SATURDAY'S SCORES
#25 Austin Peay 28, @Eastern Kentucky 21 (OT)
Tennessee Tech 17, @Murray State 7
@UT Martin 22, #18 Jacksonville State 17
#18 Southeast Missouri 32, @Tennessee State 13
#25 AUSTIN PEAY 28, EASTERN KENTUCKY 21 (OT)
RICHMOND, Ky. - In college football, winning a conference game on the road is never easy, and doing it in overtime is harder, but that's exactly what the Austin Peay State University football team did, knocking off Eastern Kentucky, 28-21, in overtime at Roy Kidd Stadium.
The Governors fell behind early, and fought back to take the lead. Once the Govs had the lead, Eastern Kentucky came back to tie the game and force overtime. The Govs lost the overtime coin toss. No problem; they would score on the first play of overtime, then stop the Colonels to secure the win. Eastern Kentucky landed some punches, but every time they did, the Governors had an answer.
Eastern Kentucky landed the first blow of the game, forcing a fumble less than a minute into the contest and turning it into a 7-0 lead. The Governors responded when DeAngelo Wilson took a JaVaughn Craig screen pass 49 yards for a touchdown to tie the score at 7.
Eastern Kentucky landed another shot, hitting a field goal on their next drive to take the lead, 10-7. This time it was the Governors defense that responded. Down three points with the offense struggling to move the ball in the second quarter, Kordell Jackson came up with his sixth interception of the season.
After the Jackson interception, the Govs were forced to punt, but the defense stepped up again. This time Trent Taylor made an acrobatic catch, jumping in front of a Colonel wide receiver on a post route for the Governors second interception of the game and Taylor's second interception of the season.
Again, the Governors couldn't turn the interception into points and went to the locker room trailing, 10-7.
The Governors forced a Colonel punt on the first drive of the second half, but once they got the ball back they still couldn't find a way to move down field. The Governors punted the ball back to Eastern Kentucky for the fifth and final time.
With Eastern Kentucky driving, the Governor defense line did what it had done all game, and all season – pressure the quarterback. Then Colonel quarterback Parker McKinney, trying to escape the pressure from John Wesley Whiteside and Shaun Whittinghill, threw an ill-advised pass right to Pat Walker for the Govs third pick of the day. A 38-yard return gave the Governors the ball on the Eastern Kentucky 34.
Things changed after the Walker interception. The Governors went the final 34 yards in 2:22 seconds. Ahmad Tanner punched it in from the one yard line, the Govs had their first lead of the day with 4:17 left in the third quarter.
With some momentum finally on the Governors side, they forced an Eastern Kentucky punt. Craig got the drive started through the air, with a six yard pass to Wilson and a 15-yarder to Baniko Harley put the ball on the Colonel 25 yard line. Then five-straight runs from Craig and Tanner put the ball on the Eastern Kentucky one yard line.
On the one, the Governors trotted out the jumbo package, with defensive tackle Josephus Smith lined up at fullback. Craig took the snap and turned to hand off to Kentel Williams who was following Smith, play action;, Craig pulled the ball and rolled right where he fired a touchdown pass to a wide open Prince Momodu. Govs lead 21-10 with 13:09 left in the fourth.
But this one wasn't over yet, the OVC's leading rusher Daryl McCleskey broke a 52 yard run, before punching it in from nine yards out. The Colonels went for two and converted on double-reverse throwback to the quarterback, 21-18.
The Govs got the ball back and a bobbled snap on a punt attempt gave the Colonels the ball back with good field possession. The Governor defense stepped up again, holding Eastern Kentucky to a field goal with just under five minutes left in the game. Each team would have the ball once more, but with nobody able to put points on the board, the Govs were headed to their first overtime game since 2008.
Eastern Kentucky won the toss in overtime, meaning the Governors would have the ball first. On the first play of overtime, Kentel Williams took a Craig screen pass to the house, untouched for the 25-yard touchdown. With the pressure squarely on the Colonels, the Governor defense took the field.
A second-down holding call moved Eastern Kentucky back to the 31 yard line. Then on third and 16, Smith and Whittinghill combined for a sack that would set up a fourth and 17 with the game on the line. The Eastern Kentucky pass on the final play fell incomplete, and the Govs picked up a huge OVC road-overtime win, 28-21. It was the Governors first overtime win since 2007.
The Governors win, along with UT Martin's win over Jacksonville State, sets up a homecoming-battle for the Sgt. York Trophy and for first place in the OVC, next Saturday, at Fortera Stadium. UT Martin leads the conference at 5-1 in OVC play, the Govs sit right behind them at 3-1.
TENNESSEE TECH 17, MURRAY STATE 7
MURRAY, Ky. - Racer One ran around the track at Roy Stewart Stadium fairly quickly as Murray State turned a Tennessee Tech turnover into a touchdown drive. However, that was the only time Murray’s equine mascot made the trip around the field as the Golden Eagles scored 17 unanswered points to take a 17-7 victory and snap a three-game losing streak.
Tech improves to 5-4 overall, 2-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference, winning for just the fourth time in 11 meetings in Murray and improving to 47-37-1 in the all-time series, the longest in Tech’s program history.
The 2019 Golden Eagles also join 48 other teams in program history with five or more wins in a season, while also tying the 2016 squad for the most wins since the 2011 OVC championship season. The good news is there’s still three games left to go in the season with the opportunity to add to its total.
It certainly was a team effort. David Gist got the Golden Eagle offense going as he ended the day with a touchdown and 146 all-purpose yards. The sophomore from Cookeville recorded 101 rushing yards on 22 carries, breaking the Golden Eagles’ 13-game 100-yard-rusher drought. Gist was also the team’s last 100-yard rusher, breaking the mark against Southeast Missouri on Oct. 6, 2018, recording 108 yards in that game.
Gist also caught five passes for 45 yards and Tech’s first touchdown of the day on a 20-yard pass from Bailey Fisher to open the second quarter.
Tech was held to three points in the opening period as Haidar Zaidan capped a 14-play, 69-yard drive with a 23-yard field goal.
Andrew Goldsmith also found pay dirt as a receiver, catching a 31-yard touchdown strike from Fisher with 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
In all, Tech’s rushing attack outgained the pass 209 to 206, the third game this season the Golden Eagles have run for more than 200 yards in a contest and are 3-0 when they pass that milestone. It is also the fourth game this season Tech accumulated more than 400 yards this season and improve to 3-1 when that happens.
Fisher ended the game with 206 yards on 20-of-28 passing with two touchdowns and one interception. The offensive line kept the Racers off him as Fisher was not sacked in the contest.
One of the biggest factors in the game was possession time as the Golden Eagles ran 84 total plays to Murray State’s 57. In all, Tech held on to the ball for a season-high 39:08, 26 seconds longer than the double-overtime win over Samford.
Defensively, the Golden Eagles held the Racers to just 71 yards on the ground, the third time Tech has held a team to under 100 yards rushing this season, joining Eastern Illinois and Virginia-Wise.
The Golden Eagles also got big play after big play on defense as Quintavious Boyd and Seth Carlisle picked off passes, both in the red zone. Boyd intercepted a pass at the Tech 17, while Carlisle made a TD-saving catch at the Tech 5. Freshman Kail Dava also had 1.5 sacks while Aderick Moore made nine tackles.
Jared McCray led the Racers with six carries for 45 yards. Preston Rice ended the contest with 196 passing yards on 23-of-34 passing, while Ty Terrell caught six passes for 36 yards and LaMartez Brooks five for 68 yards and a touchdown.
UT MARTIN 22, #18 JACKSONVILLE STATE 17
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin football team celebrated Homecoming in grand fashion, defeating No. 18 ranked Jacksonville State for the first time since 2013 in an Ohio Valley Conference matchup on Saturday afternoon by a final score of 22-17.
The Skyhawks (6-3, 5-1 OVC) remained in first place in the league standings by knocking off its first ranked opponent of the season. The win marked the 86th of head coach Jason Simpson's illustrious career, moving the 14th-year head coach into first place on the program’s all-time wins list, surpassing Hall of Famer Bob Carroll’s previous mark of 85.
In an evenly matched contest that saw both teams tally just over 370 yards of total offense, UT Martin found the key plays it needed to secure the home victory. The Skyhawks would not turn the ball over while defensively, the squad forced an interception by Cam Ordway while senior playmaker Terry Williams totaled 137 all-purpose yards, including a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown.
Plagued with injuries as of late, the Skyhawks turned to a familiar but young face in redshirt-freshman quarterback John Bachus III who led the offense by completing 18-of-32 pass attempts for 245 yards and one touchdown. Before exiting the game with an injury, junior running back Peyton Logan averaged 12.2 yards per carry on six rushes for 73 yards. Then in the passing game, Williams paced the core with seven catches for 52 yards while Colton Dowell made the most of his five catches, tallying 117 yards and a touchdown.
Playing in his first Homecoming matchup as a Skyhawk, graduate Cecil Cherry wasted little time making his presence known by tallying a career-high 14 tackles along with two tackles for loss, a critical sack and five quarterback hurries. The league leader in sacks would tally three as a team while registering nine tackles for loss and three pass breakups.
No. 18 ranked Jacksonville State (6-4, 3-3 OVC) dropped its third OVC contest in a single season for the first time since 2013. The Gamecocks quarterback Zerrick Cooper competed 16-of-36 pass attempts for 240 yards while totaling a pair of touchdowns – one passing and one rushing. Wide receiver KJ Stepherson broke the 100-yard mark on five catches. While running back Michael Mathews tallied 57 all-purpose yards and one touchdown.
UT Martin answered every punch by Jacksonville State in the contest. After falling behind midway through the first quarter, the Skyhawks capitalized on great field position with a 10-yard rushing touchdown by Bachus in the second quarter. The home squad would then take its first lead right before the half as a 26-yard connection from Bachus to Dowell capped off a 69-yard scoring drive. The Gamecocks countered by scoring on the final play of the first half on a pass from Cooper to Matthews to take a 14-13 advantage into halftime.
Both teams would see its defense answer the bell in the third quarter, holding each other scoreless until Williams tip-toed 65 yards down the visitor’s sideline for his second punt return touchdown of the season to take a 19-14 lead. The fourth quarter remained tight until JSU tallied a 37-yard field goal to cut the Skyhawk margin down to two points with just under 10 minutes to play. Needing a bit of insurance, Ryan Courtright would cap off the game’s scoring with an 18-yard field goal to bring the score to 22-17.
#18 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 32, TENNESSEE STATE 13
NASHVILLE - Daniel Santacaterina threw for 291 yards and a touchdown, and Geno Hess ran for a career-high 156 yards and two touchdowns to lead #18 Southeast Missouri (6-3, 4-1) to a 32-13 win over Tennessee State (2-7, 1-4) Saturday at W.J. Hale Stadium.
SEMO posted its third-straight win and beat the Tigers in Nashville for the first time since 1996. The Redhawks ended an eight-game losing streak on TSU's home field.
The Redhawks, who have heated up to win five of their last six games, remains in a tie for first in the Ohio Valley Conference standings with UT Martin and Austin Peay.
SEMO's defense set the tone early forcing one turnover and holding TSU to only 43 total yards in the first half. The Redhawks also forced four 3-and-outs and never let the Tigers into their territory during the first 30 minutes of play.
The Redhawks scored the game's first points on their opening drive.
Santacaterina completed a 23-yard pass to Aaron Alston and Colby Cornett rushed for 13 yards on the next play to move SEMO to TSU's 20-yard line. Santacaterina followed with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Kristian Wilkerson. Kendrick Tiller's PAT went off the upright as the Redhawks took a 6-0 lead with 11:49 remaining in the first quarter. Wilkerson broke SEMO's career record in touchdown receptions with his 30thall-time.
Three Kendrick Tiller field goals consisting of 33, 23 and 23 yards stretched SEMO's lead to 15-0 at the intermission.
SEMO started the second half strong by scoring on the first possession.
Santacaterina completed a 14-yard pass to Wilkerson and threw a 19-yard completion to Zack Smith to get the Redhawks in the red zone. Hess hit paydirt on an 18-yard run to cap a 5-play, 54-yard march in a quick 1:30.
Hess later scored again, this time on a 73-yard run early in the fourth quarter. That play, SEMO's longest rushing play of the year, widened the Redhawks lead to 32-7 with a little over eight minutes left.
Santacaterina completed 25-of-37 passes and ran for 40 yards on eight carries.
Wilkerson finished with 111 receiving yards and a touchdown on nine catches. It was the eleventh 100-yard receiving game of his career. Wilkerson also broke SEMO's all-time career record in pass receptions (189) and became the first player in program history to accumulate over 3,000 career receiving yards. Hess averaged over 11 yards per carry (11.1) on 14 attempts.
SEMO racked up 496 yards of total offense with 225 on the ground.
Defensively, the Redhawks held TSU under 100 yards rushing (83) and tallied three takeaways. SEMO has forced a combined 12 turnovers in its last three games.
Justin Swift and Zach Hall paved the way with eight and seven tackles, respectively.
Additionally, Tiller matched a career-high with 14 points on four field goals and two PATs.