SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Southeast Missouri 37, #4 Jacksonville State 14
@Eastern Illinois 24, UT Martin 21 (OT)
Murray State 34, @Eastern Kentucky 6
@Tennessee State 41, Tennessee Tech 14
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 37, #4 JACKSONVILLE STATE 14
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - From start to finish, Southeast Missouri (5-2, 2-1) never let up in a commanding 37-14 win over #4 Jacksonville State (5-2, 4-1) ending the Gamecocks 36-game winning streak in Ohio Valley Conference games.
JSU's 36-game winning streak, previously the longest in Division I, started with a 42-34 win over SEMO on Nov. 23, 2013. The Redhawks shattered that streak with a dominating performance today.
Defensively, the Redhawks forced a season-high five turnovers, had three interceptions, recovered a pair of fumbles, scored a safety and returned a blocked field goal 85 yards for a touchdown. SEMO also tallied three sacks, six tackles for loss and held the OVC's top scoring offense (48.2 ppg) to its lowest point total of the year.
JSU was the only OVC team Matukewicz did not have a win against as the Redhawks head coach and his Redhawks added their fourth victory over a ranked opponent with him at the helm. The four wins over ranked teams are the most of any SEMO head coach.
SEMO jumped all over the Gamecocks early. Zack Smith returned the opening kickoff 52 yards to the JSU 48-yard line before he later caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Daniel Santacaterina to give the Redhawks a 7-0 lead in the first 1:19 of the contest.
Early in the second quarter, JSU tied the game when Zerrick Cooper hooked up with Landon Rice on a 15-yard touchdown pass to cap a 6-play, 80-yard drive, knotting the game at 7-7 with 13:51 left.
Cade Stinnett later attempted 25-yard field goal, but Zach Hall blocked the kick. Bydarrius Knighten scooped up the ball and sprinted 85 yards to the end zone to put SEMO ahead, 14-7, and the Redhawks didn't look back.
JSU began its next drive at its own 1-yard line following a 45-yard punt by Jake Reynolds. Two plays later, Hall tackled Leander Burrows in the end zone for a safety, as SEMO led 16-7 at the half.
On the first play from scrimmage of the second half, Justin Swift sacked Zerrick Cooper for a loss of five yards. Cooper fumbled the ball on the play and Omardrick Douglas recovered at the JSU 14. That turnover led to a 13-yard touchdown pass from Santacaterina to Kristian Wilkerson extending SEMO's lead to 23-7 at the 13:59 mark.
With less than a minute left in the third quarter, Mark Robinson broke free for a 10-yard touchdown run widening the Redhawks margin to 30-7. Robinson started the drive with a 52-yard run and rushed for 73 yards on three touches to key the 4-play, 74-yard march.
Another nice punt, this time a 71-yarder by Reynolds, pinned the Gamecocks at their own 2-yard line. JSU, after scoring on its previous possession, was stopped on fourth down.
Marquis Terry scored the game's final touchdown on a 39-yard run to polish off the Redhawks third-straight win.
Terry, despite being bothered by an ankle injury, ran for 102 yards on 20 carries and averaged over five yards (5.1) per rush. He ran for over 100 yards for the third time this season and seventh in his career. Robinson followed with a season-high 80 yards and a touchdown on five carries. He averaged 16 yards per touch.
Santacaterina completed 13-of-21 passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns. He also went without throwing an interception as SEMO did not turn the ball over. The Redhawks outscored the Gamecocks, 30-7, after JSU tied the game early in the second quarter.
Wilkerson topped the Redhawks with six receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown.
Hall, who went over 200 career tackles, paced SEMO's defense with a game-high 15 tackles, a blocked field goal, two quarterback hurries and 2.5 tackles for loss. Hall, the OVC's leading tackler, posted double-digit tackles for the fifth time in seven starts.
Meanwhile, Reynolds was precise with his punting. He averaged 45.3 yards on seven punts and dropped three of his kicks inside the JSU 20-yard line. Two of those attempts put the Gamecocks inside their own 5. Additionally, his 71-yard punt tied for ninth-longest in school history.
JSU's last loss came on Nov. 16, 2013 at Eastern Illinois (52-14). Since then, the Gamecocks have suffered as big of a loss as the Redhawks handed them today. The OVC loss was also John Grass' first as JSU's head coach
EASTERN ILLINOIS 24, UT MARTIN 21 (OT)
CHARLESTON, Ill. - It looked like shades of last season when Eastern Illinois won all six of its games by a total of 15 points with no victory greater than three points as the Panthers picked up a 24-21 overtime win over UT Martin on a windy homecoming afternoon at O’Brien Field.
The Panthers improved to 2-6 overall, 2-3 in the OVC. UTM fell to 1-6 overall, 1-3 in the OVC.
Taking advantage of a wind coming from the North, EIU head coach Kim Dameron called a timeout with one second remaining in the third quarter forcing UT Martin to run one final play into the wind on third and long. Back-up quarterback Joe Hudson rolled out of the pocket and threw back across the field only to have freshman safety Bryce Dewberry get a read on the pass. Dewberry intercepted the pass and returned it for 61-yard touchdown to put the Panthers up 21-14 at the end of the third quarter.
EIU then pinned UTM at the Skyhawks own 10-yard line with 2:09 remaining and two timeouts to work with. Hudson completed a fourth down pass to Jaylon Moore to keep the drive alive on a fourth and seven play. Moore would catch two more passes on the drive including a 26-yard touchdown with 25 seconds remaining. Hudson was 5-of-6 on the drive after his fourth down completion to Moore. He was 18-of-30 for 175 yards in the game replacing Dresser Winn who was hurt on the final play of the first quarter after going 7-of-7 for 48 yards.
Ryan Courtright then bounced the extra point attempt off the right upright spinning it through to tie the game at 21-21. In overtime, EIU would hold UTM to a 3-and-out and Courtright missed his first kick of the season as his 42-yard field goal bounced off the cross bar falling short.
EIU gained five yards on its possession in overtime setting up a 38-yard game winning field goal by Nick Bruno.
UTM scored first in the game taking a 7-0 lead on a LaDarius Galloway 4-yard touchdown run. The Skyhawks ran 91 plays in the game compared to just 53 for the Panthers. UTM finished with 405 yards with Galloway rushing for 78 yards and two touchdowns. His second touchdown came with eight seconds left in the first half to give UTM a 14-7 halftime lead.
The Panthers high-powered offense stalled on its first couple of drives as the first, first down of the game for EIU came on a 50-yard pass from Harry Woodbery to Matt Reyna in the second quarter as the Panthers were backed up to their own 1-yard line.
Alexander Hollins hauled in his 13th touchdown pass of the season in the second quarter for EIU’s first score. Hollins was held to three catches for 42 yards as EIU quarterbacks were 15-of-30 for the day with 177 yards.
EIU’s second touchdown came with 8:34 to play in the third quarter on a Johnathan Brantley 13-yard scramble. Dewberry’s interception then gave EIU the lead. In the game Brantley extended his current OVC record streak of consecutive passes thrown without an interception to 230.
Dytarious Johnson had an active day to lead the EIU defense. The sophomore had 13 tackles with 5.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Joe Caputo, Edwyn Brown and Levi Watson all finished with double figure tackles. Caputo had 13, Brown 11 and Watson 10. EIU registered 10.5 tackles for loss on the day.
UTM was led by Kevin Prather with six tackles and the only sack of the game. DaVonte Maura had an interception for the Skyhawks.
MURRAY STATE 34, EASTERN KENTUCKY 6
RICHMOND, Ky. - The Murray State football team took over sole possession of first place in the OVC Saturday with a 34-6 win at Eastern Kentucky, paired with a loss by fifth-ranked Jacksonville State.
The Racers struggled early in the game, running just 12 plays through one and half quarters and only picking up one first down during the span. However, when Quincy Williams intercepted the ball with under four minutes left in the half and returned it 85 yards to the one-yard line, the momentum immediately shifted towards the Racers. After Rodney Castille punched it in for MSU from the one-yard line on the next play, the Racers would go on to outscore the Colonels, 31-3, and never look back.
The Racers passed for 208 yards in the game and rushed for an additional 121. Drew Anderson was 20-for-30 for 205 yards and two touchdowns in the game, while James Sappington led the receivers with three catches for 42 yards and one touchdown. Rodney Castille rushed for 50 yards and one touchdown in the game, while Jared McCray added 36 yards and a touchdown, the first of his collegiate career.
Kenney Wooten had a big game for Murray State defensively, picking up seven tackles with 3.0 sacks, 3.5 tackles-for-loss for a total of 20 yards, two pass breakups and a quarterback hurry. Williams led MSU with 10 tackles in addition to an interception and 0.5 tackles-for-loss, while Sanford had eight tackles, 2.5 for loss and a quarterback hurry. As a whole, the defense held EKU to just 2-for-6 on fourth downs and 2-for-4 in the red zone. The two red zone scores by EKU were only field goals, marking the first time since 2013 that MSU had not given up a touchdown against a FCS opponent.
TENNESSEE STATE 41, TENNESSEE TECH 14
NASHVILLE - Playing at Nissan Stadium for the first time since the season opener on Sept. 1, the Tennessee State football team put on a show for the home crowd in a 41-14 win over Tennessee Tech in Ohio Valley Conference action on Saturday.
TSU (3-3, 2-2 OVC) dominated the Golden Eagles (0-7, 0-4 OVC) on both sides of the ball.
Quarterback Micheal Hughes was 22-of-27 for 318 yards and three touchdown passes, two of which were caught by Treon Harris. The offense finished with 472 yards.
Defensively, TSU held Tennessee Tech off the scoreboard until six minutes into the fourth quarter. Dajour Nesbeth recorded his fifth career interception – third on the season. Dell Porter also recovered a fumble for the Tigers.
The win snaps Tennessee Tech’s three-game winning streak in the series.