The Panther defense took advantage of another inexperienced quarterback as it forced four turnovers in Eastern’s 26-7 win against Tennessee-Martin Saturday night at O’Brien Stadium.

UTM senior quarterback Brady Wahlberg, the Ohio Valley Conference’s second highest rated passer, watched from the sidelines with a hamstring injury as his replacement, sophomore Drew Jackson, was terrorized by a swarming Eastern defense.

Junior safety Tristan Burge returned an interception 32 yards for his third touchdown in the last two weeks, and junior linebacker Clint Sellers had two interceptions, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble in the win.

“I was in the right spots at the right times,” Sellers said. “Everything that happened came to me.”

Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said his Panthers (6-2. 5-0 OVC) have proven they can make a huge impact.

“They’re all capable of it. It doesn’t matter who it is as long as we win,” Spoo said. “Today, it was Clint Sellers and Tristan Burge.

“Guys make plays. We’re getting good effort and big plays at the right time.”

But before the Panther defense made an impact, the Eastern offense opened strongly, scoring 13 points on its first three drives.

On the Panthers’ first possession, junior quarterback Mike Donato completed 3-of-5 passes for 30 yards and rushed for 16 yards. The 10-play drive led to freshman kicker Tyler Wilke’s 44-yard field goal.

Eastern got the ball again after the defense forced the Skyhawks (4-4, 2-3) into their second-straight three-and-out series. The Panthers took advantage of good starting field position at the UTM 32, when Donato found junior wide receiver Ryan Voss on a play-action pass for a 27-yard touchdown strike on the second play of the drive.

Freshman kicker Zach Yates connected on a 38-yard field goal on the next Eastern possession, and after Burge’s interception return, the Panthers led 20-0 in the first quarter.

Junior running back Vincent Webb, who carried the ball just five times in the first quarter, said the offense felt it had to establish a passing game.

“I guess that was part of the game plan,” Webb said. “What teams will start doing is stacking the box-like last week Murray State did, and Tennessee-Martin did the same thing.

“We have to be able to pass the ball. Once we get our passing game going, it will open up the run.”

Donato finished the game 6-of-13 passing for 75 yards and one touchdown, with 69 yards coming in the game’s first half.

With a 20-0 lead, the Panthers turned to the running game and Webb.

Facing eight and nine defenders up near the line of scrimmage, Webb was still successful, finishing the game with a game-high 145 yards on 27 carries.

Webb said the offense adjusted to the stacked Skyhawk defense by running the ball out of the shotgun and by using counter plays, designed to get the defense moving one way before the running back cuts in the opposite direction.

“It spread them out a little bit, and I think that helped,” Webb said.

Tennessee-Martin used a similar strategy against the Panthers-owners of the OVC’s top rushing defense.

Skyhawk sophomore running back Don Chapman ran for 127 yards on 26 carries, mainly because UTM used three and four-receiver formations to create large seams in the Panther defense.

“He wasn’t very shifty; he’s just a hard runner,” Burge said. “He got some big gains early.

“They ran the wide-open formations, and that took our linebackers out of the box.”

Chapman scored the only UTM points on a 8-yard run, after senior defensive end Andre Plummer blocked an Eastern punt deep in the Panthers’ zone.

“We gave them that opportunity to score down there,” Spoo said. “Otherwise, we should have shut them out.”

After neither team could move the ball on their next possessions, the Panthers closed out the scoring early in the fourth quarter on a 3-yard run by Webb. Eastern failed its two-point conversion try.

The Skyhawks failed to capitalize on their late scoring chances, twice getting the ball on Eastern’s side of the field after two fourth-quarter fumbles.

Both of the UTM drives ended when the Panthers forced turnovers. First, senior safety Chad Cleveland and Sellers sacked Jackson, jarring the ball loose. Later, with the Skyhawks on the Eastern six-yard line, Sellers stepped in front of a Jackson pass and ran the ball out of the end zone to the 20-yard line.

” I don’t think you can ask for more than what they gave, stopping them under severe pressure in the fourth quarter,” Spoo said.

While the Panthers didn’t play a perfect football game, Spoo said, they did enough to accomplish their objective-win.

“We’re undefeated, and that’s huge.”