By Kevin Eckleberry

Sports Editor

LaGrange College head coach Todd Mooney just wants his team to maintain its momentum.

After a 1-3 start, the Panthers have won two straight games, including last week’s 48-6 victory over MacMurray College (Ill.).

The Panthers will try to make it three in a row when they travel to Illinois today to take on the Eureka Red Devils.

“We’ve played very, very well on both sides of the ball in these last two games,” Mooney said. “And now we’ve got go on the road for another long trip, and we have to take off where (the MacMurray game) ended. We’ve got to get out there and keep firing on all cylinders. We’ve got to make sure we arrive there ready to do that again.”

Outside of turnovers on their first two possessions that kept the game scoreless through one quarter, the Panthers were just about flawless a week ago.

Quarterback Drew Carter threw for more than 300 yards with four touchdowns, the offense as a whole amassed a school-record 534 yards, and the defense shut down a MacMurray offense that had been putting up some big numbers.

The offensive success, Mooney said, was made possible in large part because of an impressive performance by the offensive linemen.

Leading the way was Jon Milner, who was the offensive player of the week.

Stephen Tuck caught two long touchdown passes, Nick Langley, Colt Shope and Devin Billings each had scoring catches, and Mario Wallace and Dustin Canon scored on running plays.

While Wallace returned to action after missing most of four games, Canon - a freshman - scored his first collegiate touchdown.

“We had a heck of a game up front,” he said. “When that happens up front, we’re able to open up the passing lanes, we’re able to run the football. It makes our offense work very, very well.”

The defense was led by lineman Alex Sapp, who had six tackles, including three sacks.

“You can’t miss how hard our defense was playing, and how well they were doing getting us the ball in key spots and continuing to give us opportunities to put points on the board,” Mooney said.

This will be the second time LaGrange College and Eureka met.

A year ago, when both teams were in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Panthers won 63-19 as they ran for a school-record 418 yards.

This year’s Eureka team started 2-1, but it has lost its past three games, including a heart-breaking 35-34 loss to Westminster.

The Red Devils scored late to get within a point, but they missed the extra point.

Eureka is led by quarterback Nick Lindsey, who threw for 308 yards with four touchdowns against Westminster.

“They’ve got some threats on offense,” Mooney said. “Their quarterback does a heck of a job, and they have a very nice quick passing game.”