The playoff hopes are still alive.

With Eastern’s dominating 29-3 win against Tennessee State (5-4, 4-1), the Panthers are still mathematically eligible for back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference Championships.

“We’re trying to mess up the OVC,” said Eastern tailback Ademola Adeniji.

With Tennessee-Martin defeating SEMO 28-14 Saturday evening, the Skyhawks still control their playoff destiny.

The Panthers were able to hold the TSU tailback Javarris Williams, the OVC leading rusher, to 38 yards on 15 carries. After Eastern’s coaching staff noticed Tigers quarterback Antonio Heffner (shoulder injury) didn’t make the trip to Charleston, Eastern’s defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni focused his scheme on Williams.

“Coach Roc told us (during pre-game) we had one person to focus on,” said safety Tristan Burge. “We just wanted to make him pay every time he ran the ball.”

Williams’ largest run of the day was a mere eight yards.

“We knew they are a running team and when you hit a running back every time, he’s not going want to carry the ball anymore,” Burge said.

On the other side, Eastern had two running backs account for a total of 180 yards and two touchdowns. Adeniji led the Panthers (6-4, 5-1) with 98 yards on 16 carries and Webb (who did most his damage in the first half) finished with 82 yards on 22 carries along with two touchdowns.

Webb also had a team-high six catches for 46 yards and a touchdown.

“Cole’s continuing to develop and he’s still going to develop,” said Eastern head coach Mark Hutson. “He did a better job of finding his second and third read. Before he would be fixated and focused on Micah Rucker.”

Stinson ended the game 21 of 35 for 223 yards and two total touchdowns (rushing and passing).

Eastern got on the board first after drawing excellent field position. A 10-yard boot against the wind from Tigers punter Tim Ehret allowed the Panthers to only have to go 46 yards for its scoring drive. On third-and-11, Eastern quarterback Cole Stinson found Micah Rucker for 30 yards and Webb punched it in for two yards to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead.

Eastern’s defense held the Tigers to only 95 total yards in the first half with TSU’s only points coming after Panthers kicker/punter Zac Yates shanked an eight-yard punt. The Tigers only moved the ball five yards and got a 41-yard field goal from Eric Benson.

“I think we played our best game of the year even though we got a shutout against SEMO,” Bellantoni said.

Eastern used a screen pass to Webb to break the game open and go into the locker room with a 17-3 halftime lead. The senior from St. Louis caught the ball, avoided a double-team hit and broke another tackle to walk into the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown.

Going into Saturday’s game, TSU had outscored its opponents 119-52 in the first half.

“I think we were able to get a lead on them and make it a passing festival,” Bellantoni said. “That way we could pin our ears back and blitz them.”

Eastern controlled the clock in the second half through the running of Adeniji. The Panthers tailback got 68 of his 98 rushing yards after halftime and was a major reason Eastern had the ball for more than 20 minutes in the second half.

“In that situation we were trying to run the clock and I’m a downhill hard runner,” Adeniji said.

While trying to overcome a 23-3 deficit, TSU’s offense lost the game with three second-half turnovers (fumble and two interceptions). TSU quarterback Richard Hartman threw interceptions in the final two possessions to seal the Panthers eighth win in its last nine home games.

“The players were challenged after the UT-Martin and it was nice to see them respond today,” Hutson said.

With the win, Eastern must now win out and hope for UT-Martin to lose out or lose next week versus Eastern Kentucky to earn the automatic berth.

“There’s more of a sense of urgency on this team than ever before,” Bellantoni said. “They know their season could be coming to an end.”