NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Draylen Ellis threw four touchdown passes to four different receivers, Karate Brenson had eight receptions for 130 yards and a TD and Tennessee State beat Eastern Illinois 41-17 on Saturday night for its third consecutive win and fourth in the Tigers’ last five.
Ellis threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Brenson that made it 7-3 with about 10 minutes left in the second quarter and Tennessee State (5-2, 3-1 Big South-OVC) led the rest of the way. The Panthers went three-and-out on their ensuing drive and Ellis led a six-play, 69-yard drive that he capped with a 7-yard scoring strike to Bryant Williams with 6:28 left in the first half and CJ Evans added a 4-yard TD run to make it 20-3 about 4 minutes later.
Eastern Illinois (1-6, 0-3) answered with 1:31 left in the second quarter when MJ Flowers caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Pierce Holley and then went 75 yards in eight plays on the opening drive of the second half to trim its deficit to 20-17 when Flowers ran it in from the 1 with 11:04 left in the third quarter.
Ellis hit Jalal Dean for a 31-yard touchdown with 4:07 left in the third quarter and then connected with Gerard Bullock for an 8-yard TD pass-and-catch that made it 34-17 going into the fourth.
Tevin Carter’s 12-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter capped the scoring.
The Panthers have lost five games in a row.
Holley finished 28-of-46 passing for 338 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Cooper Willman had eight receptions for 141 yards and Quenton Rogers
added 105 yards receiving for Eastern Illinois.
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