play changed the complexion of the game, forcing EKU to try to score rather than playing it safe and waiting for overtime.
The Tech defense held EKU three-and-out and forced a punt, which sailed out of bounds at the Tech 37. On first down, Vanlier slipped through a crack on the left side and went untouched 63 yards for a touchdown with 2:01 to play. John Arnold's PAT made it 39-31.
Jones intercepted passes down the middle on both of EKU's final two possessions to kill any comeback hopes by the Colonels. His four picks set a school record and tied an OVC mark which was first set in 1948 and has been matched four other times, most recently in 1986 by Pat Smith of EKU.
Tech's defense forced seven turnovers in the game, adding three fumble recoveries to Jones' four picks. The 12 tackles also boosed Jones over the 300-tackle mark for his career, giving him 308.
Five different Golden Eagles registered double figures in tackles. Cory Webber Jay Rudwall and Trey Thompson had 11 tackles apiece and Austin Tallant added 10, raising his career total to 310 tackles. Rudwall forced two of EKU's five fumbles.
Tech finished the contest with a season-best 453 yards of offense, splitting it almost down the middle with 225 passing yards and 228 on the ground. EKU had 413 yards of offense, with 298 rushing and 115 passing.
Dy'Shawn Mobley was the game's top rusher with 163 yards and one touchdown on 21 carries. EKU quarterbacks Bennie Coney and Jared McClain combined to go 12-for-23 for 115 yards, each getting sacked twice and each throwing two interceptions.
Vanlier rushed for a career-best 140 yards on 19 carries while Darian Stone added 66 yards on 17 carries. Stone was 26-for-45 for 225 yards with three TDs and one interception. He was sacked twice. McCoin had a career night with 11 receptions for 128 yards.
EKU struck first with a 22-yard field goal by Andrew Lloyd with 3:13 to play in the first quarter. Four minutes later, Vanlier broke through the middle for his 79-yard punt return, his second punt return for TD this year and third return score of the season.
The Colonels came back in two plays, with McClain sprinting the final 30 yards for the touchdown to grab a 10-7 lead. EKU then drove 50 yards in five plays for a 17-10 lead woth 9:17 left in the half.
Arnold's 44-yard field goal with 6:31 to go made it 17-10 at halftime.
Mobley broke free from 18 yards out midway in the third quarter to finish off a 68-yard scoring drive for a 24-10 EKU lead.
Four minutes later, after Stone had moved Tech to the 20, the Golden Eagles were forced to try a 32-yard field goal. Stanley Absanon came off the wing to block the kick, picked it up and ran 75 yards for an EKU touchdown and a 31-10 lead with 2:11 to play in the period.
Tech's opening drive of the final period went to a fourth-and-two at the EKU 14, when Stone found McCoin over the middle and the elusive receiver took it into the end zone with 12:50 to play to make it 31-17.
Rudwall halted EKU's next possession when he scooped up a fumble after McClain lost the handle while rolling out and scrambling. That came at the EKU 33 and Tech got to the 15, where Vanlier pulled in a crucial 11-yard pass from Stone to the Colonel three-yard-line. Two plays later, Cody Matthews snared his 12th career touchdown to make it 31-24 with 7:34 left to play.
The Tech defense forced another turnover a minute later as Harrison Reid stripped the ball from McClain and Lenier Lee recovered at the EKU 21 with 6:37 to play.
Tech lost the ball on the first play when Stone fumbled and Chris Kelly recovered for the Colonels.
Once again, the Golden Eagle defense rose to the occasion and got the ball back after forcing a punt. Reid and Rudwall stopped Mobley on third-and-three, and the punt was out of bounds at the Tech 38.
Vanlier went 34 yards on first down, and McCoin pulled in a 27-yard pass for his second career touchdown with 3:41 left. That set the stage for Jones' two-point run.