The football team resumed practice Monday after three days off due to the cancellation of Saturday’s game at Illinois State.

Monday’s practice was the first opportunity for head coach Bob Spoo to work with the team since Thursday.

“We’re going through the Sunday routine Monday because of the unusual circumstances,” Spoo said.

On Monday, the team went through a light practice and a film session before normal practice resumes today.

“I met with (senior defensive end) Brad Metzger and everyone is still kind of numb,” Spoo said. “There’s anxiety in the air and that’s how it was all last week – understandably so after the catastrophe last week.”

This week, the Panthers head into their Ohio Valley Conference opener at Eastern Kentucky.

“A lot of attention has been going on with the world and I’m glad to be getting back into the swing of things,” senior kicker/punter Bill Besenhofer said. “We’ll get ready the same way we do every week.”

Spoo hopes this week’s practices will bring the team back into a normal pace again.

“This is a key game. It’s a conference game and it’s televised,” Spoo said. “We want to get off to a good start in the OVC. Whichever staff can get the attention back the best has the better chance of winning.”

With the Illinois State game canceled Saturday, Eastern has not stepped onto the field with an opponent since facing off with Indiana State Sept. 8.

“We haven’t played against anyone but ourselves lately,” Besenhofer said. “Hopefully we’ll execute everything we need to get it done.”

Eastern will kick off against Eastern Kentucky at 11 a.m. Saturday.

“I already spoke with (the team) Friday and they know my feelings – we did the right thing canceling (the game Saturday),” Spoo said. “We need to temporarily set everything aside. We need now to move on.”