WIU Downs EIU in Football Action, 38-21

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois turned the ball over three times leading to 17 Western Illinois points as the No. 20 Leathernecks took advantage in the season opener for the second straight year beating EIU 38-21 on Thursday night at O’Brien Field.
 
Eastern Illinois marched down the field on its first possession as Korliss Marshall ripped off an 18-yard rush in his EIU debut.  Quarterback Mitch Kimble hit James Sheehan for a 28-yard strike to move the ball into WIU territory and Kimble finished off the drive with a 19-yad touchdown run.
 
EIU’s defense then held Western Illinois to a 3-and-out to continue the momentum swing in the Panthers direction.   Linebacker Brett Taylor quickly changed that on the second EIU drive forcing a fumble and that was recovered by WIU at the EIU 17 yard line.  Taylor would finished with 14 tackles playing a role in two of the three turnovers as he added an interception later in the game.
 
Steve McShane caught a 13-yard pass from Sean McGuire to start the drive and plunged over from 1-yard out four plays later to knot the game at 7-7.  WIU’s defense then forced a 3-and-out and McGuire had a 5-yard touchdown run in the closing moments of the first quarter.
 
Brett Taylor’s interception in the final minute of the second half set up a McGuire 2-yard pass to Tony Harper with 13 seconds left in the half.  Timothy Smith then recovered a short on-side kick that allowed Nathan Knuffman to connect on a 43-yard field goal as time expired giving WIU a 24-7 halftime lead.
 
EIU closed the gap in the third quarter with Kimble throwing a pair of long touchdown passes.  He hooked up with Ben Odugbesan for 53 yards and Marshall for 79 yards as EIU cut the margin to 24-21 with 3:29 left in the third quarter.  Kimble passed for 323 yards going 18-of-29 with two touchdowns and one interception.  Marshall had four catches for 111 yards.
 
McShane and company responded for Western Illinois as WIU scored with 27 seconds left in the quarter.  McShane had two big runs for 41 yards in the drive and caught another pass for 15 yards.  Devon Moore scored the touchdown on a six-yard run.  McShane was a workhorse for WIU finishing with 207 yards on 28 carries including a 70-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter that iced the game.
 
EIU finished with 121 more yards of total offense than WIU but could not force a Western Illinois turnover while committing three of their own.  EIU finished with 468 yards.
 
Seth McDonald led EIU with nine tackles.  Bradley Dewberry and Josh Price each added eight tackles.
 
The Panthers streak of not allowing a quarterback sack ended at 677 plays when Jordan Veloz was able to sack Kimble early in the third quarter.  EIU ranked fifth in the nation in fewest sacks allowed last season.