Football Recaps - Oct. 29

Football Recaps - Oct. 29

SATURDAY'S SCORES
*Eastern Kentucky 34, @Murray State 33
*@UT Martin 38, Southeast Missouri 30
*#19 Tennessee Tech 21, @#13 Jacksonville State 14
*Eastern Illinois 19, @Austin Peay 10


EASTERN KENTUCKY 34, MURRAY STATE 33
MURRAY, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University football team held off a furious fourth quarter rally by host Murray State and escaped with a 34-33 win Saturday afternoon at Stewart Stadium. The Colonels (5-3, 4-1 OVC) have now won seven straight meetings over the Racers (4-4, 2-3).
 
EKU scored touchdowns on three of its first four possessions in the second half to establish a 34-20 cushion. Junior quarterback T.J. Pryor scored the third touchdown, a one-yard sneak, with 14 minutes left in the game.
 
Murray State quickly responded on its ensuing drive to cut the deficit to 34-27. Racer quarterback Casey Brockman kept the home team alive by finding Ja-Vonta Trotter for an 18-yard touchdown pass on fourth down.
 
After holding the Colonels on downs with eight minutes remaining, Murray State's offense went right back to work. Running back Mike Harris broke free for a 32-yard scamper to move the Racers into Eastern Kentucky territory. Brockman then hooked up with Trotter on back-to-back passes, including a 19-yard touchdown strike, to bring Murray State to within one point, 34-33. However, Brandon Potts missed the point-after attempt wide left allowing EKU to cling to the one-point lead.
 
The Eastern Kentucky offense tried to run out the clock, but had to punt the ball back with 2:22 remaining. Murray State was able to move the ball to midfield before the Colonel defense stiffened. Eastern forced three incompletions from Brockman, one of which came on a 4th-and-6 situation, to secure EKU's fourth straight OVC victory.
 
Eastern Kentucky was led by junior Matt Denham's 219 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Denham has reached 200 yards rushing in three of the last four games. He also reached 1,000 career yards rushing early in the first quarter on a five-yard burst which gave EKU a first down. Junior wide receiver Tyrone Goard added five receptions for 53 yards and two scores.
 
Murray State piled up 530 yards of total offense, the most allowed by the EKU defense this year. Running back Mike Davis tallied a season-high 206 yards on the ground as well as 66 yards receiving. Meanwhile, Brockman threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns.
 
The Colonels were able to take a 14-13 lead into halftime thanks to holding Murray State's offense to two field goals in four trips to the red zone. Sophomore linebacker Ichiro Vance stuffed a MSU fake field goal attempt at the EKU two-yard line midway through the second quarter. The Racers later botched a field goal attempt two minutes before halftime.
 
EKU jumped on the board on the first offensive play of the game. Senior defensive back Jeremy Caldwell returned the opening kick-off 64 yards into Murray territory. Denham then ripped off a 34-yard touchdown run 20 seconds into the contest. Late in second quarter, Eastern Kentucky's offense put together a nine-play, 54-yard touchdown drive. Pryor passed for 30 yards on the drive, including a four-yard scoring pass to Goard.
 
UT MARTIN 38, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 30
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin scored 28 first-half points and held on to beat Southeast Missouri State, 38-30, Saturday afternoon at Hardy M. Graham Stadium.

Junior running back Tevin Barksdale rushed for 135 yards and one touchdown. Barksdale scored on a 64-yard run with 10:45 to play in the first quarter.

Sophomore DJ McNeil also scored on a one-yard run to cap off a nine-play, 51-yard drive, and the Skyhawks led 14-0 with 6:01 to play in the first quarter.
 
The Skyhawks rushed for 138 yards on 21 carries in the first half and finished the game with 207 yards. The Skyhawks stacked up 366 total yards of offense.
 
The Skyhawks scored two touchdowns in the second quarter. Junior quarterback Derek Carr threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Quentin Sims and a 16-yard TD strike to Kenny Jones.
 
Carr completed 16-of-24 passes with an interception for 159 yards.
 
Southeast Missouri answered this time with a 50-yard field goal and a 2-yard pass from quarterback Matt Scheible to Art Mueller to cut the lead to 28-9 at the half.
 
Scheible and Southeast Missouri staged a second half comeback that started on the Skyhawks' first possession of the second half when Bryan Blanfort intercepted Carr.
 
SE Missouri State marched 71 yards in 14 plays and ate almost 10 minutes of the third quarter. The sustained drive was capped off by Ron Coleman's 5-yard touchdown run.
 
UT Martin countered with 10 points in the fourth quarter. McNeil scored his second touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run with 14:04 to play in the game. And the Skyhawks led 35-16.
 
However, SE Missouri State relied on Scheible who threw two more touchdown passes in the quarter. Scheible completed 15-of-32 passes without an interception for 200 yards. It was the first time in eight games that Scheible has passed for 200 yards.

SE Missouri piled up 392 yards of offense.
 
Despite the stellar offensive play of Scheible, UT Martin was able to seal the win when junior Cody Sandlin kicked a 29-yard field goal with 5:31 to play in the game.
 
Scheible's final touchdown pass, an 11-yard completion to Spencer Davis, cut the Skyhawks lead to 38-30, with 3:57 to play.
 
The Skyhawks are now 5-3 overall and 4-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference standings. SE Missouri State falls to 2-6 overall and 2-4 in the league.

#19 TENNESSEE TECH 21, #13 JACKSONVILLE STATE 14
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - No. 19 Tennessee Tech's pulled off an improbable 21-14 victory at No. 13 Jacksonville State Saturday afternoon.

Even though the offensive unit sputtered through most of the first half, they found their groove in time to help earn the come-from-behind victory and push the Golden Eagles (5-2/4-1 OVC) into a three-way tie for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference. It marked the second year in a row that Tech has downed the league-leading Gamecocks (5-3/4-1 OVC).

Tech, JSU and Eastern Kentucky are tied for the top spot in the OVC standings with identical 4-1 records. Tech returns home to host Murray State next weekend for Homecoming, then visits Eastern Kentucky the following week.

Junior quarterback Tre Lamb was 15-for-18 for 168 yards, and his poise got the offense back on track. Junior Adam Urbano led the rushing game, going for 95 yards on 13 carries and one touchdown, while Dontey Gay added 36 yards on 11 carries, including two touchdowns.

The Tech defense, which featured several headliners, held JSU's Washaun Ealey to 68 yards on 16 carries. Calvin Middleton added 69 yards on 16 tries.  Quarterback Coty Blanchard was 17-for-22 for 175 yards and one touchdown, and also rushed 14 times for 31 yards and one TD.

Freshman Austin Tallant topped the tackle chart for Tech with 12 stop, while Jamere Hogue made nine tackles including a quarterback sack, and recovered the fumble in the closing minutes that sealed the win for the Golden Eagles. Corey Watson had eight tackles, and it was his jarring tackles that forced the fumble as the Gamecocks were driving for a potential tying score.

The win appeared improbable during the first half when the JSU defense dominated and the home team bolted out to a quick 7-0 lead with a 77-yard, game-opening scoring drive.  Blanchard found Jerry Slota in the back of the end zone for a four-year score.

Beginning with a quarterback sack on Tech's first offensive play, the Golden Eagles just couldn't move the ball. In fact, the Golden Eagles didn't get a single first down in the first quarter, and never crossed into JSU territory.

However, the Tech defense settled in and held JSU scoreless the rest of the first half. The biggest play came on fourth-and-two at the TTU 36 after Jacksonville State had marched from its own 32. Blanchard was stuffed by Marcus Edwards for a gain of one yard, and the offense used that play to springboard itself back into the contest.

After 27 minutes with zero yard of total offense, the offense responded on the arm of Lamb. He connected with Tim Benford and Zack Ziegler on back-to-back strikes and Tech moved quickly downfield, setting up a one-yard touchdown push by Gay that tied the game, 7-7, before halftime.

For the score to be tied didn't seem possible when viewing the game stats. JSU held the ball nearly 20 of the first 30 minutes, was 8-for-13 on third down conversions, and held a 172-62 edge in total offense. Tech had minus 10 (-10) rushing yards at the intermission.

Lamb and the offense came out of the dressing room to open the second half and put together an impressive, 11-play, 72-yard scoring drive that took nearly six minutes off the game clock. Urbano accounted for 37 yards on the drive, including a five-yard TD to put Tech on top, 14-7.

Jacksonville State bounced right back with 70-yard, 13-play scoring drive that knotted the contest once more, 14-14. Banchard raced 13 yards for the touchdown with 2:55 to play in the third quarter.

The Golden Eagles put together the eventual game-winning drive on their next possession, beginning from their own 22. Facing third-and-12, Lamb it Benford for a 13-yard gain, then Henry Rodgers for an 11-yard pickup. After switching directions with the end of the quarter, Lamb heaved on deep that Ryan Tilghman fought to make a leaping grab and turn into a 43-yard play. Tilghman was moved from quarterback to receiver four weeks ago when Benford was missing snaps due to leg cramps. His catch set Tech up with a first-and-goal at the 10, and Gay carried three times for all the yards and his 12th touchdown of the year.

The Tech offense also chewed up more than five minutes later in the quarter with a nine-play drive before Nick Campbell's 42-yard punt backed JSU to its own 13 with 3:28 to play. Campbell punted five times and four were downed inside the Gamecock 20.

JSU moved from its own 13 to the Tech 30, but that's where Watson and Hogue came up with the game's only turnover. After catching a swing pass, Middleton was hit hard by Watson and lost the handle, and Hogue recovered in front of the Tech bench.

Trying to run out the final 1:25, Tech gave the ball to Urbano and he broke off a 34-yard run on third-and six.

EASTERN ILLINOIS 19, AUSTIN PEAY 10
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay dominated play in the first 15 minutes Saturday night.  Eastern Illinois dominated the remainder of the game as the Panthers picked up a 19-10 road win in Clarksville, Tenn. 

EIU improved to 2-7, 1-6 in the OVC snapping an OVC losing skid for the second straight year against Austin Peay.  APSU fell to 2-6, 2-4 in the OVC.

Austin Peay controlled play in the opening quarter limiting Eastern Illinois to only three plays from scrimmage.  APSU took a 7-0 lead scoring on its opening drive with an 8-yard run by Ryan White.

EIU's defense stiffened at the start of the second quarter holding the Governors to a 21-yard field goal by Stephen Stansell after they had three plays inside the 10-yard line.  During the defensive stand senior Cory Leman moved into the Panthers career top ten in tackles as he finished with ten tackles.  Antonio Taylor led EIU with 12 tackles.

EIU's offense found its stride on the next drive as Jimmy Garoppolo hit Chris Wright for a touchdown for the ninth time this season as Wright hauled in a 52-yard pass with 11:11 left in the half.  Wright moved into sixth on the single season touchdown pass reception list with that catch while Garoppolo moved into the career top ten for passing yards.

Garoppolo finished the day with 201 yards going 10-of-18.  Garoppolo is now 8th on the Panthers career passing yards list passing Steve Turk, Bodie Reeder and Ron Gustafson during the game.

Jake Walker put the Panthers on top 13-10 with 4:27 left in the half on a two-yard touchdown run.  Walker finished with 124 yards on the ground as EIU bounced back from last week's negative five yards rushing game to finish with 181 yards as a team.

Cameron Berra tacked on a pair of field goals from 25 and 29 yards to account for the only scoring in the second half.  With the two field goals Berra moved into a tie for 10th on the EIU career field goals list.