Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 11

SPORTS COMING UP Checking on area runners in the Chicago Marathon TUESDAY INSIDE Romo's pass to Austin gives Cowboys OT win PAGE B3 LEE PUBLICATIONS, INC. I WWW.JG TC.COM SECTION PENN STATE 52, EASTERN ILLINOIS 3 III A 77. 77t7l mr LomroaiLTD I gaDDDS 1 "rr OVC STANDINGS Conf. All Tennessee State 2-0 3-3 Eastern Kentucky 3-1 Eastern Illinois 2-1 Tennessee Tech 2-1 UT Martin 1-2 Murray State 0-2 1-4 Austin Peay 1-2 2-4 Southeast Missouri 0-4 Jacksonville State '-ineligible for conference championship Last week's scores Austin Peay 24, Southeast Missouri 14 Tennessee State 20, Eastern Kentucky 1 7 Tennessee Tech 35, UT Martin 28 Jacksonville State 41 Murray State 7 Penn State 52, Eastern Illinois 3 Saturday's games UT Martin at Eastern Kentucky Tennessee Tech at Eastern Illinois Murray State at Tennessee State terback Jake Christensen said. At least this was not a day for ridicule.

"I didn't get after them," EIU coach Bob Spoo said of his postgame speech to the Panthers. "I thanked them for finishing." Then again, it was not a day of achievement. "I'd hoped we would be more competitive today," Spoo said. Instead, the Panthers were trailing 38-0 by halftime, which had a capper of Penn State linebacker Navorro Bowman picking up a Christensen fumble and running 91 EIUB5 'vJf 4,1 1 Associated Press photos Odrick (91) during the first half on Saturday. By BRIAN NIELSEN Sports Editor STATE COLLEGE, Pa.

Hours after a rather uneventful 52-3 football loss at Penn State, Eastern Illinois got good news. Eastern Kentucky, the team that beat EIU the previous week, was knocked from its top spot in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 20-17 loss to Tennessee State re-opening the door toward a league championship. So maybe this was a good Saturday for the Panthers after all. Or maybe the second-half injury to season tackles leader Cory Leman likely to sideline the linebacker for at least four games will become too costly on the day EIU got $450,000 for playing Penn State. Same goes with an injury to defensive end Nate Galan whose status is questionable for this Saturday's Homecoming game against Tennessee Tech, a resurgent OVC team coming off a 35-28 win over UT Martin.

Who really knows how to judge the state of affairs for this EIU team ranked 25th in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision and now 4- 2 with five OVC games left on the regular season schedule. What were you expecting against 5- 1 Penn State, which at No. 12 in the USA Today Coaches poll and No. 14 by Associated Press, was the highest ranked Football Bowl Subdivision team Eastern Illinois has ever faced? "It's hard to say after a 52-3 loss what you can build on," EIU quar- o'clock tonight." That was the case. In living rooms in time to watch Florida-LSU andor Michigan-Iowa andor the end of the Cardinals' baseball season, EIU players and coaches could pretty much put out of mind a 52-3 never-had-a-chance football loss at Penn State one week after replaying and lamenting a pivotal play or two in the Panthers' 36-31 loss to Ohio Valley Conference rival Eastern lij BRIAN ril, I NIELSEN Eastern Illinois quarterback Jake Christensen (11) is sacked by Penn State Jared After fundraiser we can get back to football r.

r. z- -r vr 0 Penn State coach Joe Paterno, left, and Eastern Illinois coach Bob Spoo, two of the nation's longest tenured college football coaches, greet each other before Saturday's football game. Still, that reporter in the postgame interview room at Beaver Stadium was on the right track. "They knew who we were playing," Spoo said of his Panthers' latest and most challenging venture yet into the elite world of college football. "We got our fannies kicked today but our kids are very resilient.

"I'm happy it's over." Never do I recall hearing, overhearing and reading so much disgust about having to watch a team they cover win a ballgame as the past week around media covering Penn State. Wake us up when we play Minnesota, one columnist wrote. This game should have never happened, at least one person in the press box muttered during Penn State's domination of EIU. FUNDRAISERB5 Inside The Angels and Vladimir Guerrero shrugged off their postseason failures and swept away the Red Sox on Sunday, scoring three runs off Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth inning to beat Boston 7-6 and advance to the AL championship series. DetailsBZ.

Looking for any kind of complaint, one reporter misfired. He apparently wanted Eastern Illinois football coach Bob Spoo to gripe about how long of a trip it is to Happy Valley, to pick up a check from Penn State University. Oh yeah, and to play a football game. The reporter must not have realized that in the Football Championship Subdivision world, Spoo's team spends up to six hours one way on a bus for an Ohio Valley Conference trip and might get home at 4 in the morning following a night game. Not everyone pays Eastern $450,000 to be the white-jersey visitor to help bring fans into a Beaver Stadium, a stipend that allows the football team to take a charter flight.

"The travel was great," Spoo answered. "We'll be back by 6 on match point for the Fury a kill from Lake Land outside hitter Jack-lyn W'illiams brought the Lakers LAKE LAN0BS YANKEES 4, TWINS 1 Rodriguez, Posada power Yankees back to ALCS MlilliWIIBtgggWaMM fT rr 'ir' -Lu -a--. LAKER VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT Lake Land holds off Florissant Valley for sweep i) By SCOn RICHEY Staff Writer MATTOON The scores got con- tinuously closer in each consecutive volleyball game between Lake Land and Florissant Valley College on Saturday afternoon. I But the Lakers were able to hold off a Fury charge in the second and third games to close out the Laker 1 Tournament with a 25-9, 25-17, 26-23 three-game sweep. third game was the closest of the match with Florissant Valley taking the lead late in the game after trailing all of the first game and the majority of the second game Lake Land actually held an early lead in the third game and held off multiple Florissant Valley rallies that tied the game at 10-10, 13-15 and MINNEAPOLIS (AP) After so many October misses, Alex Rodriguez delivered the playoff performance his talent demanded.

Rodriguez and Jorge Posada hit seventh-inning home runs to spoil Carl Pavano's opportunity to frustrate New Yorkers or more time, and the Yankees advanced to their first AL championship series in five years with a 4-1 victory and sweep of Minnesota on Sunday night. Mariano Rivera closed out Game 3 the last baseball game at the Metrodome to preserve Andy Pettitte's record-tying 15th career postseason win. Game 1 of the ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels will be at Yankee Stadium on Friday. The Angels swept Boston earlier in the day. This pitching duel between former teammates Pettitte and Pavano ended with another first-round play- Mike EstellStaff Photographer Lake Land's Marie Le Calvez (15) returns a volley during a match against Florissant Valley at the Laker Tournament at Lake Land College in Matt con on Saturday.

off victory in Minnesota for the Yankees, who also eliminated the Twins here in 2003 and 2004. For all their success this decade by being so good at the basics, the Twins made glaring gaffes at the i worst times against the team that led the majors with 103 wins, YANKEESB2 18-18. That's when the Fury made their push to take the lead and hold the Lakers at bay. A Lake Land lift error gave Florissant Valley a 24-22 lead, but.