SATURDAY'S SCORES
#17 Jacksonville State 28, @Eastern Illinois 20
@Austin Peay 28, #20 Southeast Missouri 24
Murray State 31, @Tennessee State 17
UT Martin 55, @Tennessee Tech 14
#17 JACKSONVILLE STATE 28, EASTERN ILLINOIS 20
CHARLESTON, Ill. - A balanced offensive attack proved to be the remedy to No. 17 Jacksonville State's recent struggles on the road.
The Gamecocks, losers of their previous four away from Burgess-Snow Field, rushed for a season-high 185 yards and got two first-half interceptions from Traco Williams to hang on for a 28-20 Ohio Valley Conference victory at O'Brien Stadium Saturday afternoon.
Jacksonville State (5-2, 2-1 OVC) built a 21-7 lead at halftime behind a couple of Zerrick Cooper touchdown passes and a 3-yard run from Michael Matthews. The three successive Gamecock scoring drives in the first half took 12 plays and each covered at least 75 yards.
Cooper became the first player in school history to throw three touchdowns in five straight games with a 39-yard connection to Josh Pearson in the fourth quarter. Pearson snared two more passes for scores and continues to obliterate the career receiving touchdowns mark with 26.
It was Jacksonville State's sixth consecutive victory over the Panthers.
JSU's 185 rushing yards were its most since a 291-yard effort at Murray State on Oct. 27, 2018.
Eastern Illinois (0-7, 0-3) rallied to within 21-20 with a touchdown pass to start the fourth quarter after shutting down JSU's offense in the third. The Gamecocks, however, responded to the threat with a quick 67-yard march capped off by Pearson's second touchdown catch with 12:56 to go. Bryant Wallace's extra point stretched the lead to 28-20.
The Panthers had one final chance to tie in the waning seconds, but D.J. Coleman sacked EIU quarterback Harry Woodberry for an 8-yard loss and Zack Woodard came away with an interception on the next play to seal the victory.
Jamari Hester caught a season-high nine passes for 99 yards to lead the Gamecocks. Pearson caught five for 70 yards and moved past Butch Barker (1975-78) for seventh place all-time with 105 career receptions.
KJ Stepherson hauled in three passes for 40 yards, including 19-yard TD from Cooper in the second quarter.
Cooper finished 22-of-34 for 237 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
Matthews, a sophomore from Mobile, ran for 93 yards on 15 carries, both career highs.
AUSTIN PEAY 28, #20 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 24
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Back-to-back top-25 wins. That's never happened for an Austin Peay State University football team following a 28-24 win over Southeast Missouri.
The first half was a tactical battle between well-coached squads well aware of the stakes—the last two programs to beat Jacksonville State were battling for de facto supremacy of the OVC. The Redhawks jumped out to the lead early, turning a 45-yard Kristian Wilkerson catch into a Kendrick Tiller field goal.
But quickly, the Govs responded. The Govs took over to start the second quarter and needed just six plays to go 45 yards for a score, with Ahmaad Tanner going the last 23 yards himself for the touchdown. Remember that name; it'll come up again later.
The remainder of the second quarter passed in fits and starts—any momentum either team managed to muster was quickly negated, with Kordell Jackson's fifth interception of the season snuffing out a late first-half try by the Redhawks. The Govs are now 3-0 when Jackson intercepts a pass. Please keep throwing at him.
As defense-dominant as the first half was, the second half turned into a track meet. On Austin Peay's first possession of the half, the Govs needed just four plays to go 68 yards for six, with a 48-yard JaVaughn Craig-to-Baniko Harley bomb chewing up much of the turf. Craig tossed a fade to DeAngelo Wilson to cap the drive, giving Wilson six touchdown receptions on the season.
Southeast Missouri countered with a pair of scores, with Daniel Santacaterina finding Wilkerson for scoring plays of 25 and 12 yards to give the Redhawks both the lead and momentum (not to mention the ball) heading into the fourth quarter.
Trent Taylor turned the tide in Austin Peay's favor, picking off a Santacaterina pass and returning it 35 yards deep into Southeast Missouri territory. Craig tossed an 11-yarder to Tanner, who tip-toed to keep his feet in bounds for his first career touchdown reception. Good Guys back in front.
A run-heavy Redhawk attack chewed up clock and marched Southeast Missouri back into the lead, with Santacaterina finding a double-covered Aaron Alston from 13 yards to put the visitors back in front. With less than 10 minutes to play, the Govs trailed by a field goal and needed both a score and a stop.
First, the score. Craig found Wilson twice to start the drive, for 29 and 15 yards, to get the Govs into Redhawk territory. Then Tanner scampered for five and caught another for 11 yards to get into the red zone. The Governor line pushed forward. Seven yards. One yard. One yard. Two yards on a crucial, game-defining fourth-and-one moment.
Tanner punched it in from two yards out—his third score of the night. Govs lead. Bedlam in the Fort.
The Redhawks would get their shot. Down four, six minutes to play, they ran four straight plays into the teeth of the Austin Peay defensive line.
They gained nine yards, turning the ball back over to the Govs when Pat Walker and Jau'von Young met Mark Robinson in the hole on fourth-and-three. An invigorated Austin Peay front ground out two first downs on the ground to run out the clock and earn the win.
Tanner earned 76 of the toughest yards on the ground you'll ever see, then added two crucial catches for 23 more. Harley caught five passes for 102 yards—his first career 100-yard game. Craig turned in another high-level 17-for-28, 243-yard, two-touchdown performance. Shaun Whittinghill—one of the longest-tenured players on the team, on his third head coach, who has seen the best and worst of times in an Austin Peay uniform—turned in the game of his life with seven tackles, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
MURRAY STATE 31, TENNESSEE STATE 17
NASHVILLE - The Murray State football team won for the second time in as many weeks with a 34-17 victory over Tennessee State Saturday at Hale Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Tigers struck first in the game with a five-yard run from T'kendrick Roberson that capped a 12-play, 97-yard drive. However, the Racers answered emphatically with back-to-back touchdowns at the end of the first quarter and start of the second to give themselves a 14-7 lead.
After TSU added a field goal with under three minutes to go in the half, the Racers ended a promising drive with an interception by Preston Rice with just over a minute and a half left in the stanza. However, the Racers would get ball back just over 30 seconds later when TJ Warren cause a fumble that was picked up by Kendrick Catis, his first of two on the day. Rice then led the Racers down the field quickly capping the drive with a 37-yard pass to LaMartez Brooks to put his team on top 21-10.
The Racers extended their lead in the fourth on a 41-yard field goal from Zaden Webber, only to have the Tigers close the game minutes later on another short run from Roberson to put his team down just one touchdown, 24-17. Following the Roberson touchdown, the two teams traded long drives that ended in turnover on downs, followed by a three-and-out from Murray State to give TSU the ball back with 4:37 to play.
The Tigers began the drive with two first downs in three plays and looked poised to score until Catis popped the ball loose from Roberson and fell on it to give his team the ball with 3:22 left on the clock. Murray State would go on to score on a 58-yard run by Jared McCray before sealing the win with an interception by Marcis Floyd on a 1st and goal by TSU from the Murray State five.
The Racers tallied over 500 yards of total offense for just the second time this season in the game with 232 on the ground and 271 in the air for 503 total. Rice accounted for over half of those total yards himself as he was 24-for-44 for 271 yards and three touchdowns in addition to rushing for an additional 63 yard.
Brooks led the MSU receivers with four catches for 76 yards and a score, while Cory Thomas and Jared McCray led the rushing attack with 74 yards each. With the win, Murray State improves to 4-3 on the year, 2-1 in OVC play and 1-3 in road games.
UT MARTIN 55, TENNESSEE TECH 14
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin football team went on the road and posted a statement Ohio Valley Conference victory at Tennessee Tech, picking up a 55-14 win in the opening game of the annual Sergeant York Trophy Series.
The Skyhawks (4-2, 3-0 OVC) remained unbeaten in league play with their third consecutive victory while dominating every phase of the game. UT Martin would score a total of seven touchdowns while adding a pair of field goals to cap off an evening in which the team tallied a season-high 553 yards of total offense. The Skyhawks also scored a season-high 55 points which ranked as the high scoring output against an OVC foe since 2014 against Murray State.
The win also moved the Skyhawks to 1-0 in the highly-contested Sgt. York Trophy series. Overall, the Skyhawks are 26-11 all-time against foes of the quadrangular season series between the four OVC football-playing schools located in the state of Tennessee.
On the defensive side, UT Martin held a dangerous Tennessee Tech offense which entered the game averaging 37 points per game to a season-low 14 points and just 261 yards of total offense. Additionally, the Skyhawks held the Golden Eagles to just 92 rushing yards which marked the fourth time this season in which the defense held its opponent to less than 100 yards on the ground.
Leading the offensive charge was the play of freshman quarterback John Bachus III who put on a show by completing 16-of-22 pass attempts for 331 yards and five touchdowns – with the later both ranking as career-highs. Bachus would find eight different receivers in the contest while averaging 20.7 yards per completion.
Leading the air raid offense was sophomore receiver Colton Dowell with five receptions for 154 yards and two touchdowns – including a 73-yard reception on the opening play of the second half. Freshman receiver Kevin Butler made his collegiate debut by making the most of his two receptions for 45 yards while recording a pair of touchdowns. Junior Marqwell Odom also found the endzone on a shovel pass which he took 66 yards for his first career touchdown.
On the ground attack, junior running back Peyton Logan tallied his third 100-yard rushing performance of the season by tallying eight carries for 107 yards and a touchdown. Joining in the action was graduate Jaimiee Bowe who broke free on the Skyhawks final drive with a 25-yard touchdown to record his 20th career score to move into a tie for fourth in program history.
Senior linebacker TJ Jefferson paced the defensive unit with 12 tackles and 2.5 sacks which accounted for 21 yards of loss. Jefferson was joined in double figures by Cecil Cherry and Takeem Young which both tallied 10 tackles on the night. As a whole, UT Martin would tally six sacks on the evening from the quartet of Jefferson, Julian Crutchfield (1.5), Korbin Harmon (1.0) and Kenyonte Davis (1.0). Then registering the lone turnover of the night was Tamel McCall which recorded his first career interception to set up a scoring drive.
Specialist Ryan Courtright remained perfect in kicking attempts on the season by making both field goal opportunities from 30 and 45 yards while also converting on all seven PATs. Graduate punter Zane Cox would be rarely used but was effective when his name was called, booting a pair of punts for an average of 43.5 yards – including a 49-yard punt on the first drive of the game.