The Eastern football will be on the road Sunday afternoon when they play Tennessee-Martin, a game that was originally slated to be the season opener for both teams before it was rescheduled due to winter weather.

Both teams are coming off a loss with the Skyhawks having dropped their opener against Murray State 14-10 and Eastern being blown out 47-7 by Southeast Missouri.

In Eastern’s loss Sunday, senior quarterback Harry Woodbery struggled, going 10-of-26 passing for 101 yards and 2 interceptions.

The Panthers were more successful on the ground, rushing for 147 yards as a team.

Freshman Kendi Young had a strong outing in his first career game, recording 88 yards on 11 carries, including a 72-yard touchdown run.

The Panther defense was led by redshirt-senior safety Raymond Crittenden and sophomore linebacker Anthony Shockey. Both players had nine tackles in the game, including 2 tackles for loss form Shockey and 1.5 from Crittenden.

Tennessee-Martin’s offense was not very productive in their loss to Murray State. John Bachus was 13-for-26 passing for just 81 yards and 2 interceptions.

Like Eastern, the Skyhawks were more productive running the ball. They ran for 110 yards and a touchdown as a team, with senior running back Peyton Logan accounting for 91 of those yards.

On defense, the Skyhawks were led in their opener by senior safety JaQuez Akins with 6 tackles, including 2 tackles for loss and a forced fumble, and redshirt-sophomore defensive lineman Kameron Bowdry with 4 tackles and a sack.

This will be 26th time these programs have played each other. Eastern currently leads the all-time series 15-10, but Tennessee-Martin has won seven of the last 10 matchups.

Tennessee-Martin hosted Eastern last season as well, beating the Panthers 27-18.

Woodbery had a busy game, completing 26-of-50 passes for 287 yards and a touchdown. He also threw 3 interceptions, one of which was a pick-six.

Isaiah Hill caught 15 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown.

Crittenden scored Eastern’s other touchdown on a 51-yard fumble return.

For the Skyhawks, Bachus completed just 8 passes on 20 attempts, but two of his passes went for touchdowns.

The Skyhawks also ran for 175 yards as a team.

Tennessee-Martin finished last season with a 6-2 conference record while Eastern finished 1-7 against the OVC

The game Sunday is scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m.

Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or ajtumino@eiu.edu.