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RICHMOND, Ky. – Preston Brown’s two-yard touchdown run with 1:34 left in the game gave Tennessee State a 20-17 win over No. 16 Eastern Kentucky Saturday night at Roy Kidd Stadium. The Tigers (3-3, 2-0 OVC) rushed for 159 yards on a Colonel (3-2, 3-1 OVC) defense that had not given up more than 100 yards on the ground all season.

Tennessee State’s game-winning drive began with 5:48 left in the game. On 3rd-and-14, quarterback Calvin McNairl found Joseph Hills for 15 yards to the EKU 48-yard line. McNairl connected with Marquez Wilkens on the very next play for 29 yards to move the ball to the Eastern 19-yard line. The Tigers then put the ball in Preston Brown’s hands on six straight plays. Brown picked up 12 yards on the first two carries to get to the seven-yard line. On 3rd-and-4, Brown picked up only two to set up a huge fourth down.

After a time out by both teams, Brown scored the game-winner from two yards out.

Eastern Kentucky moved to the TSU 37-yard line on its ensuing possession, but redshirt freshman #T.J. Pryor#’s fourth down pass to junior Cody Watts fell incomplete with 16.9 seconds to play.

TSU’s Brown finished with 74 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Donte Thomas added 65 yards on 14 carries. McNairl went 9-of-16 for 124 yards through the air.

Eastern Kentucky out-gained Tennessee State, 311 to 283, but converted just 4-of-14 third downs and turned the ball over twice. Pryor tossed two interceptions while completing 16-of-27 pass attempts for 197 yards. Pryor ran for 23 yards and scored a touchdown on the ground. Senior #C.J. Walker# rushed for 73 yards on 17 carries and scored once.

Tennessee State drew first blood in the first quarter when Eugene Clifford picked off a pass by Pryor at the TSU 34-yard line and returned it 66 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown. Redshirt freshman Justin Bell blocked the point-after attempt to keep the score 6-0.

The Colonels got on the board with 10:16 left to play in the second quarter when junior #Logan O’Connor# connected on a 22-yard field goal.

Eastern’s late second quarter drive was ended by another interception. After picking up a first down and moving the ball to the Tennessee State 43-yard line, Pryor’s long pass down the left sideline was picked off by Anthony Levine near the goal line with 1:30 to play before intermission.

On their first possession of the second half, the Colonels put together a seven-play, 78-yard scoring drive to take their first lead of the game. Junior Bruce Frieson got the drive rolling with a 12-yard run. Three plays later junior Shannon Davis hauled in a 51-yard pass from Pryor to the TSU 17-yard line. After a penalty gave Eastern a first down at the seven, Pryor took it to the house. O’Connor’s point-after made it a 10-6 lead for EKU.

The Tigers answered late in the third. After picking up four yards on the ground, McNairl hooked up with Hills for 42 yards to the EKU 19-yard line. Two plays later, a run by Thomas picked up 12 yards to the two-yard line. Brown capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run with 35 seconds left in the period. The point-after put Tennessee State back in front 13-10.

On Eastern’s next possession the Colonels drove to the TSU 15-yard line, but the drive stalled and O’Connor failed to connect on a game-tying 36-yard field goal attempt.

TSU turned to its running game to chew up time. The Tigers ran the ball on six of seven plays on their next drive. Tennessee State gained 37 yards, but on 3rd-and-4, Brown picked up just two and the Tigers were forced to punt after using 3:26.

Pryor took advantage and engineered a six-play, 80-yard drive for the go-ahead score. Pryor found redshirt freshman Orlandus Harris for 15 yards and then picked up 12 on the ground himself. The redshirt freshman then completed three straight passes. After a three-yard loss on a pass play, Pryor found Davis for 25 yards down the right sideline and then connected with senior Garnett Phelps for 23 yards over the middle to the TSU eight-yard line. On the next play, Walker polished off the drive with a seven-yard touchdown run.

Phelps made five catches for 59 yards. Davis finished with two catches for 76 yards.

The Colonels will host UT Martin for Homecoming next Saturday. The game is scheduled to kick-off at 3 p.m.

NOTES
--Eastern Kentucky has blocked at least one kick in three of its last four games. On Saturday against Tennessee State, Justin Bell blocked a Tennessee State point-after attempt in the first quarter. Later in the quarter, Andrew Soucy blocked a Tiger field goal attempt. In the second quarter, Orlandus Harris blocked a TSU punt attempt.

--T.J. Pryor’s third quarter touchdown run was his second of the season.

--Tennessee State became the first team this season to rush for more than 100 yards against the Colonels.

--Tennessee State entered the game ranked second in the OVC with an average of 165 rushing yards per game. The Tigers finished with 159 yards on the ground.

--C.J. Walker scored his 12th career rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter.

--In its last 24 conference games, Eastern Kentucky is 22-2. Both losses have come to Tennessee State. The loss snaps a 10-game conference winning streak for the Colonels.

--This was just Tennessee State’s second ever win at Roy Kidd Stadium. The Colonels are 19-4 all-time against TSU and 11-2 at home versus the Tigers.