SATURDAY'S SCORES
@UT Martin 27, Eastern Illinois 18
Eastern Kentucky 34, @Murray State 27
Southeast Missouri 24, @#14 Jacksonville State 21
@Tennessee State 26, #19 Austin Peay 24
UT MARTIN 27, EASTERN ILLINOIS 18
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin football team remained unbeaten in Ohio Valley Conference play with a 27-18 victory over Eastern Illinois on Saturday afternoon at Hardy M. Graham Stadium.
The Skyhawks (5-2, 4-0 OVC) had to gut out a victory behind three timely interceptions and a pair of clutch field goals in the fourth quarter by Ryan Courtright to seal the team’s fourth consecutive victory. UT Martin was outgained offensively 356 to 241 but capitalized on its opportunities by scoring in every phase of the game. Additionally, head coach Jason Simpson tied the all-time wins mark in program history with UT Martin Hall of Famer Bob Carroll by tallying his 85th career victories.
UT Martin limited Eastern Illinois to just 69 rushing yards, ranking as the fourth consecutive game and fifth time this season that the Skyhawks have held their opponent to fewer than 100 rushing yards in a contest. Additionally, the Skyhawks forced three turnovers, all courtesy of interceptions while tallying a program-record 16 quarterback hurries.
Quarterback John Bachus III completed 8-of-20 passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns. Terry Williams and Davin Dyal both tallied touchdown receptions for the Skyhawks, combining for 67 yards on five catches. Junior running back Peyton Logan continued his strong campaign with his fifth 100-yard rushing performance of the season with 20 carries for 109 yards.
Defensively the Skyhawks were paced by senior linebacker TJ Jefferson with nine tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss and four quarterback hurries. The trio of D’Carrious Stephens (pick-six), Takeem Young and JaQuez Akins also notched interceptions in the contest while Korbin Harmon tallied a forced fumble on a sack.
UT Martin would fall behind early as Eastern Illinois struck first less than five minutes into the game on a 51-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown before adding to its advantage with a successful two-point conversion. The Skyhawks would get back on track with a pair of scoring drives to highlight the first quarter highlighted by a 21-yard touchdown reception by Williams followed by a 26-yard interception return by Stephens to give the home team its first lead of the contest.
The Panthers would cut into the margin with a 31-yard field goal to close out the first quarter while a touchdown strike from Bachus to Dyal in the second quarter capped off the game’s scoring summary until the fourth quarter. In the fourth, it was Courtright who put the game away for the Skyhawks by booting a 32-yard field goal before a touchdown by Isaiah Hill midway through the period brought the contest within six points. Needing a bit of insurance, Courtright would boot a career-long 46-yard field goal to push the lead out to nine points and seal the victory.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 34, MURRAY STATE 27
MURRAY, Ky. - Two third quarter touchdown runs by Alonzo Booth, the second set up by an Aaron Patrick interception, fueled the Eastern Kentucky University football team’s 34-27 victory at Murray State University on Saturday.
Booth came into the game first in the Ohio Valley Conference and 11th in the nation with eight rushing scores. He finished with 42 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries.
Leading by seven, EKU faced a 3rd-and-4 on the opening drive of the second half when Keyion Dixon hauled in a contested pass down the right sideline for 34 yards to the Murray State 28 yard line. Daryl McCleskey Jr. moved the ball to the 13 on two carries. Two plays later, Booth took it to the house right up the middle from 11 yards out.
On the ensuing possession, linebacker Steven Crowder got pressure on the QB with a blitz up the middle, and Patrick dropped back and picked off the pass, his first career interception. The senior returned it 39 yards to the MSU six yard line. Three runs up the middle later, Booth took it in for another touchdown.
In a period of three minutes and 27 seconds, the Colonels turned a seven-point margin into a 21-point lead, 31-10, with 8:02 to go in the third.
After Samuel Hayworth connected on a 36-yard field goal with 1:54 left in the third to stretch the margin to 24, the Racers scored 17 unanswered to get back in the game. Kendrick Catis returned an interception 56 yards for a touchdown. Zaden Webber’s 19-yard field goal with 10:47 left in the game made it 34-27.
The Racers drove to the EKU three yard line in the closing minute. On 2nd-and-goal with seven seconds remaining, Frank Sumpter intercepted a pass in the end zone to secure the victory.
Quarterback Parker McKinney finished 16-for-30 for 256 yards. He threw two touchdown passes and had one interception. McCleskey had 73 yards on 22 carries. Dixon caught four passes for 83 yards. Crowder and Josh Hayes had seven tackles each.
Eastern Kentucky limited Murray State to 22 yards rushing yards and had three interceptions in the game.
The Colonels built a 7-point halftime lead with the help of a pair of touchdown passes from McKinney. With EKU down 3-0, the redshirt freshman quarterback connected with Alex Cabrera on a screen pass to the left side. Cabrera weaved through traffic and took it 56 yards down the left sideline for the go-ahead touchdown with 4:48 left in the first quarter.
With 9:52 on the clock in the second quarter, McKinney hooked up with Jerome Gross in the end zone near the left sideline. Gross caught it just inside the line. The extra-point made it 14-3. The Racers answered with a scoring drive of their own to get within four. As the clock expired in the first half, Eastern’s Samuel Hayworth put a 38-yard field goal through the uprights for a 17-10 lead at intermission.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 24, #14 JACKSONVILLE STATE 21
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Southeast Missouri (4-3, 2-1) had a season-high four takeaways and scored 14 fourth-quarter points to stun #14 Jacksonville State (5-3, 2-2) Saturday on a rainy day at Burgess-Snow Field.
SEMO beat JSU in Jacksonville for the first time in its NCAA Division I history. The Redhawks defeated the Gamecocks in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1963 and 1964. And, with the win, the Redhawk seniors became the all-time winningest senior class in program history.
SEMO's senior class recorded their 19th win since the 2016 campaign and surpassed the 2010 class' total of 18 victories. The Redhawks gave Matukewicz his program-best sixth win over a ranked opponent, as well.
Tied, 7-7, at halftime, Kendrick Tiller kicked a 24-yard field goal to put SEMO ahead with 8:44 left to play in the third quarter. Tiller's field goal came after Justin Swift jarred the ball loose when he sacked Zerrick Cooper and Bryson Donnell recovered at the JSU-12.
On a day where it was tough to throw the football, the rain subsided enough for Daniel Santacaterina to throw a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter.
After SEMO's defense held on fourth down, the Redhawks took over on downs at their own 25-yard line. Immediately following a false start penalty, Santacaterina completed an 80-yard touchdown pass to Kristian Wilkerson. Wilkerson's 29thcareer receiving touchdown tied a school record and widened the Redhawks lead to 17-7 with 4:21 to go in the fourth quarter. The 80-yard play tied SEMO's fourth longest reception in school history.
JSU answered on its ensuing drive by covering 79 yards in 10 plays and scoring on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Cooper to Jamari Hester in just under two minutes.
SEMO, however, delivered the dagger when Aaron Alston caught a 38-yard pass from Santacaterina, broke multiple tackles and plowed his way into the end zone at the 1:47 mark. Alston's fourth touchdown this season gave the Redhawks a 24-14 advantage.
Neither team scored for the first 28:53 of play.
SEMO, which had 19 yards on its first 18 plays offensively, overshadowed that with outstanding defense forcing two turnovers and a fourth-down stop.
On JSU's first drive, Zach Hall dropped Jaelen Greene for no gain on a fourth-and-1 at the SEMO 27-yard line.
Following a SEMO punt, Ryan Ochoa forced a fumble when he hit Cooper. DJ Freeman recovered at the 50-yard line, but nothing came of the turnover.
The Redhawks registered their next takeaway in the second quarter when Bydarrius Knighten intercepted Cooper's pass in SEMO's end zone on a fourth-and-11. It was Knighten's first interception of the season and third in his career.
SEMO, after punting on six-straight drives, scored the game's first points with 1:07 remaining in the first half.
Santacaterina threw a 22-yard pass downfield to Eric Williams for a first down at the JSU-25. Three plays later, Santacaterina tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Wilkerson to put SEMO ahead 7-0.
JSU responded with a 7-play, 72-yard march in a quick minute to tie the game. Cooper plunged forward for a 2-yard touchdown and Bryant Wallace followed with the PAT as time expired bringing the score to 7-7 at the half.
Santacaterina completed 12-of-28 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns. He threw three touchdown passes for the second-straight game and went over 4,000 passing yards in his Redhawk career. Santacaterina is now eighth all-time at SEMO with 4,143 yards.
Wilkerson added 129 yards and two touchdowns on three catches. It marked the 10th 100-yard receiving game of Wilkerson's career.
Defensively, Swift finished with a game-high 12 tackles, a sack, 2.5 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and a breakup to lead SEMO. Swift surpassed 200 tackles in his career. As a team, the Redhawks recorded a season-high four sacks.
SEMO posted four takeaways in a game for the first time since its NCAA Playoff win over Stony Brook on Nov. 24, 2018.
The Redhawks have handed John Grass two of his three Ohio Valley Conference losses as JSU's head coach. SEMO also wrecked JSU's 32-game winning streak in regular-season home games, a year after ending the Gamecocks 36-game winning streak in OVC contests.
TENNESSEE STATE 26, #19 AUSTIN PEAY 24
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State Tigers football team brought down the undefeated Austin Peay Governors, 26-24, for its first Ohio Valley Conference win of the year on homecoming in Nissan Stadium.
Defensive prowess in the second half and two missed Austin Peay field goals allowed Cameron Rosendahl and the Tiger offense to take its stride into the first conference win of the season. Two touchdown passes to Steven Newbold and a career-long 50-yard field goal by Antonio Zita gave Tennessee State a two-point advantage on the Governors, who led 17-9 at the half.
Sophomore kicker Antonio Zita scored all nine points for TSU in the first half adding five in the second for 14 total points on the evening. He now ranks third in career field goals made with 29 and tied former Tiger Lane Clark for the second spot in single-season field goals made with 17.
Chris Rowland, finished the night with 12 receptions, 113 yards, making the senior the single-season receptions leader with 82.
An interception in the end zone by redshirt freshman Josh Green and a pick off of a tip by Dante’ Ferguson, as well as a sack by Justin Culpepper put an exclamation on the big night for Big Blue as the Tigers ended the night with a victory to boost them as they hit the road to continue conference play.