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COOKEVILLE, Tenn. –
Nick Horne stopped Tennessee Tech on 4th down with 36 seconds remaining as the No. 17 ranked Eastern Illinois Panthers held on for a 30-24 win on Saturday night at Tucker Stadium.
EIU improved to 5-2 overall, 3-1 in the OVC. TTU dropped to 2-5, 2-3 in the OVC.
Eastern Illinois led 27-24 with 7:31 to play in the game. The Panthers chewed up just over five minutes of game clock before going up 30-24 with 2:19 to play on
Nick Bruno's third field goal of the game, this one from 23 yards.
TTU moved the ball to the Panthers 40-yard line but Horne stopped a scrambling Michael Birdsong on a fourth down run. EIU took over and ran out the clock for the victory.
Eastern Illinois closed the first half scoring ten points in the final 19 seconds as the Panthers trailed Tennessee Tech, 17-13 at the half.
After going 1-of-3 in the red zone in previous scoring drives in the first half the Panthers cut the lead to 17-10 with 19 seconds left in the half as
Mitch Kimble connected with
Dennis Turner for a 17-yard touchdown. TTU would mishandle the kickoff as
Vince Speller recovered the loose ball. Bruno hit a 29-yard field goal as time expired.
The Panthers continued that momentum into the second half as they set up a 65-yard play-action Kimble touchdown pass to
Paul Gossage with a steady dose of
Devin Church on the ground. Church posted his fourth 100-yard rushing day of his career matching his career high with 139 yards. Kimble's long touchdown to Gossage came with 9:03 to play in the third quarter.
A second TTU turnover of the game led to the Panthers next score as
Jarvis Williams forced a fumble and
Raymond Crittenden recovered the ball at the bottom of the pile. Three plays later
Darshon McCullough bowled over from 1-yard to put the Panthers up 27-17 with 5:28 to play in the third quarter.
Tennessee Tech cut the lead to 27-24 with a 3-yard run by Andrew Goldsmith with 7:31 to play in the game.
As the Panthers offensive converted only 1-of-3 red zone attempts to start the game, Tennessee Tech was able to move the ball with sharp first half passing by Birdsong who was 16-of-20 for 158 yards. He would finish the game 26-of-38 for 294 yards but was sacked four times by the EIU defense.
Nick Madonia put the Golden Eagles on the board with a 43-yard field goal after Brandon Thomas had intercepted a Kimble pass in the end zone on the EIU opening drive. Bruno evened the score for EIU at 12:57 of the second quarter with a 28-yard field goal.
TTU scored twice in the second quarter with Jordan Smith hauling in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Birdsong and Yeedee Thaenrat ran for a 17-yard score with 1:39 left in the half putting TTU up 17-3.
Kimble passed for 323 yards. His top target on the evening was Turner who finished with four catches for 122 yards.
Seth McDonald led the Panthers defense with nine tackles. Williams added eight tackles with 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
Four TTU players finished in double figure tackles led by Josh Poplar and Clay Davis each with 15 tackles.
