Eastern red-shirt junior quarterback Bodie Reeder struggled to find a rhythm in the Panthers’ 47-21 loss to Illinois on Sept. 6.

Reeder completed just 7-of-17 passing attempts for 102 yards and one touchdown, threw two interceptions and was sacked three times.

That changed Saturday against Indiana State. Reeder looked more comfortable in the pocket and had a better rhythm. He completed 9-of-15 passing attempts for 107 yards and two touchdowns, didn’t throw an interception and never found himself on the ground with a Sycamore defender on top of him.

“You’ve got to get in a rhythm early so you feel like you’re in the flow of the game,” Reeder said. “That didn’t happen last week (against Illinois).”

It didn’t happen early against Indiana State either.

Reeder struggled to find a rhythm in the first quarter of Saturday’s game and threw incompletions on his only three passing attempts of the quarter.

“The difference between this week and last week was we rebounded quicker,” Reeder said. “We did a good job up front. I didn’t get touched all night. They didn’t record a sack, and they weren’t really even close all night.”

Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said Reeder threw the ball much more efficiently Saturday than he did against Illinois.

“He threw with some authority I thought,” Spoo said. “You can tell when a quarterback is confident in his throws.”

The primary recipient of Reeder’s efficient throw was red-shirt sophomore wide receiver Charles Graves.

Graves caught four passes for 62 yards and one touchdown, which was the first in his Eastern career.

“(Reeder) just made some great reads,” Graves said. “He found the open man, and I happened to be the open man.”

Reeder said Graves was like a gift to the Panthers because no one really knew anything about Graves and he worked hard to become one of the Panthers’ go-to receivers.

Graves red-shirted last season after playing one year at Division II Upper Iowa and he leads the Panthers with 11 receptions for 164 yards.

“(Graves is) a fantastic receiver,” Reeder said. “He’s always in the right place at the right time, he catches the ball consistently and really as a quarterback you can’t ask for anything more.”

Graves said he wouldn’t consider himself the go-to receiver. He said he is just part of a rotation at receiver that includes red-shirt seniors Alicus Nozinor and Quinten Ponius.

“All of our receivers are go-to guys,” Graves said. “(Reeder) feels confident, and I think our coaches feel confident, whoever he throws to will make a play for us.”

Eastern’s success through the air also had an effect on the Panthers’ running game. Spoo said Reeder having a better passing game took some of the pressure off Eastern’s running backs to carry the load. But red-shirt senior running back Travorus Bess must not have got the memo. Bess rushed for 93 yards on 13 carries and found the end zone on a 31-yard dash. Freshman running back Desmin Ward rushed for 41 yards and also scored a rushing touchdown. Bess’ touchdown run was highlighted by the spin move he put on the Sycamores’ defenders at the 15-yard line. Bess looked to be tackled, but spun himself free of several Indiana State defenders before diving into the end zone.

“The thing that’s incredible about (Bess) is for a small guy he’s got incredible balance,” Reeder said. “It takes a good stick to get him down. He’s able to bounce off guys and change direction and keep his balance.”

Indiana State defensive coordinator Shannon Jackson said it was strange to be coaching against the Panthers. Until this season, Jackson had been on Eastern’s coaching staff serving as the Panthers’ defensive line coach.

“Our game plan was trying to stop the run,” Jackson said. “We had some opportunities on third down, we just couldn’t convert it.”

Scott Richey can be reached at 581-7944 or at srrichey@eiu.edu.

Junior quarterback Bodie Reeder passes off the ball to senior running back Travorus Bess Saturday night at O’Brien Stadium during a game against Indiana State. The Panthers won the game 38-3 in their first win of the season.(Robbie Wroblewski

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