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CHARLESTON, Ill. - Southeast Missouri (1-6, 1-3) had a 100-yard rusher and scored two special teams touchdowns in a 55-33 loss to No. 3 Eastern Illinois (6-1, 3-0) Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 11,569 at O'Brien Field.

DeMichael Jackson ran for 126 yards and scored his first career touchdown, while Spencer Davis ran back a kickoff for a touchdown for the first time in his college career. Southeast also added a blocked punt for a touchdown.

While those were some of the bright spots for Southeast, the Redhawks simply had no answer for EIU's high-octane offense which put up 27 points in the first quarter and never looked back.

"We didn't get started and they scored 27 points in a hurry," said Southeast head coach Tony Samuel. "That was a tough hill to climb. Eastern Illinois has a very good quarterback and offense, and a really good defense."

EIU scored often and quickly en route to its third-straight win.

The Panthers struck first on the third play of its opening drive when Jimmy Garoppolo hit Erik Lora for a 60-yard touchdown pass to take a quick 7-0 lead in just 39 seconds.
 
On the first play following a Southeast punt, Garropolo threw an 82-yard touchdown pass to Adam Drake, giving EIU a 14-0 lead with 9:19 left.
 
The Redhawks used a 43-yard run by DeMichael Jackson to set up a 15-yard touchdown pass from Scott Lathrop to Spencer Davis. Davis' third touchdown of the season narrowed the deficit to 14-6 after Alex Knight missed the PAT.
 
Shepard Little's 19-yard touchdown run capped a 5-play, 65-yard drive in 1:08 before Southeast's Terrance Hill intercepted Garropolo's pass at the Redhawks 6-yardline on the Panthers next possession. Southeast, however, was offside. Taylor Duncan then crossed the goal line on a 10-yard run to extend EIU's lead to 27-6 with 1:42 remaining in the first quarter.
 
EIU widened its lead to 34-6 when Little scored again, this time on a 5-yard run less than two minutes into the second quarter.
 
The Panthers lined up in punt formation for the first on their next possession. David Smart came up the middle and blocked Scott Weatherford's kick. Justin Elias recovered and ran 29 yards to the end zone, dicing EIU's lead to 34-13 at the 9:09 mark. The blocked punt for a touchdown was Southeast's first in a game since 2009. That year, Andrew Adams had the block and Tylor Brock recovered against Quincy on Sept. 3.
 
Little hit paydirt for his third rushing touchdown on an 8-yard run and Jackson scored on a 27-yard scamper to close out the first half with EIU holding a 41-20 lead.
 
EIU racked up 487 yards of total offense on 48 plays, averaging over 10 yards per play in the first half. Garropolo threw for 310 yards and two touchdowns, while both Lora and Drake went over 100 receiving yards in the opening 30 minutes. In addition, the Panthers ran 15 plays for 291 yards and scored four times in under four minutes during the first quarter alone.
 
After Southeast came up short on a 4^th-and-2, Garropolo threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Keiondre Gober on the ensuing play for the only points of the third quarter. Gober's touchdown increased the Panthers lead to 48-20.

The Redhawks added 13 more points in a 21-second span in the fourth quarter.

Following a 3-yard touchdown run by Jimmy Lera, Davis returne the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown to close EIU's lead to 55-26 with 1:26 left to play.

EIU fumbled on the next kickoff and Ron Davis recovered at the EIU 12-yardline. Three plays later, Lathrop threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Paul McRoberts at the 1:05 mark.

EIU, which finished with 665 yards of total offense, had two 100-yard rushers, two 100-yard receivers and a 300-yard passer. The 665 total yards were the most an opponent had against Southeast during its NCAA Division I era.

Garoppolo, who broke the Panthers all-time career record in passing yards, completed 22-of-30 passes for 376 yards and three touchdowns.

Drake and Lora followed with 138 and 131 receiving yards, respectively.

Meanwhile Little ran for 129 yards and three scores on 15 carries and Duncan ran the ball 20 times for 107 yards and one TD.

Jackson averaged nine yards per carry on his 14 attempts and Lathrop completed 15-of-22 passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns to lead Southeast. McRoberts caught a team-high seven psses for 61 yards and a touchdown, as well.

Davis' 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown marked the third-longest in Southeast history. He had 126 kickoff return yards and now needs just four more to break the school's all-time career kick return yardage record.

Defensively, Roper Garrett turned in a game-high 12 tackles, while Elias and R. Davis each had an interception. The Redhawk defense forced multiple turnovers in a game for the fifth time this season.

Southeast returns to Cape Girardeau to host Eastern Kentucky during Homecoming weekend on Oct. 26. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., CT, at Missouri National Guard Field/Houck Stadium.