Six turnovers forced by the Eastern Illinois defense and a big rushing day by
Charles Kellom carried the Panthers to a 21-7 win on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Gardner-Webb.
The Panthers improved to 2-4 overall, 1-0 in the OVC. GWU fell to 2-5 overall, 1-1 in the OVC.
The first big turnover came on special teams in the third quarter after a scoreless first half.Â
Davian Humphrey recovered a muffed punt attempt at the 1-yard line. Kellom plunged in from 1-yard out with 13:21 to play in the third quarter.
An interception by
Jerry Addo-Boateng stopped the next GWU drive before the Bulldogs finally broke through scoring with 9:41 to play in the game on a Lan Farmer 37-yard touchdown pass to Kory Jones.
EIU leaned on the run all day and late in the fourth quarter it paid off as
Charles Kellom broke a big 30-yard run as he finished with 150Â yards on the day.Â
Cole LaCrue capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run with 2:31 to play in the game. EIU completed two passes all day with both for a total of 11 yards to
Devin Whitlock.
The Panthers defense made a fourth down stop on the next GWU drive only to see Kellom score again to ice the game. Kellom scored a four-yard run with 1:18 to play.
The final turnover closed out the game as
Aidan Archibald had a sack and forced fumble giving EIU the ball with 15 seconds left in the game. Archibald had five tackles and two tackles for loss.
