Eastern’s football team will host Southeast Missouri for a chance to earn a share of the Ohio Valley Conference title on Senior Day at O’Brien Field.

The Panthers enter the game in a tie with Tennessee-Martin for first place in the OVC with a record of 5-1 in conference play, and could claim an outright championship with a win and a Tennessee-Martin loss Saturday.

“The one thing we have to do is go out there and play our hardest,” senior defensive lineman Jerone Williams said. “We know this is probably our last game on our home field, and we want to give it our all and show everybody that we are out here to win an OVC championship.”

The Panthers will be facing one of the best rushing attacks in the nation, as the Redhawks rank ninth nationally in rushing yards per game, averaging 249.6 yards per game.

In the Panthers last three games – against teams with predominately rushing offenses – the opposition has averaged 197.6 rushing yards per game, something that Babers noted was a positive from a defensive prospective.

“I think 200 yards for a rushing football team is a good day at the office for the defense,” head coach Dino Babers said. “If someone told me SEMO was going to rush for 200 yards I would take that in a New York minute.”

Duel-threat quarterback Scott Lathrop and senior running back Levi Terrell lead the Redhawks rushing attack.

This season, Lathrop has rushed for 603 yards and six touchdowns on 157 attempts, while Terrell has rushed for a team-best 1,038 yards and four touchdowns on 184 attempts.

Fortunately for the Panthers, the duel-threat quarterback is something they are familiar with as they faced a Tennessee Tech team that started a duel-threat quarterback in Darian Stone last Saturday. Stone replaced injured starting quarterback Tre Lamb in the game against Eastern.

“I think Tre (Lamb) not playing and Stone playing that entire game is a blessing,” Babers said. “It gave our defense an opportunity to work against an option quarterback who wants to break the pocket and run more so than throw the ball.”

Lathrop follows the pattern of the traditional running quarterback as he has carried the ball 157 times while throwing the ball just 138 times. His lack of passing is something the Panthers are keying on, as they will look to contain the Redhawks rushing attack and make the proper adjustments to limit Lathrop’s production in the passing game.

This season, Lathrop has thrown for just 908 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions as the Redhawks rank near the bottom of the conference in every passing statistic.

In comparison, Eastern red-shirt junior wide receiver Erik Lora has outgained the Redhawks in the passing game single-handedly, totaling 1,301 receiving yards on 100 receptions.

Although the Panthers hold the advantage over the Redhawks in the stat book, they are approaching this game with a must-win mentality, as a loss would dash Eastern’s conference title aspirations.

“We aren’t cocky, but we are definitely confident,” senior wide receiver Chris Wright said. “We don’t want to underestimate them because they are still in the way, and we have to win to win a share of the conference championship.”

The Panthers will be seeking their second conference championship in four years when they host Southeast Missouri at 11 a.m. Saturday at O’Brien Field.

Jordan Pottorff can be reached at 581-2812 or jbpottorff@eiu.edu.