Eastern Illinois cornerback Christopher Sharp (25) forces a fourth-quarter fumble that teammate Ja’Wuan Nickson recovered Saturday at O’Brien Field. (Photo by Sandy King, EIUPanthers.com)
By Dan Verdun
CHARLESTON – Gardner-Webb lived up to its Runnin’ Bulldogs nickname Saturday against Eastern Illinois at O’Brien Field. And running back Carson Gresock proved to be the leader of the pack.
Gresock, a redshirt junior, rushed for 137 yards and two touchdowns on just six carries as Gardner-Webb broke away for a 21-10 win to spoil the 104th EIU homecoming.
The loss dropped EIU to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the OVC-Big South. GWU improved to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the league.
Gresock ran for 134 first-half yards, largely on the strength of TD dashes that covered 64 and 55 yards.
“Their tailback had those explosive plays,” EIU head coach Chris Wilkerson said. “We’ve been able to limit those the last few weeks, but unfortunately we didn’t today.”
Gresock credited his offensive line.
“They opened the hole and it was just one-on-one with the safety.” Gresock said of his first touchdown. “(The second one) we drew up in practice. It was supposed to bounce outside and get me against the corner.
“They weren’t really an aggressive defense.”
Eastern linebacker Tylan Foster said the Panthers “came out slow on both ends.”
“We overcompensated for their run game,” Foster said. “They had some good running backs. We kept on trying to mix up the front.
“In the second half, we went back to base calls and fits, that’s when we shut them down.”
While EIU did shut out Gardner-Webb in the second half, the damage was done. The Runnin’ Bulldogs rushed for 251 yards – 186 in the first half. GWU averaged 7.2 yards per rush.
Meanwhile, Eastern managed only 229 total yards while running 15 more plays than GWU. The Runnin’ Bulldogs racked up 446 yards of total offense. Quarterback Nate Hampton passed for 195 yards and a touchdown.
“We didn’t execute well enough in all three phases,” Wilkerson said. “Offensively, we didn’t finish drives and score points. Defensively, we gave up three massive plays, and we missed a couple of tackles on special teams.”
Eastern lost starting quarterback Connor Wolf early to injury in the second quarter. The redshirt freshman completed 2 of 7 passes for 13 yards. He was sacked twice.
Redshirt sophomore Cole LaCrue led the Panthers the rest of the way. LaCrue, a transfer from FBS Wisconsin, completed 11 of 23 throws for 95 yards. He was sacked six times.
“It was a battle. We kept swinging with them, but we just didn’t capitalize on the moments,” said LaCrue, who rushed for 39 yards including a 19-yard touchdown.
Game changers
12:36, 2nd quarter: Gresock broke up the middle for a 64-yard touchdown run. The score gave GWU a 14-0 lead.
4:28, 2nd quarter: Gresock turned the corner on the left side and evaded EIU free safety Jihad McCall en route to a 55-yard touchdown run.
1:12, 3rd quarter: LaCrue faked a sweep to receiver C.J. Nelson, then burst up the middle and scored on a 19-yard run.
Prime Time Panthers
Prairie State Pigskin chooses the the top three Eastern Illinois players in the game:
LaCrue, QB: The Colorado native accounted for 134 of EIU’s 229 total yards. He ran for a 19-yard touchdown.
Foster, LB: The Incarnate Word transfer led the Panthers with nine tackles and a quarterback hurry.
Tienne Fridge, S: The graduate student registered five tackles and forced Hampton to fumble just short of the goal line.
What it means
Eastern Illinois suffered its first conference loss and saw its two-game winning streak end. The Panthers have not won on homecoming since 2018.
What’s next
Eastern Illinois travels to Cape Girardeau, Mo. Oct. 18 to face Southeast Missouri in OVC-Big South action. Kickoff is 2 p.m.
Dan Verdun is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin. He has written four books: NIU Huskies Football, EIU Panthers Football, ISU Redbirds Football and SIU Salukis Football.
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