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JACKSONVILLE. Ala – Jacksonville State scored two touchdowns in the early part of the third quarter as the No. 7 Gamecocks beat Eastern Illinois 49-22 on Saturday afternoon.

EIU fell to 1-6 overall, 1-3 in the OVC.  The Panthers will host UT Martin next week at 2 pm for the EIU Homecoming Game.  JSU improved to 5-1 overall, 4-0 in the OVC.

Both teams moved the ball on offense in the first half with the difference being Jacksonville State turned three drives into touchdowns while EIU settled for three Nick Bruno field goals to trail 21-9 at the half.

JSU jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter as the Gamecocks scored on their first two possessions.  Zerrick Cooper hit Trae Berry on a 45-yard pass for the first score.  Jaelen Greene had an 11-yard run with 8:44 remaining in the first quarter.

Mark Williams picked off a pass on the third JSU possession to give EIU some momentum.  The offense drove into the red zone but could not convert a touchdown, coming away with a 27-yard Bruno field goal.

DySaun Smith picked off a pass for the EIU defense later in the first half which the Panthers converted into a 40-yard Bruno field goal with 9:03 to play in the first half as the Panthers cut the lead to 14-6.

Cooper gave the Gamecocks a 21-6 with 6:56 to play in the first half with a 4-yard touchdown run.  EIU made one final drive in the first half but a sack by JSU on third down in the red zone forced EIU to take a 36-yard Bruno field goal.

JSU extended its lead in the second half to 35-9 with Cooper touchdown passes of 35 yards and 31 yards to Josh Pearson.   Cooper was 13-of-21 for the game finishing with 240 yards passing.

JSU's defense clamped down on the EIU run game during the contest as they held EIU to just 15 yards rushing.

The top two touchdown receivers in the nation then traded touchdown receptions in the fourth quarter.  Alexander Hollins caught his FCS leading 12th touchdown on a nine-yard strike from Johnathan Brantley.  Pearson caught his third touchdown of the day from Zion Webb with 7:29 left in the game.  Pearson ended the day second in the FCS with 11 touchdown receptions. 

EIU added a late touchdown on a 39-yard pass from Brantley to Aaron Gooch.  JSU then countered with a touchdown run by Webb. 

Brantley finished the game 28-of-39 for 243 yards.  Brantley set the OVC record for consecutive passes thrown without an interception finishing the game with 213 straight attempts.  The previous record was 207 by Casey Brockman of Murray State during the 2012 season. 

Javon Turner led EIU with eight tackles.   Yul Gowdy had nine tackles to lead JSU.