A host of big plays and some odd plays went right along with a long time rivalry on Saturday afternoon as Eastern Illinois lost to visiting Western Illinois, 44-23, on Family Weekend O'Brien Field.
Eastern Illinois jumped on the board first scoring on its first drive of the game as
Cole LaCrue hit
Jacarre Fleming-Page for the first of two receiving touchdowns for the running back as he finished with four catches for 115 yards. The first quarter touchdown covered 39 yards while he took a screen pass 75 yards for a touchdown in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter.
WIU answered the first EIU touchdown with a pair of drives capped by Kennedy McGill rushing touchdowns as the quarterback had scores from eight and four yards out. He finished the day with 102 yards on the ground.
After EIU stopped a late second quarter drive, WIU punted the ball to the one-yard line with just over a minute remaining in the half. On the second play of the drive Jouvenson Romulus undercut a screen pass and picked off the pass returning it four yards for a touchdown to give the Leathernecks a 21-7 lead at the half.
WIU extended the lead to 31-7 in the third quarter as McGill hit Israel Hiraldo on a 76-yard touchdown pass with 4:28 to play. Hiraldo had six catches for 153 yards. The lead was extended to 37-7 on the opening play of the fourth quarter as Ihson E. Jackson-Anderson scored on a five-yard run. On the extra point James Collins blocked an extra point for the second straight week, but this one was returned by several EIU players with two laterals involved before
Jerry Addo-Boateng ended up in the end zone for the two point conversion for the Panthers.
EIU scored on the first play of the next drive with Fleming-Page's long touchdown reception making it 37-16 with 14:55 to play. EIU attempted an on-side kick on the kickoff that Rodney McNeil Jr., grabbed out of the air and returned 44 yards for a touchdown as four total scores spanned 20 seconds of game time on the clock.
Jeremy Reeves hauled in a 17-yard touchdown pass from
Jeremiah Salem midway through the fourth quarter for the final points.
Ja'Wuan Nickson led the Panthers defense with ten tackles while
Lonnie Burt added nine.
Jordyn Stewart recovered a fourth quarter fumble to extend the Panthers streak of consecutive games with a turnover gained to 13.
With the win WIU improved to 6-4 overall, 4-1 in the OVC. EIU fell to 3-7 overall, 2-3 in the OVC.
