Roc Bellantoni may forgive his defense if it was a little tired.

After Eastern junior cornerback C.J. James’ 79-yard interception return for a touchdown, the team’s defense was back on the field again.

Tennessee Martin marched down the field and scored. The Skyhawks trailed 14-7 with 3:03 left in the first quarter Saturday at O’Brien Field.

The game had the makings of a shootout. It wasn’t, though, as the Panthers rolled to a 49-13 win.

“I think we were a little gassed,” Bellantoni said. “We settled down a little bit after that touchdown drive. They did move the ball the first couple of drives. But after that, we pretty much shut them down.”

The Panthers now have held opponents to 15 or less points in six of their eight wins this season.

Eastern’s defense also used that touchdown drive as a motivation factor for the rest of the game.

“(We were) so fired up from that first drive,” senior defensive tackle Trevor Frericks said. “That was not perfection in that (touchdown) drive.”

Oh, add the video that surfaced last week, and that sparked the defense as well.

“They had their little spelling bee on YouTube and that kind of ticked us off a little bit,” Frericks said. “We wanted to answer back to that.”

And the Panthers did with a heavy task of limiting the Skyhawks’ explosive weapons. UT Martin red-shirt junior running back Brandyn Young burned the Panthers for 213 rushing yards last season. Tennessee Martin red-shirt senior quarterback Cade Thompson is the Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Player of the Year. He is only one of four OVC players to throw for more than 300 yards in a game this season. And the Panthers had to worry about senior running back Miguel Barnes who is one of the top running backs in the OVC.

But as UT Martin head coach Jason Simpson pointed out, Bellantoni and the coaching staff had the Skyhawks figured out.

“(Bellantoni), the defensive coordinator, had a great game plan,” he said. “They tackled well, played with energy and emotion. They just beat us.”

James set the tone of the game with his touchdown, and the defensive line gave Thompson and the Skyhawks fits all day with pressure from all sides.

“I think that took him out of his rhythm,” Bellantoni said.

Young was held to 27 rushing yards, and Barnes finished with 49 rushing yards, well below their averages.

And with a 28-7 halftime lead, it forced Thompson to throw and make the Skyhawks one-dimensional.

Bellantoni said the Panthers just followed through from practice and executed in the game.

“We really didn’t do anything different,” he said. “Our linebackers got aggressive and attacked the line of scrimmage. We didn’t pick up on their signals. In the past we had. We prepared them for the right things. It’s all about (the players).”

Frericks said the defense was prepared because of their coaches’ game plan, including an attempted reverse by the Skyhawks that the Panthers squashed.

“We saw that coming,” Frericks said. “The coaches prepare us so well that we keep the focus. We know what’s coming.”

Eastern junior linebacker Nick Nasti said the Panthers are doing simpler things this season, with different defenses and not overrunning as much as last season.

The result of the focus and simple technique changes – a defense that gives up less than 300 yards a game (second best in the conference) and a shot at the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs with a win Thursday against Tennessee State at 5:30 p.m. at O’Brien Field on ESPNU.

“We came in thinking we were going to have a dog fight,” Nasti said. “I think we surprised ourselves the way the game turned out.”

Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or [email protected].