SATURDAY'S SCORES
@#20 Southeast Missouri 28, #15 Stony Brook 14
@#8 Jacksonville State 34, #21 ETSU 27
#20 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 28, #15 STONY BROOK 14
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - No. 20 Southeast Missouri (9-3) kept its historic season alive when it erased a 14-point deficit by scoring 28 third-quarter points en route to a 28-14 victory over No. 15 Stony Brook (7-5) Saturday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship.
SEMO trailed, 14-0, at halftime after struggling against a tough Stony Brook defense in the first half.
The Redhawk defense, which leads the nation with a +27 turnover margin, then took the game over in the second half.
Justin Swift intercepted a Joe Carbone's pass that was tipped by Clarence Thornton on the Seawolves opening drive of the second half.
The turnover gave the Redhawks the ball at Stony Brook's 24-yard line. Four plays later, Daniel Santacaterina scored on a 16-yard run to make it a 14-7 game with 13:19 left in the third quarter.
On Stony Brook's next possession, Carbone was intercepted again, this time by Taj Jenkins at the Seawolves 38-yard line. Santacaterina, after rushing for 29 yards on three carries, threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kristian Wilkerson which tied things up at 14-14 at the 10:06 mark.
Following a Stony Brook punt, SEMO took over on downs in Seawolves territory again at the 40-yard line. Three penalties, including an offsides, pass interference and personal foul helped get the Redhawks a first-and-Goal at the Stony Brook 9 before Santacaterina hooked up with Jerrick Orr on a 9-yard touchdown pass to give SEMO its first lead.
A 39-yard punt by Jake Reynolds hit Donavin Washington and Demarcus Rogers recovered the fumble at the Seawolves 38-yard line, again giving the Redhawks excellent field position. On the next play, Santacaterina tossed a 38-yard touchdown pass to Kristian Wilkerson with 3:42 on the clock.
SEMO's 28 points tied for second-most in the third quarter during its NCAA Division I era as the Redhawks beat their second ranked opponent this season and eighth in program history.
"What an unbelievable third quarter," said head coach Tom Matukewicz. "This team is special and continues to battle. We beat a very good Stony Brook team and it was exciting to see our defense get the momentum in the third quarter. It was an awesome win all-around."
The Redhawks first-ever playoff win came during just their second postseason appearance of all-time. SEMO is in the postseason for the first time since 2010. In addition, Saturday's win marked SEMO's ninth this year tying the most wins in a season in program history.
Santacaterina completed 13-of-29 passes for 136 yards and three touchdowns to lead SEMO offensively. He now has 28 touchdown passes, one shy of tying the school's single-season record.
Wilkerson added five catches for 57 yards and two touchdowns, while Zack Smith had three receptions for 50 yards.
Defensively, Zach Hall broke SEMO's single-season tackles record when he turned in a game-high 13. Hall, who now had 163 tackles in his career, surpassed the previous mark of 151 by Blake Peiffer in 2011.
Swift followed with 12 tackles, a fumble recovery, one interception, a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. As a unit, SEMO's defense forced four turnovers.
Carbone threw for 211 yards and one touchdown on 15-of-27 and Julius Wingate made eight catches for 143 yards and a TD to lead Stony Brook.
The Redhawks hosted their first playoff game in front of a raucous crowd of 5,679.
SEMO travels to #2 Weber State for a second round matchup on Dec. 1.
#8 JACKSONVILLE STATE 34, #21 ETSU 27
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Shaq Davidson caught three touchdown passes from Zerrick Cooper and Marlon Bridges returned an interception for a touchdown as Jacksonville State rallied from a halftime deficit to knock off East Tennessee State 34-27 in the first round of the FCS playoffs.
Davidson, who missed the previous four games due to illness, snagged five passes, including touchdown catches of 37, five and 13 yards, as the Gamecocks (9-3) advanced in the postseason for the first time since 2015.
The Gamecocks' second-round foe will be No. 7 overall seed Maine (8-3), champion of the Colonial Athletic Association. Kickoff next Saturday at Alfond Stadium in Orono, Maine, is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT and the game will be televised on ESPN3.
Trailing by 10 to begin the second half, Jacksonville State roared back with 24 straight points to build a 34-20 lead with 7:34 remaining. Marlon Bridges' 32-yard interception return and Cade Stinnett's extra point gave the Gamecocks their largest lead of the evening.
The Buccaneers fought back again and closed the gap to 34-27 by marching 75 yards in just over two minutes following Bridges' pick-six.
East Tennessee State was moving toward a possible game-tying score when linebacker Zack Woodard came up with the biggest play of the game. Woodard knocked the ball loose as Bucs running back Quay Holmes was churning toward the goal line and Tre' Threat fell on the fumble for a touchback with 2:38 left on the clock.
Cooper completed 20-of-32 passes for 226 yards with all three touchdown throws going to Davidson. He became the first player in Jacksonville State history to surpass 3,000 passing yards in a season.
Cooper continues to rewrite the school record for most touchdown passes in a season with 30 in 12 games.
Jaelen Greene became the first Gamecock running back this season to rush for more than 100 yards with a game-high 121 on 15 attempts.
Stinnett added four extra points and field goals of 28 and 27 yards and moved past Bryce Callahan (1970-73) for sixth place on JSU's all-time scoring list with 241 career points.
Jacksonville State trailed 20-10 at halftime as the Buccaneers converted two interceptions into points.
Southern Conference co-champion ETSU (8-4) outgained the Gamecocks in the first two quarters, during which there were four lead changes. The Bucs jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a J.J. Jerman field goal after driving 77 yards in 11 plays on their initial possession.
After the teams exchanged punts, Jacksonville State took its first lead with an 80-yard drive that required only six plays. Three of the plays were Cooper passes to Davidson, the last a 37-yard completion for a touchdown with 2:05 remaining in the first. Cade Stinnett's extra point gave the Gamecocks a 7-3 lead.
The first of two interceptions thrown by Cooper in the first half gave ETSU its second lead. Titus Tucker stepped in front of a pass at the Bucs 40 and returned the pick-six 60 yards down the sideline on the final play of the first quarter. The PAT gave ETSU a 10-7 advantage.
The Gamecocks answered with the first of two Stinnett field goals to draw even at 10-10 with 11:54 to go in the second quarter.
The Buccaneers built the lead to 10 points by intermission with a short touchdown pass and another Jerman field goal in the final 8:30 minutes. His field goal on the final play of the half capped off a time-consuming 14-play drive set up by the second interception thrown by Cooper.
Bridges was also JSU's leading tackler with nine stops, followed by Traco Williams and Jalen Choice with eight apiece.