Eastern recorded their first loss of the season against Bowling Green 38-15 Saturday afternoon at Doyt L. Perry Stadium.
Redshirt junior quarterback Pierce Holley finished the afternoon with 21-of-32 for 250 yards and two touchdowns and one interception.
The first touchdown for the Panthers was a 15-yard pass to redshirt sophomore running back Kevin Daniels.
“The coaches knew when I came here, I’m a catching back,” Daniels said. “They’ve been working me more and more into catching. Catching is trying to get introduced to me more and more every week…It’s a big part of our game, but we’re just now getting into it as the season is going.”
The Panthers could not convert on the extra point, and Eastern ended the first quarter 7-6.
Bowling Green continued to score two touchdowns in the second quarter, but Eastern came back with another touchdown.
Holley threw a 31-yard pass to junior wide receiver DeAirious Smith for an additional six points.
Eastern also failed on the two-point conversion before the first half was over.
“Our conversion downs and being able to Continue drives offensively in third and fourth downs and being able to get off the field on third and or fourth downs was a bit of a struggle,” Head Coach Chris Wilkerson said.
The Panthers were down by nine points at halftime.
Eastern went scoreless in the third quarter while Bowling Green recorded a field goal and a touchdown to give the Falcons a 19-point lead over the Panthers.
Redshirt sophomore kicker Julian Patino recorded a field goal for the Panthers in the fourth quarter.
“The guys played hard the entire game,” Wilkerson said. “The effort wasn’t the problem.”
Junior linebacker Elijawah Tolbert and redshirt junior linebacker Anthony Shockey both led the Panthers with 11 tackles against the Falcons.
“Our offensive line played with a lot of aggression,” Daniels said. “They gave me the opportunity to run that hard. We had some big plays from our quarterback that kinda just opened up the defense and stopped letting them pack the box, so my teammates really just did a good job at giving me the opportunity to be great.”
Eastern is currently 1-1 for the season. The Panthers will have their home opener against the Illinois State Redbirds on Saturday at O’Brien Field.
The game is scheduled to kickoff at 2 p.m.
Zaria Flippin can be reached at 581-2812 or zhflippin@eiu.edu.
