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MURRAY, Ky. - Seniors Ademola Adeniji and Micah Rucker carried the offensive load on Saturday afternoon as No. 24 Eastern Illinois (4-3, 3-1 OVC) held off an energized Murray State (1-5, 0-3 OVC) squad 27-24 during the Racers homecoming game.
Rucker made a career-high 11 catches for 153 yards while Adeniji rushed for a career-high 197 yards and three touchdowns. Adeniji's third rushing touchdown of the game with 9:07 left in the contest helped seal the win for EIU, their five straight win over MSU.
The Racers challenged at the end driving the length of the field in just under a minute to score on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Jeff Ehrhardt to Rod Harper to put Murray State down just 27-24 with 20 seconds left. Murray State would attempt an onside kick which was recovered by the Panthers Joel Evers.
Eastern Illinois made the first big break of the afternoon as Ke'Andre Sams picked off an Ehrhardt pass during the opening drive and returned it into Murray State territory. EIU drove down the field and scored the game's first touchdown as Rucker caught a 2-yard fade pattern from Bodie Reeder. EIU would miss the extra point to hold a 6-0 lead with 7:58 left in the first quarter.
Murray State cut the lead in half as Tyler Weiss hit a 35-yard field goal with one minute left in the quarter. Charlie Jordan broke a big 26-yard run on the drive.
The Panthers had two other scoring chances in the first half but Derrick Parrott forced and recovered an Adeniji fumble at the one yard line to end one EIU drive. Eastern Illinois would miss a 34-yard field goal attempt on its other first half opportunity.
Murray State missed a chance to tie the game heading into the half but Weiss' 37-yard field goal attempt was wide right to leave EIU up 6-3 at the break. Both teams had two turnovers in the first half, EIU coughing up two fumbles while MSU had a fumble and interception.
Both teams turned up the offense in the third quarter as the teams traded big touchdown runs midway through the quarter. Adeniji scored from 35-yards out to put EIU up 13-3 with 5:42 left. Murray State answered on the next drive with Jordan also scoring from 35-yards out.
Adeniji would close the third quarter with a 10-yard touchdown run with two seconds left in the quarter to put the Panthers up 20-10. Adeniji had 151 yards at the end of the third quarter as he moved into 13th place on the Panthers career rushing charts.
With the game seemingly in control, Murray State forced its second fumble of the day on a special teams punt as Derrick Townsel hit Alicus Nozinor to force the fumble. Townsel recovered on the 14 and the Racers would punch it in a couple of plays later with Jordan scoring from 6 yards out. Murray State trailed 20-17 with 12:42 left in the contest.
Sams led the EIU defense with eight tackles and the one interception.
Eastern Illinois will be at home next week for its annual homecoming game against Tennessee Martin. Kick off is set for 1:30 p.m. at O'Brien Stadium.
