JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – It was a play that would either continue

Jacksonville State’s playoff chances or end them.

Eastern defensive end Michael Torres made sure that the play ended them.

Torres’ 40-yard interception return for a touchdown with 4 minutes, 15 seconds left in the game sealed Eastern’s 37-23 win on Saturday at Paul Snow Memorial Stadium.

The Panthers (7-3, 6-1 Ohio Valley Conference) won’t win their third straight conference title despite the win. Eastern Kentucky beat

Austin Peay 28-14 on Saturday to claim the title outright. However, if the

Panthers beat Samford next week and finish 8-3, they would have every reason to feel optimistic about their Football Championship Subdivision playoff chances. Since the playoff field expanded to 16 teams in 1986, no OVC school with at least eight Division I wins has been left out of the playoffs.

Not known for his quickness, Torres used his intelligence to come up with Eastern’s first defensive touchdown of the year.

JSU trailed 30-23 with the ball at midfield and quarterback Cedric

Johnson lined up in the shotgun on the decisive 4th-and-2 play.

“We had already knew that this play right here was going to determine our season,” Johnson said. “If we convert, we’ve got a chance to go down and score.”

The Gamecocks had four wide receivers on the play, two on each side, and running back Daniel Jackson stood to the right of Johnson in the shotgun.

Senior wide receiver Taurean Rhetta went in motion from left to right. After Rhetta passed by the center, Johnson received the snap and went to his right.

Everyone else went to the right also, including Eastern’s defense, which had five defensive backs in on the play.

Everyone that is, except Jackson and Torres.

“Usually, when the offensive person doesn’t block you, it’s for a reason,” Torres said.

Johnson stopped and threw a screen pass back to his left for Jackson.

Torres stepped in front of the pass, tipped the ball in the air to himself and saw nothing except Johnson in front of him.

The senior from Miami sidestepped past Johnson near the Gamecocks 20.

He ran the last 20 yards untouched down the left side for what he said was his “first touchdown of my whole career since I started playing football at the age of 6.”

Middle linebacker Donald Thomas said Torres joked with him that he’d perform a back flip if he scored. Torres didn’t have time to even think about that, with half the Panthers team rushing down to jump on him following his score.

“I couldn’t believe our first defensive touchdown of the year came from Michael Torres,” said Eastern senior defensive tackle Jeff Sobol. “It was completely unexpected. I was the first one to jump on him. I’m looking at him at the bottom of the pile and he’s looking at me going ‘I can’t breathe’. So it was great.”

A 15-yard penalty was assessed to Eastern for excessive celebration and was enforced on the kickoff.

But even with JSU starting its last drive at its own 49, it didn’t pay dividends for the Gamecocks.

Strong safety Ke’Andre Sams intercepted Johnson in Eastern territory and the Panthers offense ran out the clock.

“I don’t have criticism of Cedric,” JSU head coach Jack Crowe said. “That screen that got intercepted wasn’t a very good call and I called the damn thing. It was designed for a blitz and they didn’t blitz us.”

Eastern led 23-20 at halftime, and expanded that lead before the Panthers offense could take the field. Junior wide receiver Quinten Ponius returned a kickoff 97 yards to increase the Panthers lead to 10. Ponius followed his blockers to the right side and then cut back left near midfield. He only then had to outrun safety Kenny Walker for the Panthers first kickoff return for a touchdown since Andre Raymond returned one Sept. 21, 2002 against Indiana State.

“The blocking was there and (Ponius) did a great job of finding a lane,” Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said. “And he beat everybody to the end zone. Just outstanding.”

Eastern sophomre quarterback Bodie Reeder finished 15 of 25 for 180 passing yards. Senior running back Ademola Adeniji had another solid day, carrying the ball 29 times for 158 yards. The Springfield native now has 1,008 yards on the season.

Johnson accounted for most of JSU’s offense. He completed 14 of 21 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 14 carries for 100 rushing yards and one touchdown.

“If it hadn’t been for Cedric making a sprinkling of plays in a lot of places, it would have been very difficult,” Crowe said. “At the same time, he made some critical errors.”