A big offensive day by several Eastern Illinois players helped catapult the Panthers to a 45-16 road win on Saturday afternoon at UT Martin.
The win was the first for the Panthers at UT Martin since the 2015 season and snapped a seven-game win streak by UTM in the series.  EIU improved to 3-6 overall, 2-2 in the OVC. UTM dropped to the same record at 3-6 overall, 2-2 in the OVC.
EIU opened up the offense in the fist quarter with a pair of touchdowns as
Cole LaCrue hit
Devin Whitlock for a 14-yard pass to end EIU's opening drive.Â
Charles Kellom ran in from 5-yards out on the next possession as EIU scored on its opening three drives of the game with good third down consistency.
The Panthers converted on their first five third down opportunities and finished 7-of-11 on third down for the day. LaCrue passed for 269 yards and four touchdowns. The junior quarterback also rushed for 112 yards and another score as EIU churned out 283 yards on the ground and 552 yards for the game.
Leading 17-0 and driving for a fourth straight score, EIU had a ball intercepted at the goal line to end a drive in the second quarter. The Skyhawks had a big 50-yard run by Jaydon Peete to give their offense some momentum as they cut the lead down to 17-13 with two rushing scores by Chris Franklin. Peete had 99 yards and Franklin 67 on the ground.
The momentum swung back to EIU right before the half as the Panthers tacked on one more score with 13 seconds left in the half. Â
Jeremy Reeves caught a 12-yard touchdown from LaCrue staking EIU to a 24-13 lead.
The Panthers iced the game with two big scoring plays in the fourth quarter. The first a LaCrue 50-yard touchdown run. The second a LaCrue 67-yard screen pass to
Jacarre Fleming-Page. Fleming Page rushed for 98 yards and had 75 yards receiving.
Eli Evans caught the other LaCrue touchdown toss in the third quarter with Brandon Sims kicking a 39-yard field goal for the final Skyhawks points.
Jerry Addo-Boateng and
Makhi Wilson both had fourth quarter interceptions as EIU extended its consecutive game streak with at least one turnover gained to 12 straight contests. Â
Ja'Wuan Nickson led EIU's defense with eight tackles. Addo-Boateng added six.
Farand Washington, Jamarcus Smith and Nissi Mukulu each had six tackles for UTM.
