JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Eastern head coach Bob Spoo watched an opposing coach experience something he felt one year ago.

It’s possible that when the Gatorade tank was dumped over Jacksonville State head Jack Crowe, Spoo realized just how long 365 days really is.

The Gamecocks defended their home turf to clinch a share of the 2003 Ohio Valley Conference championship as Eastern fell 36-24.

Spoo may be in a rebuilding season, but was still thrilled with his team’s play.

“I was pleased with the effort and I feel that we played our hearts out,” he said.

The Panthers were aware of possible letdown after an hour and-a-half long plane ride the day of the game. It was almost inevitable that mistakes would come.

The first play from scrimmage for Eastern didn’t end well as quarterback Andrew Harris dropped back to pass and was hit and the ball was jarred loose. When the Gamecocks fell on the ball, it only took the home squad three plays to find the end zone and take a early 7-0 lead.

The Panthers went three-and-out on their next drive which forced punter Tom Schofeild to kick from his end zone. Gamecocks fullback Darrell Prater broke through a hole in the middle to block the punt which was recovered by Clay Green in the end zone.

Before Panther fans were able to blink, Eastern was down 14-0.

“Take away those first two scores and it’s an even ball game,” Spoo said. “It’s frustrating because it’s something that happened early in the year and we thought we had it fixed.”

The average starting position in the five touchdowns scored by Jacksonville State was the Eastern 38-yard-line, which greatly fascilitated the expediency of the scores.

“First position and turnovers were what did us in again I’m afraid,” Spoo said.

Eastern, however, was able to rally from this deficit thanks to the right arm of sophomore quarterback Andrew Harris.

The junior college transfer proclaimed he wants to be the Panthers signal caller of the present and not the future. Harris ended the game completing 33 of 48 passes for 289 yards, including three touchdowns.

“He had a fine game I thought; passed for an amazing figure including something incredible like 70 percent completion rate,” Spoo said.

The Panthers were unable to get a ground game started and only produced 57 total rushing yards the entire evening.

“I just think we had to resort to the pass earlier than we expected being down so quick,” Spoo said. “You really hurt yourself by running a lot after being down 33-7.”

Gamecocks quarterback Maurice Mullins provided most of his damage with his feet on the option as the sophomore ran for 91 yards on 14 carries including a 32-yard touchdown run.

“Basically, he’s an option quarterback so he was the only player who got more than his average,” Spoo said.

Eastern was able, to find open receivers over the middle against the OVC’s worst rated pass defense in the second half, however.

“We had hoped that we would be able to pass the ball well, ” Spoo said. “I actually thought they would bring more pressure than they did.”

The third quarter became a back-and-forth struggle, but the Panthers were unable to control the momentum after being down 27-12 at half time.

“You simply can’t allow a team at the top of the standings to have the ball inside our side of the field that many times,” Spoo said.

The Panther seniors will attempt to get a victory in their last contest at O’Brien Stadium in the blue and white when they take on Samford next Saturday.