Southeast Missouri State University stunned Eastern Illinois early, but the Panthers showed their championship mettle by delivering the majority of the blows the rest of the way.

The Panthers, after falling behind 21-7 early in the second quarter Saturday, scored 30 unanswered points and cruised to a 44-27 victory in front of an announced crowd of 9,178 at Houck Stadium.

EIU, the defending Ohio Valley Conference champion, improved to 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the OVC. The Panthers, ranked seventh nationally in NCAA Division I-AA, recorded their 11th straight league win and claimed sole possession of first place in the OVC.

Southeast, which had posted three straight victories and had its first two OVC games for the first time ever, is 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the league. The Indians fell into a second-place tie with Eastern Kentucky.

"We just got beat by a really good football team that knows how to play in crucial situations," Southeast coach Tim Billings said. "This was our first big game, and there were some things we didn't handle well. Eastern Illinois has been there a lot of times, and they understand how to handle things."

Nobody handled things better then EIU quarterback Tony Romo, the two-time OVC offensive player of the year and picked as the preseason Division I-AA national player of the year by one publication.

Romo, a senior, passed for 295 yards and five touchdowns as he helped rally the Panthers following Southeast's early outburst.

"I think our experience really showed there," Romo said. "When we were down 21-7, nobody panicked."

Romo and Southeast senior wide receiver Willie Ponder -- both candidates for the Walter Payton Award that goes to Division I-AA's top player -- put on quite a show in front of the Indians' homecoming crowd that braved a steady rain most of the day.

Ponder caught 10 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns, including a circus catch for a go-ahead first-quarter touchdown in which he was sandwiched by two defenders but somehow came down with the ball just over the goal line.

"Willie had a tremendous day," Billings said.

Despite pushing his season totals to 61 receptions for 943 yards and 10 touchdowns, Ponder was in no mood to celebrate his individual accomplishments.

"It's so disappointing to lose this game, I don't even have words for it," he said. "They made some nice defensive adjustments and they're a championship team. You have to take your hat off to them."

The Indians, playing in what was billed as their biggest game since the school moved up to Division I-AA and joined the OVC in 1991, gave their fans plenty to cheer about in the early going.

After EIU went ahead 7-0 on the game's opening possession and Southeast failed to score on its first offensive series, the Indians responded with touchdowns on three straight possessions.

Keiki Misipeka's 8-yard run with 8:26 left in the first quarter tied things at 7-7, Ponder's spectacular 39-yard reception from Jack Tomco with 5:36 left in the period put Southeast up 14-7 and Tomco's 13-yard pass to Ponder just 42 seconds into the second quarter made it 21-7.

A lesser team might have folded, but Billings said he knew that wouldn't be the case with the Panthers.

"A lot of teams might have panicked, but they're a veteran team," Billings said.

The Panthers scored 23 straight points over the final 11 minutes of the second quarter. Romo's 31-yard pass to Andre Raymond with 8:07 left forged a 21-21 tie. Then, after Tomco was intercepted, Steve Kuehn's 33-yard field goal with 4:23 remaining put EIU up for good, 24-21.

After Tomco's second interception of the day, with under 30 seconds left, the Panthers scored a crushing touchdown on Romo's 15-yard pass to Raymond with just 2.6 seconds remaining for a 30-21 halftime lead.

A fake punt by the Indians in their own territory on the opening possession of the second half failed and EIU answered with J.R. Taylor's 5-yard run for a 37-21 lead.

There was still plenty of time left, but the Indians' offense continued to sputter until Southeast finally scored again on Misipeka's 3-yard run with 11:58 left, making it 37-27. A two-point conversion try failed.

Southeast had one more chance to make things interesting, but a drive stalled at the EIU 43. The Panthers then iced it on Romo's fifth TD pass of the day, a 36-yarder to Nick Eller with 5:37 left.

"We started out real good, but they made some nice adjustments defensively," Ponder said. "But we're not going to get down. There's a lot of the season left and we've just got to win out."

mmishow@semissourian.com

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