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Eastern Illinois football had its 2024 season come to an end on Saturday afternoon with a 23-6 loss at Tennessee Tech.
The Panthers end the campaign at 3-9 overall, 2-6 in the Big South OVC. TTU is now 7-5 overall, 6-2 in the Big South OVC.
EIU's defense held on the opening driving forcing a long field goal by Dom LeBlanc as he connected from 46 yards to give the Golden Eagles a 3-0 lead.
The Panthers answered with a long drive of their own but missed on a long field goal attempt but during the drive also lost the services of quarterback
Pierce Holley to a hand injury.
TTU would force a turnover against back-up quarterback
Blainey Dowling but EIU's defense stood limiting TTU to only a LeBlance 20-yard field goal.Â
Anthony Shockey was key on the Panthers defense finishing with 11 tackles as he reached the 100-tackle mark for the season, only the 40th player in program history to do that.
TTU added a Jordan Yates 9-yard field goal with 3:49 left in the opening half to lead 13-0 at the break.
EIU would eventually crack the end zone as
Jay Pearson broke a 59-yard run to put the Panthers in the red zone. Pearson finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown as EIU trailed 16-6 following a failed two-point conversion with 2:15 to play in the third quarter.
Tyler Wilson capped the scoring with a 9-yard run early in the fourth quarter as TTU rushed for 200 yards on the day. Jalen Mitchell had 131 on the ground.
Pierce Holley would return in the fourth quarter finishing with 129 yards passing as he became the fourth EIU quarterback in school history to pass for 3,000 or more yards in a season. He would also pass the 10,000-yard mark for his college career.
Cooper Willman was a top target for both Holley and Dowling catching nine passes for 86 yards. Parson rushed for 69 yards.
Drake Van Hyfte had six tackles with two tackles for loss and a sack.Â
