Eastern’s football team picked up its eigth win of the season Saturday afternoon with a convincing 38-10 win over Florida Atlantic at Pro Player Stadium in Miami. But the victory didn’t come without a costly price.

The No. 4 ranked Panthers (8-1, 6-0) lost standout running back/wide receiver Andre Raymond for the year with a broken ankle. The sophomore ranks first in the conference in kickoff returns, second in all-purpose yards, third in scoring and fourth in rushing.

“It’s a situation now where we’re really in a scramble and it will be difficult to piece together our personnel groupings,” Panther head coach Bob Spoo said. “It’s a real disaster, especially with Andre, in terms of his total productivity.

“It was not just his rushing, but his all-purpose yards per game that were so valuable to us. He’s had a great year at running back and has been excellent as a wide receiver.”

To make things worse for the Panthers, sophomore wide receiver Devon O’Neal broke his wrist in the game. Spoo said he would be evaluated Monday to see if he could possibly play with the injury for the remainder of the season. On top of that, Junior defensive end Lance Thompson left the game with a sprained knee and sophomore defensive tackle Damien McCottrel reinjured his ankle.

“The game itself is an emotional one and I think after clinching a playofff spot it was hard for us to get up emotionally,” Spoo said. “And when your not emotional, the intensity is not as great and injuries happen,” Spoo said. “I attribute the injuries to a lack of emotion from our guys within the game.”

The Panthers jumped out to an early 21-0 lead after the first quarter on a 79-yard touchdown run from junior J.R. Taylor, a one-yard score by Raymond and a four-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Tony Romo to tight end Scotty Gilkey.

But after the early lead, Eastern seemed to let up, failing to score in the second quarter while yielding a field goal to the Owls (3-6).

“The second quarter in particular we lost focus and you could tell,” Spoo said. “We were missing things on defense and not pursuing. On offense, we had a snap from cneter that wasn’t even called. We were not effective and I attribute that to a lack of emotion from our guys within the game.”

With a 21-3 lead at the half, Eastern regrouped in the third quarter for three scores. Senior place kicker Bill Besenhofer made a 42-yard field goal, his longest field of the season, and one-yard shy of his career-best.

J.R. Taylor followed that with a four-yard touchdown run. The score was Taylor’s 18th TD on the season, a new all-time record at Eastern.

“That’s obviously an outstanding effort and I’m sure he’ll be the first to tell you that the offensive line is just doing a fantastic job,” Spoo said. “With some of the holes he’s had, all he’s had to do is just run through them. Obvioulsy I’m very proud. He’s really become a complete back for us this year.”

Sophomore defensive tackle Ed Donoghue finished off Eastern’s scoring, recovering a fumble, and running it 39 yards for the score.

The Panthers will now turn their focus to their final regular season game Saturday when they host Murray State. In that game, Spoo will look to redshirt freshmen tailback Justin Morris to pick up some of the rushing slack left from Raymond’s injury. Morris rushed for over 100 yards in Eastern’s win over Tennessee-Martin two weeks ago.

“Justin Morris hasn’t been playing too shabby lately,” Spoo said. “Him and J.R. – those two guys will have to get things done, because there’s no one else. Our only other option would be to move (receiver) Shaun Grace into the backfield. He’s been a running back in the past. We might have to do that if we need a third guy.”

When the Panthers take the field Saturday, they may be ranked a spot higher in the national polls as No. 3 ranked Hofstra lost to Villanova, 54-34. A win Saturday will clinch Eastern an outright Ohio Valley Conference championship and the right to host a first, and perhaps second, round playoff game.