CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Behind a punishing ground attack, the Panther offense dominated, beating SEMO 48-24 Saturday at Houck Stadium.

The Panthers scored six rushing touchdowns, and the defense forced six turnovers, as Eastern remained undefeated in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Junior running back Vincent Webb led all rushers with 30 carries and 157 yards, scoring three touchdowns on the ground.

Sophomore quarterback Mike Donato had his second solid game in a row, completing 11-of-15 passes for 208 yards and one touchdown – an 8-yard strike to junior wide receiver Ryan Voss. Voss led the Panthers with 5 receptions for 103 yards.

As a team, the Panthers (3-2, 2-0 OVC) gained 181 yards rushing compared to just 65 yards rushing for the Redhawks – thanks to a dominant performance by the Eastern offensive line, Webb said.

“I think this is the best output we’ve had with the offensive line and the running backs,” Webb said. “They gave me huge holes. All I had to do was see them and make cuts.”

And, the running game opened things up for Donato.

“When you come out and run the ball like this, defenses have to key on it,” Donato said. “If you can’t stop the run, you’re not going to win the game. We’re going to be tough to beat if we run it like this every week.”

The Panther defense also made things easy on the offense, giving them good field position by keeping SEMO on its own side of the 50-yard line.

“We had the rest of the grass at our back all day,” Donato said. “We had a short field. That definitely helps confidence.”

Eastern showed little rust after a bye week, carrying momentum over from its 43-14 win over Samford Sept. 24, onto the field against SEMO from the onset.

While the Panther offense piled up 239 yards of total offense in the half, the Panther defense made things difficult for SEMO (0-6, 0-3) and its freshman quarterback Markus Mosley.

Mosley, making his first collegiate start, was limited to just 41 yards on 6-of-12 passing. In the half, the Redhawks only gained 74 total yards of offense while picking up just five first downs.

The Eastern defensive rush made things difficult for Mosley, sacking him three times and forcing him to make quick decisions and bad throws.

Sophomore defensive tackle Tim Kelly said punishing Mosley with big hits played a big role in the victory, and it also happened to be a little fun.

“We love it,” Kelly said. “That was one of the main key points – shut down the run and just tee off on him – because we knew we were better up front.”

But despite the win, Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said he still saw his team making too many mistakes – like penalties (8 for 103 yards), special teams errors (a blocked extra point and a bad snap to the punter) and short-yardage offense (twice being stopped on fourth-and-inches including once at the goal line).

And those mistakes could be costly the next time the Panthers take the field.

The team returns to O’Brien Stadium to face Eastern Kentucky (3-3, 3-0) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

“My thoughts right now our towards Eastern Kentucky,” Spoo said. “They’re a damn good football team, and we’re not.

“We can’t afford to make mistakes and give up big plays. We have to be better than that.”