The Skyhawk football team snapped a four game losing streak Saturday with a victory over the Eastern Illinois Panthers, 32-14. The win, which was the first Ohio Valley Conference win this season, marked the first time the Skyhawks have ever beaten the Panthers.

The game started relatively quiet, with no points being scored until the second half.

EIU had a chance to score early in the first quarter, however, but kicker Stever Kuehn missed a 33-yard field goal wide right with 11:40 left.

The real action started in the third quarter when on the second drive, junior cornerback Jason Coleman intercepted and returned a pass for 16-yards.

UTM capitalized on this big play, scoring the touchdown on an 18-yard pass by junior quarterback Brady Wahlber to freshman fullback Chester Roebuck. The kick was no good, leaving the score at 6-0.

Three drives later, however, the Panthers came back to take the lead with 4:44 left in the quarter, bringing the point total to 6-7.

On the third drive of the fourth quarter, Wahlberg gave up his only interception on the afternoon which resulted in an EIU touchdown, increasing the Panthers’ lead to 6-14. The Skyhawks answered back with a 10-play, 63-yard drive, ending witn a 2-yard rush by freshman tailback Donald Chapman.

UTM unsuccessfully attempted the conversion, bringing them to within two, 14-12.

Two EIU posessions later, freshman offensive linebacker Andrew Johnson forced a fumble which was picked up by sophomore defensive end Andre Plummer at the EIU 25.

The recovery led to Chapman’s second touchdown on the afternoon, a rush for 19-yards. For the second time, the conversion was unsuccessfull, but the Skyhawks regained the lead 18-16.

On the very next drive, Coleman picked up his second interception and ran it in 58-yards for the touchdown. The Skyhawks opted for the extra-point and increased their lead to 25-14.

Following Coleman’s example, sophomore cornerback Jack Greenwood intercepted another pass and returned it 78-yards for another touchdown with only 13 seconds left in the game. The kick was good bringing the final score to 32-14.

“The guys worked hard for this win and are most deserving,” said Matt Griffin, the Skyhawks’ second-year head coach. “We have been in all but one of our games. In the past we had chances to win and we folded. Today we didn’t fold.”

Wahlberg and the UTM offense picked up a total of 261 yards on the afternoon, 150 rushing and 111 passing. 143 of those rushing yards came from Chapman who lost no yards during the game. Total, the Skyhawk offense lost only 13 rushing yards.

The defense came to play Saturday afternoon as well, with four Skyhawks having tackles in the double digits: senior linebacker John Castillo with 18, senior cornerback Russell Gambrell with 14, sophomore linebacker Markeseo Jackson with 13, and Johnson with 10.

Castillo also had one of UTM’s two sacs for a lost of six yards. Plummer had the other for a loss of two.

UTM is now 2-6 on the season, with one conference victory. Up next for the Skyhawks are the Indians of Southeastern Missouri State.

The Skyhawks will travel to Cape Girardeau to face SEMO on Saturday at 1 p.m.

UTM will then return home for the senior game against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.