SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 31, Eastern Illinois 23
Southeast Missouri 56, @UT Martin 33
#12 Jacksonville State 42, @Murray State 15
@Austin Peay 41, Tennessee Tech 10
EASTERN KENTUCKY 31, EASTERN ILLINOIS 23
RICHMOND, Ky. - Josh Hayes’ interception late in the third quarter set up a nine play, 92-yard go-ahead drive to propel the Eastern Kentucky University football team to a 31-23 win over Eastern Illinois University on Saturday at Roy Kidd Stadium.
With the game tied 17-17, a pair of big throws by Harry Woodberry put the Panthers deep in Colonel territory with just over five minutes to play in the third quarter. A bad snap on second and goal from EKU’s two-yard line was recovered by EIU, but pushed the Panthers all the way back to the 25. Woodberry went to the air on third down, but Hayes came down with the ball for his second interception of the year.
Starting from its own eight-yard line, Eastern Kentucky wasted no time marching down the field. Alphonso Howard connected with Neiko Creamer on a first down for 19 yards to get the Colonels to the 41-yard line. A nine-yard catch by Jaelin Carter and a pair of 7-yard runs by Jason Lewis got Eastern into Panther territory. Howard looked to the end zone before the end of the third quarter, drawing a pass interference to put the Colonels right outside of the red zone.
Two plays into the fourth quarter, Carter went over a defender’s head to haul in an 18-yard touchdown to break the 17-all tie and put the Colonels ahead 24-17.
Driving with under nine minutes to go, LJ Scott turned on the jets to break off a 42-yard run to EIU’s 4-yard line. Four play later, Carter ran into the end zone to extend the Colonels’ lead to two possessions, 31-17.
EIU responded promptly on its ensuing drive, as quarterback John Brantley ran nine yards for a touchdown to cap off a 7-play, 69-yard drive. Nick Bruno bounced the extra point off the upright, keeping the score 31-23 with 3:53 left to play.
EKU ran the clock down to 32 seconds before punting back to EIU. A sack by Tre Turner on the EIU 30-yard line ended any chance of the Panthers’ pulling off a miracle drive to tie the game.
Eastern Kentucky (4-4, 3-2 OVC) was led by the two headed monster of Carter and Scott. Carter had two receiving touchdowns for 61 yards, along with his rushing touchdown. Scott ran for a career-high 151 yards and recorded his fifth touchdown of the season. Cornelius Floyd and Hayes led the way defensively, both recording an interception apiece.
The Colonels got off to a hot start when EIU’s first play from scrimmage was intercepted by Floyd at their own 21-yard line. Eastern settled for a field goal to take a 3-0 lead early.
The Panthers found success on a drive midway through the first quarter, using 10 plays to march 75 yards into Colonel territory. Eastern Kentucky’s defense forced an incompletion on third and seven from the 15-yard line, making EIU kick a field goal to tie the game.
After a pass interference call kept EIU’s next drive alive, John Brantley rushed out of the pocket for a gain of 24 to EKU’s 41-yard line. Two plays later, Isaiah Johnson ran 34-yards to the house to put the Panthers up 10-3 with 3:27 left in the first quarter.
With time ticking down in the second quarter, Austin Scott found Jackson Beerman for 21 yards to get onto the opposite side of the field. Five plays later, Scott found Carter wide open for a 34-yard touchdown to tie game at 10 apiece with 1:48 remaining in the half.
EIU immediately bounced back, taking the kickoff 50 yards to the EKU 29. After a five-yard completion on first down, Harry Woodberry connected with Aaron Gooch for 23 yards to Colonels one-yard line. Johnson punched the ball into the end zone to put the Panthers back on top 17-10 going into halftime.
Carter helped Eastern Kentucky establish a drive midway through the third quarter, ripping a 13-yard run to get the Colonels to the EIU 48. LJ Scott came in for the next play and shredded two defenders on his way to a 48-yard touchdown to tie the game with 7:33 to go in the third quarter.
Eastern Illinois (2-7, 2-4 OVC) was led by Johnson’s 128 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Brantley threw for 127 yards and contributed a rushing touchdown.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 56, UT MARTIN 33
MARTIN, Tenn. - Kristian Wilkerson caught eight passes for a single game record 263 yards and three touchdowns to lead Southeast Missouri (6-2, 4-1) to a commanding 56-33 win over UT Martin (1-7, 1-4) Saturday afternoon at Graham Stadium.
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Wilkerson became the third SEMO receiver to get over 200 receiving yards in a game surpassing the previous school record of 211 yards by Art Miller at Evansville in 1969. Wilkerson's 263 yards also marked an Ohio Valley Conference single game high and rank third in the Football Championship Subdivision this season.
The red-hot Redhawks picked up their fourth-straight win and are now on their longest winning streak in five seasons with Tom Matukewicz as their head coach. SEMO improved to 6-1 against FCS teams this year and claimed its first winning season since 2010. This year marks the Redhawks fourth winning season in their NCAA Division I era, all of which have come eight years apart (1994, 2002, 2010, 2018).
SEMO scored 13 points in the first 2:15 of the contest.
On the third play of the game, Daniel Santacaterina threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Wilkerson to cap a 71-yard drive.
UTM fumbled on the ensuing kickoff and Aaron Alston recovered at the UTM 17-yard line. Mark Robinson capitalized on the turnover scoring on a 1-yard run to extend the Redhawks lead to 13-0 with 12:45 remaining in the first quarter.
SEMO tacked on three more first quarter points when Kendrick Tiller made a 36-yard field goal to make it 16-0 at the 6:49 mark. Prior to today, Tiller had not kicked a field goal.
The Skyhawks managed to pull to within two points after quarterback Joe Hudson hit paydirt on a 4-yard run and tossed a 49-yard touchdown pass to Jaylon Moore. Moore's touchdown cut SEMO's lead to 16-14 just 11 seconds into the second quarter.
Santacaterina completed a pass to Wilkerson off the edge, who broke a tackle and sprinted 39 yards down the far sideline to the UTM 1-yard line. Marquis Terry, in the wildcat formation, took the snap and dove over the goal line to give SEMO a 23-14 advantage with 8:34 to go.
After Santacaterina ran for nine yards to pick up a big first down on a fourth-and-8, Wilkerson hauled in a 15-yard touchdown pass immediately following a SEMO timeout to grab the Redhawks a 30-17 halftime lead.
SEMO continued to pound away at the Skyhawks in the second half putting up 26 more points, including 19 in the fourth quarter. Terry broke free for a 17-yard run to polish off a 4-play, 68-yard march with 7:24 left in the third quarter.
Tiller made two more field goals from 41 and 38 yards, respectively, in the first five minutes of the final period. Wilkerson hauled in his third touchdown reception on a 34-yard pass from Santacaterina and backup. quarterback Anthony Cooper completed SEMO's scoring with a 33-yard run at the 2:15 mark.
SEMO finished with 587 total yards and averaged nearly eight yards (7.5) per play.
Wilkerson paved the way with the fourth game of 100 or more receiving yards in his career.
Terry ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns earning his OVC-high fourth 100-yard rushing game this season. Santacaterina completed 21-of-34 passes for 386 yards and three touchdowns. It was the third time in four starts where Santacaterina threw for 340 or more yards.
Defensively, the league-leader in turnover margin finished with a +4 in that category against the Skyhawks. SEMO had three interceptions and recovered a fumble. Zach Hall, who went over 100 tackles (107) this year, led the way with 15. Hall also had an interception and forced a fumble. Omardrick Douglas followed with 14 tackles, including 1.5 for loss. DJ Freeman and Demarcus Rogers each added a sack.
#12 JACKSONVILLE STATE 42, MURRAY STATE 15
MURRAY, Ky. - Jacksonville State started a new Ohio Valley Conference win streak on Saturday against league-leader Murray State.
Taking the field for the first time since their 36-game conference winning streak was snapped, the 12th-ranked Gamecocks jumped on the Racers early and overcame two turnovers to pull away for a 42-15 victory at Roy Stewart Stadium.
Jacksonville State (6-2, 5-1) moved into a three-way tie atop the OVC standings with Southeast Missouri and Murray State as the calendar flips to November.
The Gamecocks piled up 577 total yards - 286 through the air, 291 via the ground. Six JSU players had at least four rushing attempts and eight caught at least one pass.
Junior receiver Josh Pearson became the FCS leader with three more touchdown catches as he continues to rewrite the Jacksonville State single-season record. Pearson scored on passes of four, nine and 25 yards from Zerrick Cooper and now has 15 with three regular-season games remaining.
It was Pearson's second three-touchdown effort of the season and fifth with multiple TD catches. He had a team-high six receptions for 77 yards Saturday afternoon.
Cooper overcame the early pick-six and threw for 259 yards against the Racers (4-4, 4-1), completing 21-of-28 passes. He moves into a tie with Ryan Perrilloux (2008) for fifth-most touchdown passes thrown in a season with 19.
The sophomore quarterback from Jonesboro, Ga., also scored on a 1-yard run in the second quarter and had 51 yards on the ground before yielding to backup quarterback Zion Webb early in the fourth.
Jacksonville State saw its lead whittled to 21-15 early in the third quarter when the Racers recovered a fumble at the Gamecock 48. Murray State quarterback Drew Anderson scrambled 17 yards for a touchdown to make it a one-score game with 13:32 left in the third.
JSU responded by scoring 21 unanswered points to pull away.
Jaelen Greene started the outburst with a 1-yard run and Cooper connected with Pearson for the third time to stretch the Gamecocks' lead to 35-15 early in the fourth.
Webb finished off the scoring with a 4-yard TD in the fourth quarter for his sixth rushing touchdown. He led the Gamecocks in rushing with 74 yards.
Jacksonville was 12-for-17 (71%) on third-down conversions against the Racers; Murray State, meanwhile, was 0-for-11 on third downs.
Linebacker Zack Woodard had an interception in the fourth quarter for the Gamecocks, his team-best third of the season.
AUSTIN PEAY 41, TENNESSEE TECH 10
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - The pomp and circumstance associated with Homecoming is made that much more fun when you win the game, as Austin Peay State University’s football team found out in administering a 41-10 drubbing to Tennessee Tech at Fortera Stadium, Saturday.
A balanced Austin Peay (4-4, 2-3 Ohio Valley Conference) attack saw the Govs roll up 287 yards rushing and an additional 279 through the air, including five touchdowns from the arm of sophomore quarterback Jeremiah Oatsvall--three to DJ Montgomery and two to Baniko Harley--to tie an Austin Peay record.
The Govs got on the board early and never relented. After forcing an opening-drive punt from Tennessee Tech (0-8, 0-5), the Govs opening salvo was a deep bomb from Oatsvall to a wide-open Montgomery, who ran under it and jogged in unabated for the score. Although a two-point try went for naught, the Govs had the opening drive they sought—a nine-play, 91-yard caper mixing run and pass to equal effect.
The Golden Eagles chewed up the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second with a 17-play drive that yielded a 24-yard field goal by Nick Madonia, but Austin Peay answered with a long march of its own. Three rushes led to a fourth-and-one opportunity to open the drive, and head coach Will Healy elected to keep his offense on the field—a smart bet against a defense that was giving up a league-high 6.4 yards per rush entering the game and a move that paid off when Tre Nation picked up four yards and the first down. An Oatsvall-to-Kadeem Goulbourne strike netted 32 yards and put the Govs near the red zone as they continued to wear down the Tennessee Tech defense, which ultimately broke when Oatsvall found Montgomery from four yards out on third-and-goal for the duo’s second score of the night.
When the Govs took over next—after a short Tennessee Tech punt that could’ve pinned the Govs deep but instead left them on their own 23-yard line—Oatsvall engineered another long drive, converting another fourth-and-short opportunity, again with Nation as the battering ram, to keep the drive moving. This time junior Prince Momodu found pay dirt on an eight-yard touchdown run, his season’s third, to send the Govs into the locker room with a 20-3 advantage.
Austin Peay got the ball to start the second half and needed all of four plays following the halftime crowning of LaQuandra McGhee and Jake Bumpus as Homecoming Queen and King to add another score. This time Oatsvall swung a short pass to Harley and the fleet-footed quarterback-turned-receiver from Birmingham did the rest, racing 65 yards for the score. 27-7, Govs on top.
Seven plays later—after a Golden Eagle three-and-out, a punt and two plays from scrimmage for the Govs—Oatsvall again found Montgomery and the 6-2 senior used his length and athleticism to make a leaping grab of a 37-yard strike in the end zone to put the all but ensure victory for the Govs. The teams would trade a pair of scores late in the third—a 23-yard pass from Bailey Fisher to David Gist for Tennessee Tech’s lone touchdown of the day, followed by a 12-play, 75-yard Austin Peay march that ended in a Oatsvall pass to Harley from eight yards out, but the Golden Eagles failed to put a dent in the Austin Peay lead after that.
Oatsvall was resplendent, going 15-of-19 through the air for 279 yards and the aforementioned five scores—tying not only Javaughn Craig’s school-record outing against Tennessee State in 2016 but making him just the third OVC quarterback this season with five passing touchdowns in a single game. He’s also the first Austin Peay quarterback since Dennis Dyer in 1968 to throw four or more touchdowns in two different games in the same season.
His favorite target was Montgomery, who caught four passes for 111 yards, while Harley caught three passes for 86 yards—both career-highs—and the first two touchdown receptions of his career. The Governors ground attack was led by Kentel Williams (16 carries, 97 yards) and Nation (15 carries, 74 yards), with Williams tallying a team-high 121 all-purpose yards (97 rushing, 18 kick return, 6 receiving). Defensively, Malik Davis and Gunnar Scholato led way with seven tackles apiece, while Nate Howard kept up his strong senior campaign with 2.0 tackles for loss.