HTML Box | PDF Box | Photo Gallery (Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill – Freshman Desmin Ward found the end zone three times Saturday afternoon as Eastern Illinois won its ninth straight homecoming contest with a 24-21 win over Southeast Missouri.
EIU improved to 3-4 overall, 1-2 in the OVC while SEMO dropped to 2-5, 0-3 in the OVC. The Panthers return to action next Saturday with a 2 p.m. game at Eastern Kentucky.
Ward was used in short yardage situations but made the most of his six carries gaining 15 yards. Ward scored from 3 yards out in the first quarter, 4 yards out in the second quarter and from one yard out in the third.
Tyler Wilke's 40 yard field goal with 9:02 left in the game proved to be the difference as it gave EIU a 24-14 lead at the time. Wilke had missed on a 23-yard attempt in the second quarter.
SEMO scored all three of its touchdowns on the ground as EIU's defense limited the OVC's top rated passer Houston Lillard to on three completions while intercepting two passes. Freshman Matt Scheible played a majority of the snaps under center but was 6-of-16 for only 54 yards. Lilllard was 3-of-5 for 10 yards.
“Our defense did a great job shutting down their passing game today,” said EIU head coach Bob Spoo. “We limited the No. 1 passer in the OVC to just 10 yards passing so that has to be a feather in the defenses cap.”
The Panthers score on their second drive of the game moving the ball primarily on the ground as they churned out 199 yards as a team. Travorus Bess had runs of 13 and 23 yards on the drive as he finished with 124 yards his second 100-plus effort of the season. Ward would cap that drive with score at the 7:22 mark.
“Our offense did a good job of getting the ground game going,” added Spoo. “This was a hard fought victory and we did a good job all the way to the end.”
SEMO responded on its final drive of the first quarter as Henry Harris scored from 10 yards out on the first play of the second quarter. SEMO also scored with just 56 seconds left in the second quarter to tie the game at 14-14 going into the half. Timmy Holloman scored on that drive from 6 yards. Holloman would also score SEMO's final touchdown at 6:26 in the fourth. Holloman would finish with 84 yards on the ground.
After allowing the Redhawks to tie the game at the half, EIU's defense allowed only 16 yards of offense in the third quarter and stuffed out a late fourth quarter drive in which Rashad Haynes broke up a Scheible pass to give EIU the ball to run out the clock.
Haynes intercepted his third pass of the season and was also credited with two pass break-ups. The interception was the eighth of his EIU career moving him into a tie for 9th place on the career list with six other players.
Bess also joined the EIU record book moving up to 14th on the career with 1,536 career yards matching Ken Werner (1969-71). Nick Nasti was EIU's leading tackler with 9.
SEMO was led on defense by Nick Stauffer with 13 tackles and Philip Klaproth with 12.
