Jake Christensen and Mon Williams both made their highly anticipated Eastern debuts Thursday night at O’Brien Field, leading the offense with 254 yards of total offense as the Panthers rolled to a 31-6 season-opening victory against in-state rival Illinois State.

Williams – a red-shirt junior transfer from Florida – rushed for 87 yards on 16 carries with one touchdown, and Christensen – the former Iowa quarterback enrolled as a graduate student – finished 14-for-22 for 167 yards and three touchdowns.

“It was crazy. I was so ready for it,” Williams said after playing in his first live game since 2006 with the Gators. “I was looking forward to it the whole week. I couldn’t even focus in class.”

But Williams was focused on the field, running through and around defenders all night, including a 29-yard scamper in the third quarter that set up the Panthers’ third touchdown to put them up 21-0 with eight minutes, one second remaining in the third quarter.

Christensen admitted a little rust on the team’s first series, which resulted in a punt, but said after that the team got on a roll.

“After the first series I got pretty comfortable,” said Christensen, who also had one interception in the second quarter. “I kind of got a feel for how (offensive coordinator Roy Wittke) calls plays and things started clicking. We were running the ball well and picking up first downs and when we do that we’re going to be successful.”

While Christensen and Williams led the offensive onslaught, it was the work of the defense that gave Christensen, Williams and company so much room to work with.

The Panthers defensive unit held the Redbirds off the scoreboard on every drive except one, finishing with four sacks and allowing only 20 rushing yards.

“I think we played a real fine game tonight in all phases,” said Eastern head coach Bob Spoo. “We did everything we practiced. The kids executed and a fine job was done in preparing them by our coaches.”

Illinois State appeared to have a scoring drive going on its first possession of the game, driving inside Eastern’s 40-yard line.

But the Eastern defense held, prompting a field goal attempt that was snapped past the holder for a turnover.

On its next possession, the Redbirds again were in Eastern territory when senior running back Geno Blow fumbled and Eastern junior linebacker Nick Nasti recovered, leading to the first score of the game.

After that, the Redbirds were unable to get back in Eastern territory again until the end of the third quarter when they had their only scoring drive.

Redbirds sophomore quarterback Drew Kiel was able to get in a rhythm, finishing 20-for-22 on the game with 140 yards and a touchdown, but his longest pass was only 17 yards and the Redbirds’ running game was virtually non-existent, finishing with under one yard per carry.

The Panthers return to the field Sept. 12 when they travel to Terre Haute, Ind., for a non-conference game against Indiana State. Kick-off is scheduled for 11 a.m.

Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.

Eastern sophomore defensive end Perry Burge holds onto Illinois State senior running back Geno Blow after tackling him in the second quarter of the game Thursday night at O’Brien Field. (Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News)

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