FINAL STATS
CHARLESTON, Illinois – Eastern Illinois proved worthy of its No. 2 national ranking.
The high-powered Panthers secured their second straight Ohio Valley Conference championship with a 52-14 win over No. 22 Jacksonville State Saturday at wind-swept O'Brien Field. The Gamecocks (8-3, 4-3 OVC) had their three-game win streak snapped and likely need a victory in the regular-season finale to keep alive hopes of making the 24-team Football Championship Subdivision playoff field.
Eastern Illinois (10-1, 7-0) put up a school-record 35 points in the first quarter and outgained the Gamecocks 595-253 for the afternoon.
On a day of few bright spots for the Gamecocks' offense, junior
DaMarcus James etched his name in JSU's record book with a 1-yard touchdown dive in the fourth quarter.
James surpassed Oscar Bonds' school record for touchdowns in a season with his 20th. He finished with 85 yards on 20 carries.
The tone of the game was set on the third play from scrimmage when quarterback
Max Shortell fumbled a handoff and EIU's Clint Simpkins recovered at JSU's 15.
Shepard Little ran in from the 3 to finish off the short drive and give the Panthers a 7-0 lead with 13:48 left in the first quarter.
EIU added touchdowns on its next four possessions to extend the lead to 35-0 before the first quarter ended. The scoring drives covered 79, 75, 47 and 66 yards, with the Panthers needing less than two minutes to get into the end zone on three of the four.
Little caught an 18-yard touchdown from NFL draft prospect Jimmy Garoppolo, ran 37 yards for another score and tossed a 10-yard throwback pass to Garoppolo to make it 28-0 at the 3:22 mark in the first quarter.
Little finished with 274 all-purpose yards, including 245 rushing on 26 carries.
Jimmy Lera's 57-yard jaunt up the middle stretched the Panthers' cushion to 35-0 with 46 seconds to go in opening quarter.
Jacksonville State finally was able to get on the scoreboard with the 30 mph wind as its back in second quarter. Shortell directed an eight-play, 50-yard march to the end zone.
Anthony Johnson leaped to catch a 22-yard pass from Shortell for a touchdown and
Griffin Thomas tacked on the extra point to pull JSU to within 35-7 midway through the second quarter.
Cameron Berra's short field goal sent the Gamecocks to the locker room trailing 38-7 at halftime.
Jacksonville concludes its regular season next Saturday against Southeast Missouri State for Hall of Fame Day at Burgess-Snow Field.
POST-GAME NOTES
- Eastern Illinois won the toss and defers decision until the second half.
- Junior
Gabe Chambers earned his first career start today for the Gamecocks to become the 18th different player to earn his first career start during the 2013 season. Chambers had played in 27 games before getting the first start of his career.
- Junior
DaMarcus James scored on a one-yard run with 14:03 left in the fourth quarter to extend his streak of scoring a rushing touchdown to eight games.
- Junior
DaMarcus James scored his 20th rushing touchdown of the season to set the JSU single-season record. He broke the record of 19 by Oscar Bonds set in 2004. He is just one away from the OVC record of 21 by Elroy Harris (EKU) set in 1988.
- Jacksonville State allowed 35 points in the first quarter, which was the most since the Gamecocks gave up 28 points during the first quarter at UT Martin since Nov. 3, 2012.
- Freshman
Anthony Johnson caught his third touchdown reception of the year, which leads the Gamecocks
- Jax State has posted 11 straight winning seasons, which is the longest such stretch in school history.
- JSU lost a season-high three fumbles today vs the Panthers. JSU's momst fumbles lost entering today's game was two fumbles lost vs Georgia State on Sept. 21.
- Junior RS-Linebacker
Michael Carlisle finished with a career-high in tackles. He had six last week (3 solo/3 assists) last week against Eastern Kentucky.
- EIU now leads the series against Jax State by a slim 6-5 margin.
- The 52 points by EIU scored today was the most in the 11 meetings between the two teams. The Panthers scored 37 against JSU on Nov. 10, 2007.
- The last time Jax State allowed 50-or more points was at Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 22, 2012.
JSU BY THE NUMBERS
8 - Consecutive games that
DaMarcus James has scored a rushing touchdown
11 - Consecutive winning seasons by Jax State
18 - JSU players that have made their first career start during the 2013 season (
Gabe Chambers today)
20 - Rushing touchdowns by
DaMarcus James this season to set the single-season record (broke Oscar Bonds record of 19 set in 2004).
33 - Consecutive games started by junior
Max Holcombe at center, the longest active streak by a Gamecock
46 - Wins by Jax State since the start of the 2008 season
