Jimmy Garoppolo became the Ohio Valley Conference single-season passing touchdown record holder, helping Eastern beat Tennessee State 34-16 in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday.

Garoppolo’s fourth touchdown pass of the game, a 25-yard strike to Jeff LePak, put the senior quarterback at 35 touchdowns this season, breaking Tony Romo’s mark of 34 for the record.

The 25-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to LePak was also Garoppolo’s 100th of his career.

Eastern improved to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the OVC, moving into first place as the Tigers dropped their first conference game and falling to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the OVC.

A duo of Panther receivers caught two touchdowns apiece as LePak caught his first touchdown with 6:36 left in the first half. 

Sophomore Keiondre Gober had a game-high 128 receiving yards and began the Eastern scoring with a 61-yard touchdown catch on the Panthers’ third offensive play of the game.

Gober would later catch a 29-yard pass from Garoppolo to put Eastern ahead 28-3 with 11:30 left in the third quarter.

LePak finished the game with 112 receiving yards and red-shirt senior Erik Lora joined the duo also having 100 yards on LP Field.

Lora did not score, but led the game in receptions with 10.

Garoppolo, finished 24-of-41 for 410 yards to go along with his four touchdowns. He also threw an interception.

The Eastern defense was able to slow down the Tigers enough until the offense built a 25-point lead in the third quarter, forcing freshman quarterback Ronald Butler to throw the ball.

Tennessee State’s running game averaged 3.2 yards per carry in the first half and ended the game averaging 3.9 on 32 attempts.

Butler did throw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to spark a Tiger comeback.

The Tigers coughed up the ball for the second time in the game as they were deep in Eastern territory. With a first down at the Panthers’ 10-yard line, Butler fumbled the handoff and panther defensive lineman Dino Fanti jumped on the loose football at the 12-yard line.

Eastern recovered with the third quarter winding down, still leading 28-3.

Eastern’s secondary caused problems for Butler and the Tennessee State passing game as 10 passes were deflected by Panther defenders.

Nick Beard led Eastern with four pass breakups, followed by Jourdan Wickliffe, who had two and Alex McNulty, who had one. 

Eastern’s defensive line also contributed to disrupting Butler’s rhythm as Fanti tipped a pass a the line of scrimmage while Pat Wertz batted down two more.

The Panthers had three sacks, which all came in the first half. Tennessee State’s offense gained 338 yards while its defense allowed 567 to the Panthers.

Entering the second half with a 21-3 lead the Eastern offense slowed down its tempo and turned to its running game to pound away at the Tigers’ defense. Shepard Little received the majority of the carries, running the ball 22 times for a career-high 138 yards.

Little scored in the first half on a 21-yard run, bowling over two defenders as he approached the goal line. 

Taylor Duncan ran the ball seven times for 33 yards, which included only two carries in the first two quarter for Eastern.

The Panthers will return home to play Tennessee Tech Saturday at O’Brien Field.

Aldo Soto can be reached at 581-2812 or asoto2@eiu.edu