NORMAL – The Eastern football team’s first three games all had one thing in common.

Although the scores were different and the outcomes not the same, what happened after the game was quite similar.

With the exception of a few players at the end of the Illinois game, the Panthers simply filed into the locker room following the losses at Central Michigan and at Illinois and the win against Indiana State.

Saturday night’s 25-21 win against Illinois State was a little different.

The Panthers rushed the field after the final seconds ticked off the game clock and then headed back past the sidelines to celebrate the win with the Eastern fans that traveled to Normal for the game.

Why the change in post-game actions?

Eastern hadn’t beat the Redbirds in six years, and the Panthers have won just twice in the past 11 meetings and nine times in head coach Bob Spoo’s 21 years with the program.

The Panthers trekked back to the visiting team locker room after celebrating with their fans and once all members of the team were back together, the sounds of Eastern’s fight song reverberated off the walls inside the locker room in Horton Field House.

Eastern red-shirt senior linebacker James Larson said he had been waiting all five years he’s been at Eastern to finally get a win against Illinois State. He said the Panthers believed they could win and then they finished the game.

“Ever since I got here we’ve always been real close,” Larson said. “Tonight everything just fell into place for us.”

Eastern red-shirt senior defensive end Pierre Walters said the Panthers’ slogan this year was to finish games. Trailing 21-7 with 8 minutes, 57 seconds remaining in the third quarter, the Panthers did not allow another Redbirds’ score.

“We kind of dug ourselves in a hole as the game went on,” Walters said. “We fought back and made some huge plays and we finally got the ‘W’ on these guys.”

Illinois State junior wide receiver Eyad Salem said he didn’t know why the Panthers treated their game against the Redbirds as the biggest game of the season. He said the game should have been important simply because it was the next on the schedule.

“We wanted to take respect away from them,” Salem said.

Red-shirt junior quarterback Bodie Reeder said the Panthers had a complete team effort. He said Eastern’s special teams and defense played well, and the Panthers’ offense held on long enough to secure the win.

“There’s nothing more you could ask for than that,” Reeder said. “That’s one of the better victories I’ve ever been around. We were a better football team than them and we should have won by more than the score indicated.”

The Panthers’ offense got off to a quick start behind the feet and hands of red-shirt senior running back Travorus Bess. Bess averaged four yards per carry en route to 79 yards on the ground for the game. Bess also led the Panthers in receiving with four receptions for 45 yards and one touchdown.

“How can you put it with ‘TBess’,” Eastern red-shirt senior wide receiver Alicus Nozinor said. “Everybody’s a hard worker, but hard work comes with God-given talent, and he just has talent.”

Eastern’s offense slowed down during the second and third quarters. The Panthers had six punts in the second half as their offense stalled.

“Our offense, it just took them a minute to click,” Eastern red-shirt senior defensive end Donovan Johnson said. “They were going to click, there wasn’t a doubt about that. We just had to keep getting the ball back. We have a pretty damn good offense”

The Panthers then scored 15 fourth-quarter points on two touchdowns and a 44-yard field goal by red-shirt senior kicker Tyler Wilke.

“It’s great,” Johnson said. “We’ve been saying ‘Beat the Redbirds’ all week.”

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

Sophomore tight end Sean McGrath expresses his joy and rushes to his teammates after the last seconds run off the clock during the game against Illinois State on Saturday in Normal. (Karolina Strack

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