Panthers blitz Eureka for seventh straight win
Nov. 1, 2008

LAGRANGE, Ga. - LaGrange College rolled over Eureka (Ill.) College 63-19 at Callaway Stadium on Saturday. It was the seventh straight win for the Panthers, now 8-1 overall and 6-0 in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

LaGrange, now in its third year of football, will host Huntingdon (Ala.) College on Nov. 15 for the SLIAC championship. The Panthers will have an open week before hosting the currently unbeaten Hawks.

The Panthers rushed for a season-high 418 yards in the game. The Panthers had three running backs over 100 yards. Mario Wallace ran for a game-high 154 yards and three touchdowns on just four carries, all in the first half. He had touchdown runs of 30, 48 and 68 yards. Gerald Reed had 117 yards on 12 carries and two touchdowns. Cedric Talley had 116 yards on 12 carries, all in the second half.

LaGrange blitzed Eureka (3-5, 2-4 SLIAC) in the first half. The Panthers raced to a 49-0 lead at the half. The Panthers' longest scoring drive took 3:01 and seven plays. The Panthers had three one-play drives and a pair of two-play drives. The Red Devils turned the ball over three times in the half, each time resulting in a Panther touchdown.

Wallace opened the scoring with a 30-yard run 27 seconds into the game. Drew Carter threw a 50-yard touchdown to Stephen Tuck and began the second quarter with an 18-yard touchdown throw to Erik Hardison to make it 21-0. Carter made it three touchdown passes in a row with a short 2-yard completion to Tripp Duke and a 28-0 lead.

Wallace ripped off touchdown runs of 48 and 68 yards to finish his day and a 42-0 lead. Colt Shope closed out the first half with a 14-yard run and a 49-0 lead. The 49 points in the half and 35 in the quarter were the most by the Panthers in a game.

Reed closed out the scoring in the second half. He had a 25-yard run to finish a four-play 47-yard drive in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, his 26-yard run completed another short four-play 39 yard drive.

Eureka got three second-half touchdowns against the Panthers' reserves. The Red Devils finished the game with 359 yards of total offense, 219 coming in the second half.