After 25 years of being head coach of the Eastern football team, Bob Spoo will coach his final game for the Panthers this weekend against Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

After falling in the final minutes against Tennessee State last week, the Panthers will take on the Salukis, who have an overall record of 2-7, identical to the Panthers.

Spoo said he saw a lot of similarities between the Panthers and the Salukis, primarily in both teams’ struggles and losses in close games.

“There’s always a few plays you’d like to have back, a lot of plays that you left on the field,” he said. “(Southern Illinois has) struggled, and that’s the similarity, I guess.”

Spoo said for both teams, a select few plays separate each teams from being 7-2 instead of 2-7.

The Panthers, who have struggled against the run all season, giving up 2,385 yards on the ground this season, will face a tough task in defending junior running back Jewel Hampton.

Hampton, who transferred from the University of Iowa to Southern Illinois, had a career best game last week against South Dakota State, rushing for 168 yards in the Salukis’ 45-34 loss. Hampton has scored 13 touchdowns this season, totaling 833 yards for the year.

Spoo called Hampton an outstanding football player, and jokingly said he would try to stop him with 12 or 13 players on defense. He said it is important for his defense to make good tackles on Saturday in order to slow down Hampton.

“If we don’t tackle we’re going to lose, and if we do, we’ll have a chance,” Spoo said.

On offense, the Panthers will be facing a banged up Southern Illinois secondary, as junior defensive back James McFadden is likely to be ruled out for the game with an injury. In his place, junior LaVarus Williams will make the start, who played his first game at the cornerback position last week.

The Panthers have one of the top passing offenses in the Ohio Valley Conference, with sophomore quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo averaging 236.8 yards per game through the air. To complement junior wide receiver Chris Wright, freshman wide receiver Adam Drake has stepped up since the departure of junior wide receiver Kenny Whittaker. Southern Illinois defensive coordinator Bubba Schweigert said the Salukis will just have to be cautious in choosing when they decide to bring pressure.

“We have to be smart when we take our chances of going after the quarterback, and we have to look at what we’re calling in different situations to help our guys defend better,” he said.

The Panthers and Salukis will square off at 2 p.m. Saturday in Carbondale for Spoo’s final game of his career.

“I’m sorry to see it come to an end, to be honest,” Spoo said.

The game will be the last of Spoo’s 25 seasons as head coach of the Panthers and 50 years in the coaching profession.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].