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Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – On a night of offense around the Ohio Valley Conference, the Saturday game between Eastern Illinois and Murray State held its own in terms of both scoring, total yards and a dramatic finish. In the end Murray State scored with 26 seconds remaining to beat Eastern Illinois on Hall of Fame Day at O'Brien Field, 48-41.
The Panthers offense has now scored 40 or more points in four straight games as the Panthers dropped to 1-5 on the season, 1-2 in the OVC. Murray State improved to 2-0 in the OVC, 2-3 overall.
Last season in Murray, it was the EIU defense with a blocked field goal attempt in the second overtime that handed the Panthers the win. Tonight the Racers put themselves in position to win it with a field goal after Rodney Castille burst out for a 37-yard to put the ball in EIU territory in the final two minutes of the game. Quarterback Drew Anderson had a chance to score the touchdown with about 40 seconds remaining but dove short of the goal line after gaining a first down to keep the clock moving and set up what might have been a game winning field goal attempt. Instead Penick scored on the next play to cap a 180 yard rushing night with three touchdowns. Castille rushed for 142 yards as Murray State had 449 yards on the ground, the fourth most ever allowed by an EIU team. The Racers had 658 yards to total offense, the third highest total ever allowed by EIU.
While Murray State was putting up numbers, EIU countered with its own high powered offense. The Panthers had 643 yards of total offense which is the ninth best single game total in school history. Trailing by a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, the Panthers marched down the field to tie the game at 41-41 on a
Jamal Scott 35 yard touchdown run with 3:07 remaining. Scott had 115 yards on the ground on 16 carries as he started in place of the injured
Isaiah Johnson in the game.
The two teams traded punches in the first quarter with the Racers taking a 10-7 lead. EIU went in front 14-10 with 11:53 to play in the second quarter as
Johnathan Brantley hit
Nick Atoyebi with a 4-yard pass. Brantley came off the bench and was 28-of-42 for 328 yards with three touchdowns. During the game Brantley became the EIU school record holder in consecutive passes thrown without an interception. His streak continues at 174, breaking the previous mark of 164 set by Jalen Whitlow in 2014. EIU plays at Jacksonville State next Saturday with the game airing on ESPN3.
Brantley connected twice with
Alexander Hollins on touchdown strikes of eight and 45 yards. Hollins finished the game with ten catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns. It was his fifth 100-yard receiving day of the season. Hollins entered the game ranked first in the nation in touchdown receptions and second in both receptions and receiving yards.
Murray State and EIU continued to trade the lead until the fourth quarter when Gabriel Vicente put the Racers up a by touchdown with 35-yard field goal with 12:48 remaining.
Nolan Dean led the Panthers defense with 12 tackles while
Joe Caputo reached double figures with 11 stops.
Edwyn Brown had an interception and
Josh Price a fumble recovery as EIU had two turnovers gained in the contest.
Quincy Williams had ten tackles to lead Murray State. Kenney Wooten had two sacks including a big one on fourth and three that ended a Panthers drive at the Murray State 27 yard line with 5:37 left in the fourth quarter.
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