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JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – No. 15 Jacksonville State held off the Eastern Kentucky University football team in a shoot-out Saturday afternoon at Paul Snow Memorial Stadium, 34-26. The Colonels conclude the year 5-6 overall and 5-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Eastern Kentucky had a chance to tie the game on its final drive, but turned the ball over on downs at the Jacksonville State 24-yard line.

The Colonels ran for a season-high 233 yards in the loss. Senior #C.J. Walker became the first player to tally 100 yards rushing against Jacksonville State in 2009 as he finished with a season-high 117 yards and a touchdown. Redshirt freshman quarterback T.J. Pryor added two touchdown passes to senior Garnett Phelps and junior Shannon Davis#.

Gamecock quarterback Ryan Perrilloux ran for a score and threw for a touchdown against the Colonels. Perrilloux posted a career-high 115 yards rushing on just nine carries to go along with 191 yards passing.

The first half featured five lead changes before Jacksonville State took a 21-20 lead into intermission. Eastern ran for 190 yards in the first 20 minutes, including 88 yards from Walker.

The Gamecocks (8-3, 6-1 OVC) extended their lead to 24-20 late in the third quarter. A 42-yard, third-down scamper by Perrilloux set up a 20-yard field goal.

On Jacksonville State’s next drive, the Gamecocks converted a pair of long third downs before finishing the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Perrilloux to Alan Bonner to stretch the lead to 31-20.

Eastern Kentucky responded on its next drive to slice the deficit to 31-26. Pryor carried the Colonels by completing 3-of-4 passes for 66 yards. Walker capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run on 4th-and-goal. EKU went for the two-point conversion, but was unsuccessful.

Jacksonville State couldn’t put the game away on its next possession as the Gamecocks settled for a 23-yard field goal to go ahead, 34-26.

From there, the Colonels began their final drive from the 11-yard line with 3:22 remaining. Two big pass plays from Pryor to Phelps quickly helped Eastern move into Jacksonville State territory. A third-down conversion from Pryor to junior Cody Watts then put EKU on the Gamecock 33-yard line. However, facing 4th-and-2 on the 25-yard line with a minute remaining, Eastern Kentucky fumbled the exchange from center and Jacksonville State recovered the ball to seal the win.

NOTES
--The Colonels finished the year with a losing record for the first time since 1972.

--A win over Jacksonville State would have given Eastern Kentucky its third straight league title and an automatic berth in the NCAA FCS playoffs.

--Quarterback T.J. Pryor finished the year with 2,153 yards passing which ranks third in the EKU single-season record books.

--Eastern’s first offensive play of the game was a 59-yard rush by C.J. Walker which was the longest rush by a Colonel this season.