A tale of two halves for Eastern Illinois football on Saturday night as the Panthers played at No. 2 South Dakota State. EIU trailed 14-7 at the half before suffering a 42-7 loss to the Jackrabbits.
A solid first half for the Panthers involving some big defensive plays, a little trickery on special teams and a rushing touchdown by
Cole LaCrue put EIU down just 14-7 at the half to SDSU.
Josiah Johnson started the scoring in the first quarter for the Jackrabbits as he scored on an 18-yard run to cap the first drive of the game.
EIU's defense would stop two more SDSU drives in their tracks with stops on fourth down.
Nick Vecchiarelli helped make the stop on the first fourth down stop while
Dillon Conway had a pass break-up on the other fourth down stop.
On special teams EIU extended a drive with a successful fake punt as
Cade Cox threw to Mahki Wilson to convert and keep the Panthers drive going. LaCrue made the conversion pay off as he scored on a 9-yard run with 12:11 to play in the second quarter.
SDSU answered on its next drive to go back up 14-7 as James Basinger scored on a 39-yard run with 8:29 to play in the half. The Jackrabbits would have a final first half scoring opportunity fail as Tristan Alvano had a 41-yard field goal attempt bounce off the upright.
Eastern Illinois had the opening drive of the second half driving the ball to midfield with South Dakota State making a big fourth down stop at midfield on a tackle by Jes Krcil.
The Jackrabbits then scored on their first two offensive plays of the second half to open up a 28-7 lead. Basinger had a 48-yard touchdown run after the fourth down defensive stop. Corey Blair broke a 61-yard run for a touchdown on the second SDSU play of the second half.
Johnson broke loose for a third touchdown of the third quarter for SDSU on a fourth and one, breaking a 55-yard run for his second rushing score of the game. The Jackrabbits final score came on a short touchdown pass to tight end Ben Brooks.
Vecchiarelli led the EIU defense with 12 tackles.
Alex Koulovatos was just behind with 11 tackles.
Brandon Worsley had a fourth quarter interception for the Panthers.
LaCrue finished with 85 yards passing and ran for 24 yards with the score.
SDSU improved to 4-1 on the season while EIU dropped to 1-4.
