On Saturday, there were Panther fans that may have forgotten Eastern has playmakers at wide receiver.

However, the Tennessee-Martin defense was reminded, along with every one of the 3,412 fans at O’Brien Stadium, in the 26-7 win Saturday night.

Eastern’s first touchdown came on a play-action fake from quarterback Mike Donato to junior Ryan Voss. The Panther signal caller found the Ohio Valley Conference preseason first team all-conference selection for a 27-yard touchdown.

“Ryan has been incredibly unselfish throughout the entire year, and it’s nice to see him make plays the last couple of weeks,” Eastern offensive coordinator Mark Hutson said.

Voss has found the endzone in four of the last five games, in part because the Punta Gorda, Fla., native is the healthiest he’s been all season. Voss currently has 23 catches for 371 yards and 4 touchdowns.

“Early on in the preseason Ryan was forced to deal with nagging injuries that made it tougher for him to get into a groove,” Hutson said.

Voss is such a key for the Panthers’ offensive threat because of his 6 foot-4 inch frame that gives him a big height advantage over most cornerbacks in I-AA football. The touchdown Saturday against Tennessee-Martin was a clear example, as Voss went above the undersized defensive back and caught the jump ball thrown by Donato.

“He’s a big playmaker simply by his ability to go get the football from anywhere on the field,” Hutson said.

Hutson said Charles Owens had almost turned himself into a forgotten man in the Panthers offense but showed up in the running game Saturday. The sophomore receiver took three reverse plays for 54 yards including a 24-yarder that set up a field goal early in the first quarter.

“Charles was able to use his speed Saturday on reverses, and we need to get him the ball in ways like that,” Hutson said.

Owens did not play in the last two games and did not catch a pass Saturday, but Hutson maintains the sophomore from Winter Haven, Fla., is a big play threat for the Panthers’ offense. Owens has 12 catches for 125 yards and 1 touchdown on the season to go along with 68 yards rushing.

Now that Eastern has lost freshman speedster receiver Adam Kesler to a stress fracture, Owens will be counted on to gain lots of yards through designed runs and yards after catch.

“Not many people realize that Charles is second on our team in receptions,” Hutson said. “He just hadn’t had that breakout game since the Indiana State opener (4 rec., 68 yards and 2 touchdowns).”

Hutson said he credits much of the breakout second half of junior tailback Vincent Webb to the receiving corps’ ability to consistently block downfield.

“I’ve never seen a unit that is able to block like these guys,” Hutson said. “They are the best at it that I can remember. This includes guys like Voss, Owens, Justin Duhai and Jermaine Mobley too.”