Skyhawks Rally For 27-20 Overtime Victory at EIU

Saturday, November 1

Charleston, Ill.

2 p.m.

UT Martin

4-5 , 4-1

Eastern Illinois

3-6 , 2-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

UT Martin

Eastern Ill.

Skyhawks Rally For 27-20 Overtime Victory at EIU

11/1/2025 7:29:00 PM | Football

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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Trailing by seven points with less than a minute to play, the University of Tennessee at Martin football team punched in a late touchdown and added another in overtime to escape Eastern Illinois with a 27-20 road victory.

The Skyhawks (4-5, 4-1 OVC-Big South) picked up their third straight victory and moved into sole possession of second place in the OVC-Big South Football Association behind its thrilling comeback. The win also marked the seventh consecutive victory against Eastern Illinois while both the previous two visits to O'Brien Field saw the game go to overtime with the Skyhawks coming away victorious.

UT Martin jumped on the board first with a 28-yard field goal by two-time OVC-Big South Special Teams Player of the Week Cade Hechter late in the first quarter. Eastern Illinois answered back on the following drive with a touchdown from Cole LaCrue to Cooper Willman but a blocked PAT by Toby Camp – his third blocked kick of the season – left the contest at a 6-3 advantage for the home squad. The margin stayed the same until Hechter added his second field goal of the day – this time from 29-yards – to knot the game at 6-6 heading into halftime.

Eastern Illinois then retook the lead with 5:50 to play in the third quarter as LaCrue found CJ Nelson for a 13-yard touchdown connection. The Skyhawks then answered in the final seconds of the third quarter as Jase Bauer found Tommy Ansley for a 25-yard touchdown pass to make the score 13-13 heading into the fourth quarter.

With the score knotted up, the Panthers wasted very little time getting back on top as Connor Wolf found Landers Green who rolled off numerous tackles on the way to a 25-yard touchdown. Facing a touchdown deficit, the dramatics only increased for UT Martin as a fourth and goal rushing attempt saw Bauer finish just a yard from the endzone with less than six minutes to play. The Skyhawks defense flexed its muscles however and came up with a three-and-out on the ensuing possession to give the visitors the ball back on the EIU 43 with 3:45 to play.

The Skyhawks would go to work to string together a seven-play drive which ate up nearly three minutes of game clock. Chris Franklin racked up 29 yards on the drive before Bauer punched in the game-tying touchdown on a quarterback keeper with 46 seconds to play.

The Panthers were not going to settle on taking the game into overtime but rather looked to end the game in regulation. With a drive starting on their own 25, EIU moved the ball down the field before attempting a 41-yard field goal with three seconds to play. After a Skyhawk timeout to ice the kicker and think back to the earlier PAT block, the potential game-winning field goal sailed right to send the game into overtime.

Back in 2023, the Skyhawks blocked EIU's go-ahead field goal in the final seconds to send the game into overtime where they eventually won the contest, and this game followed a similar script. With the score set at 20-20, UT Martin was on offense first and found the endzone just six plays later as Bauer found a leaping Bryce Bailey for a six-yard touchdown connection to take the advantage. Then with EIU taking control of the ball, the Skyhawk defense came up strong as a 4-1 stand at the UTM 16 resulted in a five-yard tackle for loss by Keyshawn Johnson to seal the victory.

"I'm happy we won the game," UT Martin head coach Jason Simpson said. "I'm very happy for these kids and the fans that came to watch us play, but that wasn't the standard. We played so much better two weeks ago on the road. We had 400 yards today, but we couldn't get touchdowns when in the redzone. We will need to raise and meet our standard if we want to play better these next three weeks."

Bauer was efficient in the pass game by completing 22-of-29 attempts through the air for 172 yards and two touchdowns. He also added to his total offense performance with 64 yards on the ground while rushing for one touchdown score. Franklin paced the ground attack with 79 yards on 10 carries while Ansley and Bailey hauled in the team's two receiving touchdowns.

On the defensive side of the ball, Jacob Stevenson led the team with seven total tackles while Shamari Weir was close behind with six stops and a big four-yard sack. Johnson continued to wreak havoc in the back field as he capped off his four tackle afternoon with 2.5 tackles for loss totaling 12 yards while forcing a fumble for the second-straight contest.

UT Martin returns home for the first of back-to-back games at Hardy Graham Stadium when taking on Tennessee State on Saturday, Nov. 8. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m.