Eastern Illinois University Athletics

Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)

On Hall of Fame weekend at Eastern Illinois, the Panthers nearly pulled off a Hall of Fame comeback behind 267 yards passing and 65 yards rushing from quarterback Cole LaCrue.
 
The Panthers comeback bid came up just short in a 42-35 loss to regional rival Indiana State on Saturday night at O'Brien Field.
 
EIU trailed 28-7 at the half and fell behind 35-7 with 11:11 to play in the third quarter before eventually trimming the lead down to 42-35 late in the fourth quarter.
 
Indiana State opened the scoring with a 3-yard touchdown run by Aaron Ball with 12:06 to play in the opening quarter.  EIU answered right back as Charles Kellom ripped off a 76-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 with 11:18 to play in the first.   It was Kellom's second long touchdown run this season as he finished with 106 yards on the day and went over the 1,000 yard rushing mark at EIU in the game.
 
The Sycamores added a late first quarter touchdown and then another score midway through the second quarter.  Indiana State went up 28-7 at the half as Ball caught a 1-yard pass from Elijah Owens with seven seconds left in the half.  Owens was a factor all game for ISU rushing for 98 yards and two touchdowns while passing for 284 yards and two more scores.  Owens 42-yard strike to BJ Wuest with 11:11 left in the third quarter built a 35-7 ISU lead.
 
LaCrue helped the Panthers mount a comeback bid.  He hit Jeremy Reeves with a 21-yard touchdown pass and then rushed for an 8-yard score in the third quarter to cut the lead to 35-21.
 
Owens 15-yard run in the fourth quarter built the Sycamores cushion back to 21-points with 10:40 to play.  In the fourth quarter EIU scored on touchdown receptions by Jacarre Fleming-Page and Kellom, the last coming with 4:03 to play as Ja'Wuan Nickson set the Panthers up in prime real estate with an interception.   Nickson led EIU with ten tackles including 1.5 for loss.
 
Indiana State was able to convert on a key third down in the final four minutes to run out the clock and improve to 1-2 on the season.   EIU fell to 1-2.