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RICHMOND, Ky. – A tale of two halves played out on Saturday afternoon in Richmond, Kentucky as Eastern Kentucky outscored the Eastern Illinois 21-6 in the second half to post a 31-23 win on a chilly day at Roy Kidd Stadium.
EIU fell to 2-7 overall, 2-4 in the OVC. The Panthers have a bye week on Nov. 3 before hosting Austin Peay on Nov. 10 for Senior Day. EKU improved to 4-4 overall, 3-2 in the OVC.
Trailing 17-10 at the half, EKU tied the game midway through the third quarter as LJ Scott broke a 48-yard touchdown run. The Colonels finished the game with 216 yards rushing after being held to 29 yards on the ground in the first half. Scott had 151 yards on 14 carries.
EIU had a chance to go back in front on the next drive but after moving the ball to the 1-yard line, they suffered a team fumble that pushed ball back to the 18 yard line. Josh Hayes then picked off a pass on the next play to end the Panthers scoring drive.
EKU took the lead 24-17 to open the fourth quarter as Jaelin Carter caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from the Colonels third quarterback of the day, Alphonso Howard. Carter scored his third touchdown of the game with 6:21 to play in the game on a 5-yard reverse extending the lead to 31-17.
The Panthers cut the lead to one score with 3:53 to play as
Johnathan Brantley scored on a nine-yard run. The extra point hit off the upright. Following the EIU kickoff, EKU was able to run the clock down to 32 seconds. EIU ran three plays but could not advance the ball past their own 30 yard line.
Two big plays by Eastern Illinois on special teams and defense helped the Panthers take a 17-10 lead into the half.Â
After Eastern Kentucky tied the game at 10-10 with 1:48 left in the half on an Austin Scott 34 yard pass to Carter;
Darshon McCullough took a short kickoff 50-yards to set up the Panthers offense.Â
Harry Woodbery hit
Aaron Gooch for a 23-yard pass to put the ball at the 1-yard line. Two plays later
Isaiah Johnson scored his second rushing touchdown of the game to put EIU up 17-10.
On the next kickoff Carter ripped off a big return to give the Colonels the ball in EIU territory. After two plays moved the ball inside the red zone, EIU had back-to-back sacks by
Joe Caputo. The first sack was negated by a penalty. The second sack resulted in a forced fumble by back-up quarterback Dakota Allen that was recovered by
Levi Watson.
EKU opened the game with a 38-yard field goal after the Colonels picked off a Brantley pass on the first play of the game. The interception by Cornelius Floyd snapped Brantley's OVC record streak of consecutive passes without an interception at 230. EIU's defense held EKU to a 3-and-out as Sam Hayworth knocked home the 38-yard kick.
Johnson rushed for 132 yards in the first half. He had a 49-yard run that set up the Panthers first points, a 32-yard field goal by
Nick Bruno. He later scored on a 34-yard run with 3:27 to play in the first quarter. Johnson became the 29th player in EIU school history to pass the 1,000 yard mark for their career.
Dytarious Johnson and
Edwyn Brown both had ten tackles to lead EIU's defense.  TJ Comstock had ten tackles to lead the Colonels.
