YPSILANTI, Mich. – Jax State came through with two big scores in the fourth quarter to force overtime at Eastern Michigan, but ended up on the short side of a 37-34 double overtime contest.
 
Jax State entered the fourth quarter trailing 31-20 before quarterback Tyler Huff connected with Michael Pettway from 32 yards out with 14:10 left in regulation. Huff completed a pass to Brock Rechsteiner, completing the two-point conversion to make the score 31-28. A 51-yard field goal by Garrison Rippa with 34 seconds left in the fourth tied the game.
 
Pettway finished with 91 yards on five catches.
 
Both teams connected on 40-yard field goals in the first overtime session, and a 34-yarder by the Eagles in the second proved to be the difference.
 
The Gamecocks opened up the contest with the ball and scored on their opening drive for the first time this season. Jax State used a 13 play, 75-yard drive to take its first lead. The drive was capped off with a five-yard score from Tre Stewart. 
 
EMU wasted no time to answer, stringing together a 10 play, 75-yard drive of its own, scoring on an identical five-yard carry. Eastern Michigan forced a Gamecock three-and-out and took a 14-7 lead courtesy of a 24-yard connection between Cole Synder and Elijah Jackson-Anderson with 1:21 left in the first. 
  
On the ensuing drive, Jax State marched down the field to the EMU 18-yard line before having to settle for a 35-yard Rippa field goal following a pair of penalties. 
 
Just one play after the Jax State defense forced a fourth down stop, Huff found Cam Vaughn in the back of the endzone from 37-yards out to help the Gamecocks regain the lead, 17-14 with 11:39 left in the second. 
 
Vaughn was Jax State's top receiver with six catches for 94 yards.
 
EMU turned in a pair of touchdowns to jump ahead 28-17 before Jax State closed out the first half with a 48-yard Rippa field goal, one yard shy of his career long set earlier this season against Coastal Carolina. Rippa's field goal sent Jax State to the half trailing 28-20. 
  
Fred Perry led Jax State on the defensive side of the ball with 19 tackles, one for loss, and was in on a sack.
 
Jax State returns to the gridiron on Saturday, Sept. 21 for the homecoming game against Southern Miss. Kickoff at AmFirst Stadium is set for 2 p.m. with television coverage on ESPN+.

Jacksonville State Head Coach Rich Rodriguez
September 14, 2024
The Eastern Michigan Game  
Opening Comments:
Obviously a very disappointing night. The way this one turned out, a lot of emotions. Playing hard isn't enough. You have to play hard, play smart. You know, I'm not reaching them for some reason. They're making mistakes we should never make and cost us the game offensively. 

On Season Progress:
We should have taken a step forward, and we did, but then again, when it counted, we didn't do well in any short yardage situation. We were not very good up front, so we weren't good enough defensively. 

On Making Second Half Strides:
Second half, they played a little harder, played a little better, but we had some stupid penalties and stuff. Like I said, I have to do a better job of reaching out to them. 

Jacksonville State Postgame Notes - Eastern Michigan • September 14 2024 • Rynearson Stadium • Ypsilanti, Mich.
· Jax State Captains: Redshirt junior wide receiver Michael Pettway, redshirt senior defensive lineman Rickey Samuel and senior punter Jack Dawson.
· Eastern Michigan won the coin toss and chose to defer. Jax State won the toss in each of the first two games this season.
· The Gamecocks do not have a player on the roster from the state of Michigan, however redshirt sophomore safety Malcolm Jones played 11 games across two seasons in his time at Michigan State before transferring to Jax State this offseason. Jones is a Camilla, Ga. native.
· The field at Eastern Michigan (grey) served as the fourth non-traditional color turf that Jax State has played on. The Gamecocks previously played at Eastern Washington (red), Central Arkansas (purple and grey) and Coastal Carolina (teal).
· The Gamecocks' first three games were all against teams that were bowl eligible last season. Coastal Carolina, Louisville and Eastern Michigan combined to go 24-16 in 2023.
· After not having a sack in the first two games of the season, Jax State had four sacks against Eastern Michigan, all in the same drive. Reginald Hughes (1.0), Laletia Hale (1.0), Ricky Samuel (0.5), Fred Perry (0.5), Ky'won McCray (0.5) and J-Rock Swain (0.5) all etched their name in the sack column.
· Jax State safety Fred Perry turned in 19 tackles, including eight in the first half. Perry had 147 career tackles across 24 games entering this season. 19 tackles is a new career high for Perry.
· Tre Stewart's first quarter touchdown carry is the first of his Gamecock tenure and the 25th of his four-year career. Stewart spent the first three seasons of his career at Division II Limestone, amassing 2,978 yards and 24 touchdowns.
· Jax State quarterback Tyler Huff led the Gamecocks in rushing yards for the second consecutive game. Huff finished the game with 80 yards on the ground following his 101 rushing yard performance at Louisville. Huff leads the team with 192 yards through three games.
· Garrison Rippa's 51-yard field goal to tie the game in the fourth quarter is tied for the third-longest field goal in program history.  
· The 48 combined first half points with Eastern Michigan is the most in a half since Jax State and Louisiana Tech combined for 52 in the first half last season.