Sunday, October 18, 2009 8:21 PM CDT
Panthers hold on for 23-15 win
BY BRIAN NIELSEN
Sports Editor
CHARLESTON – Barely after the sigh of relief when Austin Signor's 46-yard field goal provided the eight-point margin, nervous times returned for Eastern Illinois Tennessee Tech's Maurice Wallace took Signor's kickoff at the 1-yard line and weaved through the Panthers' coverage 81 yards.– FG Austin Signor 48, 13:26– Chris Wright 20 pass from Jake Christensen (Signor kick), :42– Mon Williams 1 run (Signor kick), 8:38– FG Signor 30, 3:07– Safety, Justin Vann tackled Williams in end zone, :44– Colin Allen 11 pass from Lee Sweeney (Timothy Donegan kick), 3:54– FG Signor 46, 2:59
Instead of needing a long drive with little time, Tech was on the EIU 18-yard line with 35 seconds remaining and just a touchdown and two-point conversion from forcing what was left of the 8,708 spectators who witnessed the Tony Romo jersey retirement to watch an overtime.
"We knew we could stop them," EIU cornerback Rashad Haynes said. "We had been stopping them all game."
The Panthers did one more time.
When Perry Burge and Trevor Frericks hurried Tech quarterback Lee Sweeney into an incomplete fourth-and-6 pass with 23 seconds remaining, Eastern had held on for a 23-15 Ohio Valley Conference football win at O'Brien Field.
"It shouldn't have been that close," EIU coach Bob Spoo said after his team saw a 20-0 lead late in the third quarter dwindle to five points.
It was enough to keep the Panthers, 5-2 overall, 3-1 in the OVC and No. 25 in the Football Championship Subdivision Coaches Poll, in the league title chase. Tech had a two-game winning streak stopped and fell to 3-3 and 2-2.
Jake Christensen completed 17 of 27 passes for 182 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown to freshman Chris Wright in the second quarter, while having two interceptions and Mon Williams ran for 81 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries for Eastern.
But shining on this day was a shorthanded Eastern defense which limited Tech's Lee Sweeney, who entered the game second in the OVC and and 14th in the FCS, to 19 completions in 46 attempts while being intercepted twice.
Tech, whose receiving leader Tim Benford did not make the trip, also lost three fumbles.
"Our defense won this game for us and we had four starters out," Spoo said.
Linebacker Nick Nasti led EIU with four tackles and forced a fumble that he recovered while Hayes broke up two passes and forced a fumble in addition to recording four tackles.
This was EIU's Homecoming Day as well as Hall of Fame Day with Romo using the Dallas Cowboys' bye week for a return to the college where he played before becoming an NFL star.
Tennessee Tech 0 0 2 13 - 15
Eastern Illinois 10 0 10 3 - 23
First quarter
EIU
EIU
Third quarter
EIU
EIU
TTU
Fourth
TTU
EIU
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
|
|
|
