The first round of the FCS Playoffs had South Dakota State running past Eastern, Coastal Carolina edging Bethune-Cookman, Stony Brook defeating Villanova, and Wagner taking down Colgate.

The playoff matchup between Coastal Carolina and Bethune-Cookman featured both teams totaling more than 200 yards on the ground, but the play of quarterback Aramis Hillary had Coastal Carolina advancing to the second round with a, 24-14, win over Bethune-Cookman.

Hillary completed 19-24 pass attempts and threw for 180 yards and a touchdown.

Hillary also added 38 rushing yards on 11 carries to help the Chanticleers eliminate the Wildcats and advance to their second round matchup against No. 4 Old Dominion.

The game between Stony Brook and Villanova also featured production in the running game, as Stony Brook totaled 263 rushing yards and two touchdowns en route to picking up the first round playoff win.

Miguel Maysonet, the nation’s leading rusher in the regular season, rushed for 160 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries.

His backup, Marcus Coker, followed with 107 rushing yards on a team-high 29 carries. Despite Stony Brook only throwing for 37 yards it will advance to the second round where it will take on No. 3 Montana State.

The final first round playoff game had Wagner defeating Colgate, 31-20, to advance to its second round matchup against No. 2 Eastern Washington.

Dual-threat quarterback Nick Doscher led Wagner, as he threw for 95 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions while adding 91 rushing yards and a touchdown.

The Seahawks also saw production from running back D Williams as he rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries.

Ohio Valley Conference Awards

First-year head coach Dino Babers was named Ohio Valley Conference Roy Kidd Coach of the Year for leading Eastern to the playoffs after winning the OVC regular season championship.

Babers took a team that had won two games en route to a last place finish in the OVC in 2011 to a seven-win team that became just the fourth team in conference history to record such a turnaround.

Babers joined former head coach Bob Spoo as the only Eastern coaches to win the Roy Kidd Coach of the Year Award.

Eastern red-shirt junior wide receiver was named the OVC Offensive Player of the Year for his record-setting season.

Lora set the FCS record for receptions in a single-season, hauling in 136 receptions for a career-best 1,664 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns.

Lora fell just 48 yards short of setting the FCS record for receiving yards in a single season.

Lora joined Tony Romo and Vincent Webb as the only Panthers to win the award.

Southeast Missouri senior linebacker Blake Peiffer was named OVC Defensive Player of the Year after finishing second in tackles, recording eight tackles-for-loss, and forcing two fumbles.

Peiffer was named as a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award for the nations top linebacker.

Southeast Missouri quarterback Scott Lathrop was named the OVC Freshman of the Year.

Lathrop threw for 1,025 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions to go along with 824 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns.

Lathrop’s 1,824 yards of total offense helped the Redhawks boast the ninth-best rushing offense in the nation.

Lathrop became the first Redhawk to win the OVC Freshman of the Year Award since its inception in 2004.

All-OVC Teams

Eastern had 12 players selected to the All-OVC teams as Lora and sophomore guard Collin Seibert were first-team selections on the offensive side of the ball.

Joining Lora and Seibert on the first-team were senior defensive end Artavious Dowdell and junior defensive back Nick Beard.

Junior kicker Cameron Berra was a first-team All-OVC specialist selection.

Eastern was also represented on the All-OVC second-team as junior quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, red-shirt senior running back Jake Walker, sophomore tight end Sam Hendricks, and senior center Kevin Kapellas each garnered second-team recognition on the offensive side of the ball.

Eastern senior defensive linemen Roosevelt Holliday and Pat Wertz were second-team defensive selections, while junior linebacker LeQuince McCall was the lone Panther representative to be named to the All-OVC Newcomer squad.

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