Kristin found a way to slow down oil baron JR in television’s Dallas. She shot him. That won’t work for opposing football teams that need to stop Eastern Illinois’ J.R.

J.R. Taylor, Tony Romo, a two-time OVC Offensive Player of the Year, and Eastern Illinois claimed at least a share of the conference championship with a 55-43 victory over the University of Tennessee at Martin Saturday in Ohio Valley Conference action.

Romo made his presence known early in the first half with a 19-yard TD pass to Nick Eller and a 10-yard TD pass to Adam Parsill. In the first half, Romo completed 15-of-19 passes for 190 yards. He was intercepted once. He finished the game with 211 yards of passing as he completed 17-of-21 attempts.

Taylor, well, he proved to be the Skyhawks’ nemesis throughout the first three quarters. He scored four rushing touchdowns on runs of 54, 2 , 1 and 51 yards. He racked up 141 yards of rushing in the first half on 13 carries. He finished the game with 208 yards on 17 carries.

His four touchdowns in a single game matched his effort of a year ago against Southern Illinois.

Defensively the Skyhawks couldn’t stop the host Panthers who put up 546 yards of offense and 55 points in the first three quarters of play.

“We played against a good bunch of guys,” said Johnny Jernigan, interim Skyhawk head coach. “They were physical and they ran the ball hard. Tony Romo could find his receivers and he had a big tight end he could use a lot in the first half.

They had weapons.

“Sometimes you could neutralize one part of that offense, but the other part would hurt you,” Jernigan said. “We had to tell our kids to battle and keep their heads up. I feel we really didn’t play as hard as we could in the first half and we had to fight to get our manhood back. They kept us off balance at times.”

The Skyhawks managed two first-half touchdowns. In the first quarter, Lucas Ingram, from Union City, Tenn., intercepted a Romo pass at the EIU 22 yard line. He was brought down at the 2 yard line.

Freshman quarterback Brady Wahlberg, from Lynn Haven, Fla., punched the ball in from the 2 yard line for the first of his four rushing scores in the game. Sophomore kicker Brent Harris’ point after kick was blocked.

The Skyhawks scored again with 13:49 to play in the second quarter. The 80-yard drive was kept alive when the Skyhawks managed to draw EIU offsides on fourth-and-one from the Skyhawks’ own 29 yard line.

A combination of short runs by Wahlberg, junior running back Marcus Ross and Sam Berrien, set up a 27-yard touchdown pass to junior Damien Harris from Wahlberg.

The 14-play drive ate about six minutes of the game clock and kept Romo and taylor on the sidelines.

With most of the EIU starters on the sidelines, the Skyhawks put up 30 unanswered fourth- quarter points. Wahlberg scored on runs of 12, 5 and 1 yards, while Berrien scored on a 1-yard run.

Along with Romo and Taylor, the Skyhawks were hindered by a strong south wind that stymied a new offensive look implemented by assistant coach Brad Franchione.

Franchione explained the Skyhawks still run their option game, “but we do it from a spread look so people have to respect it and move people out to space and away from our line. It gives us more room to run.”

The Skyhawks racked up 371 yards of offense, 203 passing and 168 rushing. Wahlberg led both efforts. He was 18-of-24 for 198 yards in passing and he had 17 rushes for 67 yards.

He was one touchdown short of tying a school record for most touchdowns in a single game (5, Bobby Fowler, 1957 vs. West Georgia).

The Skyhawks fall to 2-8 on the year and 0-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference, while EIU clinched at least a share of the OVC championship. The Panthers are 7-2 overall and 5-0 in the OVC.

The Skyhawks return to action Saturday when they host Murray State in the final home game of the 2002 season. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.