The Panthers had seven drives in the first half of their 38-27 homecoming loss against no. 13 Southeast Missouri State.

Here’s how each of those ended: (1) punt, (2) turnover on downs, (3) punt, (4) punt, (5) punt, (6) punt and (7) touchdown.

Sophomore punter Jacob Horvath’s five kicks were on track to break his season record for punts in a game (7). It goes without saying, Eastern’s offense had its first half struggles. 

“We started a little bit slowly,” said Eastern’s head coach, Chris Wilkerson. “We dug ourselves into a 17-0 deficit in the first quarter, and we were down 24-7 at the half. We just didn’t make plays. We weren’t clicking early.” 

Another worrisome metric for the Panthers: Eastern converted one of eight first downs, while also going 1-2 on fourth downs. 

Graduate quarterback and team captain Pierce Holley’s longest pass before halftime was a 14-yard pass to redshirt junior MJ Flowers. The actual throw only had a single air yard; Flowers ran for 13 yards after the catch. 

Eastern’s lone touchdown in the first half came within the two-minute warning.

Nearly half of Holley’s 80 first half passing yards came on their scoring drive. The Panther’s started on their 25-yard line after a SEMO punt landed in the endzone.

From there, three Redhawk penalties gave Eastern 35 free yards. 

The most critical of those three penalties was an endzone pass interference call that moved the Panthers to SEMO’s 12-yard line. From there Holley found redshirt junior receiver Cooper Willman on the sideline for six points. 

“[SEMO] had six straight quarters of shut-out football, seven if you count the first quarter against us,” said Wilkerson. “To punch through there before the half was big. That cut their lead down to 17. The guys came out, we knew we had the football first, they were able to establish a little bit in the second half.” 

After the half, Eastern started slinging. 

Holley finished the game with 366 passing yards, more than quadrupling his first half numbers. His jump was due, in large part, to SEMO’s receivers playing man coverage. 

The Redhawks doubled up on Eastern’s inside receiver for most of the second half. That left both outside receivers with single coverage. One receiver, redshirt sophomore CJ Nelson feasted as a result. 

Nelson was not targeted in the first half. In the second, however, he caught three out of four passes for 59 yards. The longest of which was a 40-yard heave where Nelson had to climb over the defender for the ball. 

“They played a lot of man-to-man tonight, and if you’re playing against man-to-man, you’re going to have to throw a lot of balls that are going to be contested,” said Wilkerson. “It was good to see our wide receivers compete.”

Nelson got playing time in the second half because of injuries the team sustained earlier in the game. Senior receiver Eli Mirza went down at the end of the second quarter after being drilled on a late hit.  

Redshirt senior tight end Anthony Manaves was carried off the field early in the third quarter after he caught a pass over the middle of the field. Finally, senior receiver Terrance Gipson left the field after being hit on a punt return. 

“There’s a lot of guys in that room that we trust,” said Wilkerson. “Whoever happens to be the next player will continue to step up. We did, maybe sustain some injuries, we will find out tomorrow. But the next person will continue to step up.” 

Eastern’s offensive surge came a skosh too late for the Panthers. SEMO never relinquished their first half lead. 

“I’m proud of the way they competed,” said Wilkerson. “Their offense is pretty good, their quarterback is obviously very talented, he knows where to go with the football. It’s been a while since he’s had a turnover. They have 6’5” and 6’7” on the outside. They’re very well coached on how to run the power play when they want to run the football.” 

Eastern drops to 1-5 (0-2 Ohio Valley Conference) on the season, while SEMO continues their dominant season, rising to 5-1 (2-0 OVC).

Eastern’s next game will be against Tennessee State in Nashville on Oct. 12. Their next home game isn’t until Nov. 2 against Western Illinois. 

Aidan Cusack can be reached at 581-2812 or at atcusack@eiu.edu.