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Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony... coming soon...

Connor Wolf passed for an Eastern Illinois freshman school record 411 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday, but it was not enough as the fourth-ranked Illinois State Redbirds claimed a 42-30 win over EIU in the 113th playing of the Mid-America Classic.
 
Wolf's first big strike of the game was a 75-yard connection with CJ Nelson for 75 yards with 13:30 to play in the second quarter which cut an ISU 14-0 lead in half.    The Panthers would close to 14-10 with 42 seconds left in the half on a 43-yard Drew Schiller field goal.
 
ISU answered quickly to end the half as Tommy Rittenhouse hit Luke Mailander for a 46-yard touchdown with eight seconds left in the half to put the Redbirds 21-10 at the break.
 
EIU threatening and ISU answering seemed to be the tone in the second half.  Wolf hit Cooper Willman for an 18-yard touchdown and then Nelson for a 51-yard strike early in the fourth quarter to bring EIU to within five points at 28-23 after a failed two-point conversion attempt by the Panthers after Nelson's second score.
 
ISU tacked on two scores in the final 6:21 of the game with EIU breaking through a final time with 1:47 to play on Wolf's fourth touchdown toss, a nine-yard pass to DeAirious Smith.
 
Wolf was 28-of-44 with two interceptions.   Nelson had seven catches for 194 yards and the two scores. 
 
ISU was able to maintain EIU's run game limiting the Panthers to just 35 yards on the ground.  Rittenhouse passed for 299 yards and three scores.  His top target was Mailander with five catches for 109 yards.
 
Ja'Wuan Nickson had 12 tackles to lead EIU with Tylan Foster adding 11.
 
Tye Niekamp led all tackers for ISU with 14 stops.
 
EIU is now 1-2 on the year, ISU moved to 2-1.