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Hall of Fame Gallery (by Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois held the ball for more than 43 minutes on Saturday afternoon but the defense had to make a stand on four plays in the final 35 seconds to pick up a 23-15 win over Tennessee Tech at O'Brien Field.
The win improved the 25th ranked Panthers to 5-2 on the season, 3-1 in the OVC. TTU fell to 3-3 overall, 2-2 in the OVC. The game was the Panthers homecoming and hall of fame game in which they retired Tony Romo's No. 17 Eastern Illinois jersey between the first and second quarters. It was the tenth straight homecoming win for EIU.
After Eastern Illinois built a 20-0 lead and seemed to have the game in hand, Tennessee Tech took advantage of some fortunate bounces to quickly make it a one score game. The Golden Eagles got on the board with a team safety with 44 seconds left in third quarter by Justin Vann and Marty Jones after the Panthers had been backed up to their two yard line on a Jason Lennartz 69-yard punt.
Tennessee Tech closed the margin to 20-8 on a Lee Sweeney 29-yard pass to Alden Olverson at the 13:42 mark. TTU was able to keep that scoring drive alive after EIU was called for a roughing the punter call after making a stop on third down. EIU limited TTU to just 2-of-13 on third down conversions.
The final TTU score came with 3:54 left in the game as the Golden Eagles went for it on fourth down and seven with Colin Allen diving for a tipped ball in the end zone for an 11-yard score. Sweeney was just 19-of-46 with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
The Golden Eagles attempted an onside kick which went out-of-bounds giving the Panthers the ball inside the 50-yard line. Eastern Illinois used up 2:59 on the clock going 13 yards on seven plays as Austin Signor converted a 46-yard field goal to make it 23-15. Signor finished the day 3-of-6 on field goals with makes from 48 and 30 while he had two field goals blocked and another missed right.
With an eight point cushion Eastern Illinois seemed to have the game under wraps before Maurice Wallace returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards to give TTU the ball inside the 20-yard line. The Panthers forced Sweeney to toss four straight incomplete passes to ice the game with Perry Burge and Trevor Frericks providing pressure on the fourth down play. The Panther defense kept him off balance all day with nine pass break-ups and nine quarterback hurries.
“We had the ball for 43 minutes of possession so we were able to keep the ball away from them,” coach Bob Spoo said following the game. “If you look at the stat sheet it shouldn't have been that close, so I give their team credit.”
The Panthers built a 10-0 lead in the first quarter with a Signor field goal and Chris Wright 20-yard touchdown reception from Jake Christensen. EIU tacked on two more scores in the third quarter with Mon Williams rushing in from one yard and Signor converting again.
“We didn't take advantage of some early opportunities in the game where we had to settle for field goal attempts instead of touchdowns,” Spoo added.
EIU finished with 348 yards of total offense rushing for 166 yards and passing for 182. Williams finished with 81 yards while Christensen ran for 40 yards while passing for 182 yards on 17-of-27.
The defense limited TTU to just 78 yards rushing with Dontey Gay the top weapon with 64 yards. Nick Nasti had a team high eight tackles while Rashad Haynes had four tackles, two pass break-ups and one fumble recovery.
EIU will travel to Jacksonville State next Saturday for a 1 p.m. kick off against the Gamecocks.
