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Austin Peay State University Athletics

Postgame Notes and Quotes: Govs vs. Eastern Illinois

November 06, 2021

By: Casey Crigger, Assistant Director of Athletics Communications

GOVS-PANTHERS POSTGAME NOTES

Notes following Austin Peay's 42-26 win over Eastern Illinois in Ohio Valley Conference action, Saturday, at Fortera Stadium.

FROM THE TOP

  • Austin Peay defensive back Johnathon Edwards picked off his fifth, sixth, and seventh passes of the season in just the second quarter. His three interceptions are tied for the best single-game mark in the FCS this season.
  • Austin Peay's defense intercepted six passes, that is tied for the best single-game mark in program history and is the second-best mark in the FCS this season.
  • The Governors six interceptions matches a pair of six-pick games against Kentucky Wesleyan in 1999 and 2001 for the program record.

CAPTAINS/COIN TOSS

  • Captains Koby Perry, Drae McCray, Kordell Jackson, Jack McDonald, and Bucky Williams took the coin toss for Austin Peay.
  • Austin Peay won the toss for the second time this season and elected to receive the opening kickoff.
  • The Govs are 1-1 this season and 4-2 under head coach Scotty Walden when winning the opening coin toss.
  • Weather in Clarksville at kickoff: 59, Fair, Winds northwest at 5 mph.

SERIES UPDATE                                           

  • Austin Peay improves to 6-15 all-time against Eastern Illinois.
  • The Govs have won three-straight games against the Panthers at Fortera Stadium and improve to 4-8 all-time against EIU in Clarksville.
  • The Governors have won back-to-back games against Eastern Illinois for the first time since the first two meetings in series history in 1958 and 1959.

THOSE ARE THE BREAKS

  • Austin Peay improves to 4-2 this season and 6-3 under Walden when leading at halftime.
  • The Governors improved to 4-1 this season and 6-3 with Walden at the helm when leading at the end of the third quarter.

OFFENSIVE SPARKS

  • Freshman Drae McCray – who is on the STATS FCS Jerry Rice Award Watch List – caught his third-career touchdown, a 32-yard toss from Sheldon Layman in the first quarter.
  • McCray caught his fourth touchdown on a 43-yard toss from Draylen Ellis in the second quarter, marking his first-career multi-score game.
  • McCray made six catches for a career-high 137 yards – it was his first-career 100-yard receiving game.
  • CJ Evans Jr. caught his second-career touchdown, the 33-yard pass from Ellis is the longest receiving touchdown of his career.
  • Ellis threw his 11th,12th, and 13th passing touchdowns of the season, with 27 career passing touchdowns he moves into sole possession of fifth place on the APSU career passing touchdown list.
  • Ellis' 13 passing touchdowns this season is tied with Jesse Kellogg, Dennis Dyer, and Rodney Rogers for the seventh-best single season mark in program history.
  • Eugene Minter caught the longest touchdown of his career on a 59-yard bomb from Ellis, it was Minter's third touchdown grab of the season and the seventh of his career.
  • The 59-yard scoring toss to Minter was the second longest of touchdown pass of Ellis' career, behind a 71-yard touchdown pass to Jay Parker at Southeast Missouri (3/14/21).
  • Brian Snead rushed for his fourth and fifth touchdowns of the season, he has run for multiple scores in a single game twice this season and three times in his Austin Peay career.  

DEFENSIVE STANDS                   

  • With seven interceptions this season, Edwards has matched Kordell Jackson – who intercepted seven passes in 2019 – for the second-best single-season mark in program history; he is now two picks behind Howell Flatt for the best single-season mark in Austin Peay history.
  • Edwards' three interceptions are tied for the second-best single-game mark in program history and are the most by a Gov since Thomas Sexton intercepted three passes against Kentucky Wesleyan (10/20/01).
  • Edwards' 54-yard return on his first interception was his first return on an interception this season.
  • Koby Perry recorded an interception for the second-straight week, he returned the fourth-quarter pick 28-yards to set up Snead's second rushing touchdown of the day.
  • Shamari Simmons recorded his first and second interceptions as a Governor in the fourth quarter.
  • Edwards and Simmons, with three and two interceptions, respectively, are the first pair of Govs to record multiple picks in the same game since Johnny Bell (three interceptions) and Dustin Wilson (two interceptions) against Kentucky Wesleyan (10/23/99).
  • Austin Peay's defense recorded a season-high five sacks, led by Terrell Allen's career-high 2.5 sacks.
  • Jack McDonald led Austin Peay with seven solo stops and nine total tackles.
  • McDonald and Allen each recorded 2.5 tackles for loss – a season-high for McDonald and a career-high matching for Allen – they finished the game tied with Kordell Jackson (Chattanooga) and Allen (Morehead State) for the best single-game performance by a Gov this season.

SPECIAL TEAMS SPRINTS

  • Matt Rigney punted three times for 99 yards, with one kick downed inside the 20-yard line.
  • Sheldon Layman punted once for 54 yards; his kick was downed at the Eastern Illinois 10-yard line.
  • Riley Stephens kicked off seven times for an average of 59.9 yards, with two touchbacks.
  • Freshman Maddux Trujillo was 6-for-6 on PATs, it was the second time this season – joining the Morehead State game – where he was a perfect 6-for-6 on PATs.
  • Trujillo improves to 27-for-28 on PATs this season, his 27 made PATs is tied for the eighth-best single-season mark in program history.
  • Trujillo's 96.4 percent on PATs this season is tied for the seventh-best single-season mark in APSU history with a pair of games left to play.

GOVS-PANTHERS POSTGAME QUOTES

Austin Peay head coach Scotty Walden

Opening Statement… "Really proud of the win. Whenever you win a Division I college football game that's something special, especially during conference play and defending our home turf. I'm proud of this football team and the way they responded to the adversity we faced and stayed together. It would have been real easy for everybody to splinter, but we stayed together and said we are going to win this game. That's a testament to our coaching staff and their leadership, and our players and their leadership." 

On the defensive performance… "They are so opportunistic. The defensive backs are playing with so much confidence right now and when the ball is in the air I feel like it's theirs for the taking. The one thing you saw today is that we did a great job of getting pressure on the quarterback. I thought we got great pressure on the quarterback and that caused him to make some errant throws... I was trying to count all the interceptions during the game and I couldn't keep track. When the quarterback was pressured and made errant throws, our guys capitalized."  

Austin Peay defensive back Johnathon Edwards

On his three-intercetpion day... "Just going into the game and the whole week we watched film and studies their tendencies. From there we just played ball. It's always fun when it's a day like today. Everybody is itching to get in the game and make a play. Once it happens for anybody in the secondary, it feels like all of us caught it." 

Austin Peay quarterback Draylen Ellis

On settling in and the offensive performance... "After the start with the fumble, I was just ready for the opportunity. I was ready to get back in and make throws and take the most of the opportunity. The offensive line did a great job, the receivers did a great job winning downfield, and the running backs did a great job running the ball hard to set up the pass. It was a whole team effort." 

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