After seven straight weeks of losses, the Eastern football team finally pulled off its second win of the season and first Ohio Valley Conference win of the year. The Panthers now stand at 2-7 overall and 1-6 in the OVC.

Sophomore quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo led his team to the 19-10 victory over Austin Peay. Red-shirt junior Jake Walker rebounded the Panther rushing attack from last week’s -5 yard performance to finish with 124 yards by himself, while the team finished with 181 yards with red-shirt freshman running backs AJ Woodson and Jimmy Lera.

The defense saw red-shirt senior linebacker Cory Leman finish with ten tackles, moving him into the top ten all-time Eastern tacklers. Red-shirt sophomore linebacker Antonio Taylor led the defense with 12 tackles. The Governors had 215 yards rushing and 111 yards passing.

Sophomore kicker Cameron Berra kicked two field goals from 25 and 29 yards out, moving him into a tie for tenth place on the all-time Eastern list for most field goals.

Garoppolo finished with 201 yards, completing 10 of 18 passes, and connecting on a 52-yard pass to junior wide receiver Chris Wright for his only touchdown of the game. Wright was Garoppolo’s leading receiver with four receptions and 88 yards. Garoppolo threw two interceptions in the game.

Defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni said with the team’s string of close losses, they just needed a different outcome.

“I’ve been telling our guys for a few weeks how close we’ve been, and I’ve been telling them we need to learn how to win again,” he said.

Bellantoni said the plays by the Panthers’ rushing attack and defense helped secure the win.

“(Saturday) was a great example of finally learning how to win one of those close games, and it’s the way we’ve won a lot of games around here,” Bellantoni said. “Our offense ran the ball, controlled the ball, our defense kept points off the board, it’s just nice to finally win one the way we know how.”

The Panthers’ defense was able to sack Austin Peay quarterback Landon Curtis four times. Bellantoni said getting pressure on the quarterback is always something the Panthers are trying to do in their game plans.

“We got (Austin Peay) in a passing situation and the defensive line pinned their ears back and we got a lot of pressure on the passer, so I’m definitely happy with how they played up front,” he said.

This was the Panthers’ first game since wide receiver Kenny Whittaker and defensive lineman Michael Letton were dismissed from the team earlier last week after a violation of team rules.

Bellantoni said the removal of the two players was not a distraction to the team, but a motivation.

“I thought it was more of a rallying point for our team, that if you’re not going to do the right things, you’re not going to be around here,” he said. “I think it was a statement we made as a staff and I think our guys rallied around each other, and they know they have to do the right things in order to be apart of the team.”

The Panthers play Tennessee State next week for Spoo’s final game at O’Brien Field. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].