Red-shirt junior Jeff LePak nearly caught his second touchdown of the first half for Eastern after receiving a 54-yard pass from Jimmy Garoppolo to end the second quarter, but was tackled at the one-yard line.

But the Panthers ran into the tunnel with a 21-3 lead over Tennessee State in LP Field in Nashville, Tenn.

Garoppolo threw two touchdown passes in the first half and finished with 272 passing yards, marking it the eighth straight game the senior has thrown at least 200 yards in the opening half.

LePak caught a 34-yard touchdown with 6:36 left in the second quarter to extend the Eastern lead to 21-3. LePak was wide open in the Tiger secondary, when Garoppolo found him on fourth down and four.

The Eastern defense recorded three sacks of Tennessee State quarterback Ronald Butler and nearly intercepted the freshman twice.

Tennessee State began the game sticking with the run game, mainly running up the middle of the line, gaining big yardage, but Eastern’s defensive line strengthened and held the Tigers to 3.2 yards per carry.

Butler is 13-of-20 for 100 yards, but has been held in check running the ball, losing 11 yards on four rushes.

Shepard Little has seen most of the work in the Eastern running game, carrying the ball seven times for 72 yards. Taylor Duncan has rushed the ball twice for five yards.

Little scored Eastern’s second touchdown of the game on a 21-yard run, which was his fourth touchdown in the last game and  a half.

Sophomore Keiondre Gober began the scoring for the Panthers, catching a 61-yard pass from Garoppolo on the third play of Eastern’s first drive.

Garoppolo has been sacked three times and has faced a lot of pressure from Tennessee State’s defense, causing the senior to complete 56.5 percent of his passes (13-of-23) after completing more than 70 percent of his attempts last week against Southeast Missouri.

Tennessee State’s only score of the half came on a 43-yard field goal from Jamin Godfrey. The senior kicker would later miss a 41-yard attempt with less than two minutes left in the half.

Eastern will start the third quarter with the ball on offense.

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