Panthers in hunt, but Skyhawks soar as OVC's big bird

Eastern Illinois no longer controls its own destiny in its quest for a second consecutive Ohio Valley Conference championship.

But the Panthers remained in the hunt Saturday by beating Tennessee State -- and in the process aided Tennessee-Martin's bid for its first OVC title.

The Panthers handed Tennessee State its initial conference loss, taking advantage of quarterback Antonio Heffner's absence to dominate the visiting Tigers 29-3.

Eastern Illinois (6-4, 5-1) moved into sole possession of second place in the OVC, ahead of Tennessee State (5-4, 4-1) and behind Tennessee-Martin (8-1, 5-0), which has already beaten the Panthers.

The Panthers will need some help to gain at least a share of another conference title, but coach Mark Hutson said during Tuesday's OVC teleconference that all his team can do is focus on this week's game at Tennessee Tech.

"We're looking at Tennessee Tech this week. That's the game we can control," Hutson said. "We had our shot at Martin. It's out of our hands now."

The Skyhawks, up to No. 8 in Monday's national poll, now are the only team without an OVC loss. They can clinch at least a tie for the championship by winning one of their final two games, at home this week against Eastern Kentucky or at Murray State on Nov. 18.

"It's good to be in a situation where you control your own destiny, you don't have to scoreboard watch," Tennessee-Martin coach Jason Simpson said.

Heffner, the OVC's leading passer, missed the Eastern Illinois game because of a shoulder injury, and the Panthers' defense shut down the Tigers' offense by keying on star tailback Javarris Williams.

Eastern Illinois held Tennessee State to 211 total yards, and the Panthers limited Williams -- who had been averaging 130 yards per game to lead the league -- to just 38 yards.

"We felt like our defense played maybe their best game of the year. It was just a great defensive effort," said Hutson, whose squad also piled up 423 yards of offense.

Tennessee-Martin continued its storybook season Saturday by beating host Southeast Missouri State 28-14 behind 225 yards rushing and three touchdowns from junior tailback Don Chapman.

"It was a hard-fought, physical football game," Simpson said. "It was a good win, an opportunity to get a win on the road."

The Skyhawks, who have won eight straight games -- their lone loss was to Division I-A Ohio in the opener -- are having by far their best season since moving up to Division I-AA in 1992.

Until going 6-5 last year, the Skyhawks had endured 11 consecutive losing seasons, including winning just two OVC games from 1997 through 2004.

Tennessee State is still alive for at least a share of the OVC title, but the Tigers' situation is made tougher because they won't have a chance to knock off Tennessee-Martin.

The OVC has been allowing Tennessee State to play just seven league contests in order to keep its annual "classic" games against other historically black colleges intact.

As luck would have it, in the rotating schedule, this is the year that Tennessee State misses facing Tennessee-Martin.

While losing to Eastern Illinois severely hampered his team's championship hopes, Tennessee State coach James Webster refused to use Heffner's absence as an alibi.

"That's no excuse for us not winning the football game," said Webster, who indicated that Heffner could miss the remainder of the season. "We've got enough good players that we should have had a chance to win the football game."

In other games Saturday, Eastern Kentucky blasted visiting Murray State 51-21, Tennessee Tech slipped past host Samford 20-14 and Jacksonville State won at nonconference opponent Tennessee-Chattanooga 13-10.

Preseason OVC favorite Eastern Kentucky (4-5, 3-3) posted its second straight victory and remained alive for a 29th consecutive winning season. The Colonels, who have two games remaining, have not had a losing record since 1972.

Jacksonville State (5-4, 4-2) is in fourth place in the OVC, with Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee Tech (3-6, 3-3) tied for fifth.

Southeast Missouri (4-5, 2-4) is seventh, followed by Samford (3-7, 1-6) and Murray State (1-9, 0-7).

This week's schedule is highlighted by Eastern Kentucky's visit to Tennessee-Martin in what appears to be the Skyhawks' final major hurdle on their road to a potential OVC championship.

If the Skyhawks can get past the Colonels, they will be heavily favored to win at Murray State the following week and complete a perfect conference season.

"We'd love to take care of business this week and see what happens next week," said Simpson, who is wary of the Colonels. "They are a very talented team ... they're as talented as any team, or more talented than any team, in the conference we've played thus far."

Other games this week have Tennessee Tech hosting Eastern Illinois, Tennessee State hosting Southeast Missouri and Jacksonville State entertaining Samford.

Players of the week

Tennessee-Martin's Chapman is the OVC offensive player of the week after his 225-yard, three-touchdown performance against Southeast Missouri. He scored on runs of 3, 1 and 81 yards.

Eastern Illinois junior linebacker Donald Thomas is the defensive player of the week. He had 12 tackles, including two tackles for loss, against Tennessee State.

Tennessee-Martin junior return man Jessie Burton and Eastern Illinois junior quarterback Cole Stinson earned the specialist and newcomer awards, respectively.

Burton returned the opening kickoff of the second half 100 yards for a touchdown, which tied the score against Southeast Missouri 7-7. The Skyhawks never trailed again. Burton finished with 146 return yards.

Stinson, a transfer from Ball State, completed 21 of 35 passes for 223 yards and one touchdown against Tennessee State. He also ran for a touchdown.