Charleston Southern defended their home field on Homecoming against Eastern Illinois on Saturday afternoon. The Bucs used a furious fourth quarter comeback and David Portu blocked a potential game-winning field goal to get the 17-16 victory, marking back-to-back victories for CSU for the first time since 2023.
Through the first quarter, neither team was able to get on the scoreboard. Eastern Illinois were the first to get on it using a pair of short field goals to jump out to a 6-0 lead. Drew Schiller converted the first from 22 yards out to cap off a 13 play, 77 yards drive that ended at the start of the quarter. They then had an eight-play, 40-yard drive on their ensuing possession where Schiller kicked it in from 30 yards out.
Charleston Southern got themselves on the scoreboard as the first half came to an end. They went on a 19-play, 68-yard drive and had Zach Gordon convert on a 27-yard attempt to cut the deficit to 6-3 heading into halftime.
The Buccaneers took their opening possession of the second half into the redzone and went for it on fourth and one, but got swallowed up in the middle of the line for no gain, ending the scoring opportunity. A short drive by the Panthers led to a long 64-yard punt over the head of Jamil Bishop, knocking the Bucs back deep into enemy territory. Charleston Southern went three-and-out which led to a short field for Eastern Illinois who quickly were able to punch it in with a 23-yard pass by Cole LaCrue to Joe McNab for a touchdown and stretch their lead to 13-3. The Panthers’ next drive, they moved their lead to 16-3 with a 25-yard field goal conversion with just 12 minutes remaining.
EIU was then able to work with another short field as the Bucs fumbled the ball away on their second play of the drive, but had Eastern Illinois miss from 37 yards out. After this, the Buccaneer offense woke up, with Osborne leading the Bucs on an eight play, 80-yard drive that was capped off with a passing touchdown to Rashawn Cunningham from five yards out for their first time in the endzone of the day.
The Panthers offense then went three-and-out for just the second time of the day, setting up the chance for another Buccaneer scoring drive. Osborne found Hakeem Watters for a big 43-yard gain in the middle of the field that put them into the redzone. Watters punched it in from a yard out to tie the game at 16-16 and following the made PAT, CSU got their first lead of the day at 17-16.
Eastern Illinois got the ball back once more and were able to drive down the field setting up another scoring opportunity. The Panthers lined up for a 35-yard field goal, their fifth FG attempt of the day with 14 seconds left on the clock. On Schiller’s attempt, he slipped as he kicked it and Portu was able to get his shoulder and hand on the ball, giving the Bucs the ball back and defending their lead.
Osborne finished the day going 26-38 through the air for 280 passing yards along with one touchdown. Mekhi Campfield was his leading receiver with six receptions for 80 yards. Cunningham was right behind with five catches for 77 yards while Nebanye Moore also had a big day with six catches for 47 yards.
Malik McKinzie was the leading defender for the Bucs as he collected 13 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks with each marking a season-high as well as making multiple key stops and big plays all throughout the afternoon. Champ Brantley had a sack as well with Steve Zayachkowsky, Tylan Hollis and Portu also got one. There were six Bucs that ended the day with five or more tackles as well.
The Buccaneers will be back in action next weekend with a trip out to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. They will face Southeast Missouri State ahead of the bye week with the kickoff slated for 2 p.m. with the game to be available live on ESPN+.