RICHMOND, Ky. – The offense lost its way to the end zone, so Jacksonville State's smothering defense had to pick up the slack against Eastern Kentucky.
 
Reggie Hall, Joel McCandless and Jaylen Hill returned interceptions for touchdowns as the second-ranked Gamecocks escaped with a 24-7 win at Roy Kidd Stadium. It marked the first time in Jacksonville State's vaunted history that its defense scored three TDs in a game via interception returns.
 
Hall picked off a pass by quarterback Tyler Swofford and raced 88 yards down the Colonels' sideline with 9:34 to go to seal Jacksonville State's 20^th consecutive Ohio Valley Conference victory. Hall's pick-six came after McCandless (41 yards) and Hill (60 yards) intercepted passes by EKU starter Bennie Coney and returned them for scores in the second quarter.
 
Hill added another interception in the fourth quarter and Marlon Bridges also picked off a Coney pass as Jacksonville State improved to 6-1, 3-0 in the OVC with its first conference road win. Eastern Kentucky dropped to 2-5 and 1-3.
 
Cade Stinnett kicked a 25-yard field goal midway through the third quarter for the only points generated by the normally potent offense.
 
Josh Clemons ran for a career-high 146 yards on 26 carries as JSU had its second-lowest offensive output of the season with 351 yards. The Colonels' defense limited Eli Jenkins – the OVC's leading rusher at 101.3 yards per game – to 25 yards on 12 carries.
 
Josh Barge caught six Jenkins passes for 72 yards and extended his streak of games with at least one reception to 45 games, tying the FCS record held by three others.
 
The Gamecocks snapped Eastern Kentucky's streak of nine straight homecoming wins with their fourth win in a row in the series. The Colonels entered the game ranked 14^th nationally at 457.3 total yards per game, but mustered just 260 yards against JSU.
 
Jacksonville State's offense sputtered in the first half and failed to produce points.
 
JSU's kicking game continued to have issues as Stinnett was wide right on a 36-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter and had a 41-yard attempt blocked late in the second. The Gamecocks entered the game having converted 83 percent of their trips to the red zone, but were 0-for-2 over the first 30 minutes.
 
This year's senior class tied the 2012-2015 class with its 40^th victory, tying it as the winningest class in Jacksonville State Division I history.
 
Bridges recorded a team-high eight tackles plus his interception. Hall and Ra'Shad Green had six stops each.
 
Eastern Illinois (5-3) visits Burgess-Snow Field next Saturday for homecoming on the Jacksonville State campus. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
 
 
Jacksonville State Postgame Notes – at Eastern Kentucky
October 22, 2016 • Roy Kidd Stadium • Richmond, Ky.
- Jacksonville State captains: QB Bryant Horn, DE Dalton Campbell, SAF Marlon Bridges and WR Demontez Terry.
- Jacksonville State won the toss and deferred to the second half.
- Jacksonville State's first offensive play was a 37-yard pass from Eli Jenkins to Josh Barge. The catch by Barge gave him at least one reception in 45-straight games. Already a school record, but broke the OVC record of 44 held by Samford's Jeff Moore from 2004-07 and ties the FCS record held by three players (Towson's Marcus Lee from 2005-08, Eastern Washington's Nicolas Edwards from 2009-12 and Illinois State's Tyrone Walker from 2009-12).
- Joel McCandless' 41-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter was JSU's first defensive TD of the season. It was JSU's first interception return for a score since Nov. 7, 2015, when Dawson Wells returned one 35 yards at Eastern Illinois.
- The second quarter interception was McCandless' first interception of the season and the second of his career. It was his first career touchdown.
- Freshman Marlon Bridges' interception late in the second quarter was his third pick of the season, tying him for the FCS lead for interceptions by a freshman with Corey Parker (William & Mary) and Jaylan Foster (Gardner-Webb).
- Jaylen Hill's interception late in the second quarter was his second of the season and the ninth of his career. It was his first career touchdown. The 60-yard return was the longest by a Gamecock since Rashod Byers' 90-yard return at Austin Peay on Nov. 2, 2013.
- The two interception returns for a touchdown by Joel McCandless and Jaylen Hill in the second quarter marked the first time since Oct. 15, 2011 at Austin Peay that JSU has returned two interceptions for a score in the same game.
- Eastern Kentucky's third quarter touchdown was the first points the Colonels have scored vs. JSU since the third quarter of the 2014 matchup, a 20-6 JSU win. It was the first touchdown by EKU against JSU since the third quarter of the 2013 game, snapping a streak of 11-straight quarters without a TD vs. JSU (181 minutes, 9 seconds).
- Jacksonville State's three interceptions returned for touchdowns against EKU was the first time the Gamecocks have accomplished the feat in school history.
- Reggie Hall's pick-six in the fourth quarter is the seventh-longest interception returned for a touchdown in school history (88 yards).
- EKU entered the game 14^th in the nation with an average of 457.3 yards per game, and 11^th in the nation with an average of 293.7 passing yards per game. The Gamecocks held the Colonels to 260 yards and 179 passing yards.
- Josh Clemons recorded his third career 100-yard rushing game and his third in a row. The senior finished with 149 yards on 26 carries.
- Jacksonville State has won its last 19 OVC games, the longest active conference winning streak in Division I.
- The last time JSU failed to score an offensive touchdown was Nov. 17, 2012 at Florida. The last time the Gamecock offense was kept out of the end zone against an FCS team was Sept. 1, 2007 at Alabama State.
- JSU now leads the all-time series vs. EKU 8-6 and has won four in a row. It is the first time in the history of the series either team has won four in a row.