SUNDAYS SCORES
#21 Southeast Missouri 47, @Eastern Illinois 7
@Austin Peay 27, Tennessee State 20
@#16 Jacksonville State, #23 Tennessee Tech
@Murray State 14, UT Martin 10
#21 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 47, EASTERN ILLINOIS 7
CHARLESTON, Ill. - #21 Southeast Missouri (1-1) opened its Ohio Valley Conference spring campaign with a bang, blowing out Eastern Illinois (0-1), 47-7, Sunday at O'Brien Field.
SEMO, which last played an OVC game 463 days ago, stormed out to 34 first-half points and never let up.
Defensively, the Redhawks put together an outstanding performance recording four takeaways (three interceptions) and stopping EIU five times on fourth down. SEMO limited the Panthers to only 114 yards in the game's opening two quarters.
While the defense was creating all sorts of havoc, it was SEMO's special teams which set up the Redhawks first touchdown of the spring.
Zack Smith blocked Stone Galloway's punt and Aaron Alston recovered at the EIU 10-yard line. Two plays later, Zion Custis crossed the goal line on a 9-yard run to put the Redhawks ahead, 7-0, with 5:57 to play in the first quarter.
SEMO then blew the game open with a 27-point second quarter.
Izeal Terrell picked off Harry Woodbery and returned his first career interception 10 yards to the SEMO 10-yard line. Geno Hess converted that turnover into seven points on his 1-yard touchdown run five seconds into the second quarter.
After Daterraion Richardson and Jacob Morrissey tackled Kendi Young for no gain on a fourth-and-1, Andrew Bunch threw a quick 27-yard completion to Smith moving SEMO to EIU's 10-yard line. Custis later capped the fast 4-play, 34-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to extend the Redhawks lead to 21-0.
SEMO's defense came up big again, this time with James Sackie forcing a fumble on the first play of EIU's next possession. Jordan Smith coughed up the ball on the hit and Sackie recovered.
That turnover resulted in a 38-yard field goal by Kenny Doak, the first of his SEMO career.
Following another stop by SEMO on a fourth-and-1, Doak kicked another field goal, this time from 34 yards out to send the Redhawks into the locker room with a 34-7 halftime advantage.
SEMO tacked on six more points in the third quarter on an 8-yard run by Hess and buried EIU for good when Al Young ran his interception back 25 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter putting an exclamation point on the blowout.
The 47 points are SEMO's most against EIU ever. The Redhawks also finished with their most points in a OVC road game since scoring 50 at UT Martin on Oct. 12, 2002.
Bunch completed 23-of-37 passes for 302 yards and a touchdown, and ran for 16 yards on three carries. Newcomer Johnny King caught seven passes for 115 yards and a touchdown, while Custis and Hess added two scores each.
The Redhawks accumulated 474 yards of total offense and held EIU to under 300 (295) total yards.
Rasean McCauley, Steven Lewis and Terrell topped SEMO's defense with five tackles apiece. Matthews, Terrell and Young each contributed one interception, while Sackie forced and recovered a fumble.
Young ran for 88 yards and a touchdown, and Woodbery threw for 101 yards on 10-of-26 passes to pace EIU.
AUSTIN PEAY 27, TENNESSEE STATE 20
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Brian Snead set an FCS record for yards in a quarter when he rushed for three long touchdowns to jumpstart Austin Peay to a 27-20 win on Sunday.
Snead had touchdown runs of 75, 67 and 44 yards on three carries on the Governors' first three possession for a 20-0 lead.
He had 204 yards on six carries in the first quarter. The previous record was 194 on eight carries by Nevada's Otto Kelly in the third quarter against Idaho on Nov. 12, 1983.
Snead, a redshirt sophomore who came into the game with 69 yards on 16 carries and a career long of 19, finished with 227 yards on 23 carries.
Freshman CJ Evans, who scored on a 75-yard touchdown on his first collegiate touch last fall against Pittsburgh, had a 7-yard TD run for Austin Peay (1-4, 1-1 Ohio Valley Conference) in the third quarter that proved to be the difference. The Govs played three road games in the fall, losing all, before falling at Tennessee Tech 27-21 last weekend in their spring opener.
Tennessee State (0-1, 0-1) was playing its first game since 2019. The Tigers were the only team to beat Austin Peay during the regular season of 2019.
Isaiah Green and Deveon Bryant both threw a touchdown pass, and on Tennessee State's final possession Green converted a fourth-and-14 from his 10. Green added completions of 20 and 31 yards before a final pass from the Austin Peay 24 was knocked down short of the end zone.
#16 JACKSONVILLE STATE 27, #23 TENNESSEE TECH 10
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The momentum built during the abbreviated fall 2020 campaign carried over to spring as No. 16 Jacksonville State defeated Tennessee Tech 27-10 on Sunday for its fourth straight win.
The Gamecocks (4-1, 1-0) relied on an opportunistic defense that forced the No. 23 Golden Eagles into five turnovers and a punishing ground game that rolled up 274 yards to win their league opener in their final season as an Ohio Valley Conference member.
Uriah West ran for 106 yards - his second straight 100-yard rushing performance - with one touchdown, Zion Webb rushed for 70 and Pat Jackson finished with 62 yards as Jacksonville State outgained Tennessee Tech 399-227 and beat the Golden Eagles (1-1, 0-1) for the eighth time in the last nine meetings.
Webb, making his first career start, completed 12-of-19 passes for 125 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown to Dave Russell III early in the fourth quarter. The junior from Phenix City, Alabama also was intercepted once.
The first official touchdown ever scored by a Gamecock player in the month of February came less than seven minutes into the game.
Jacksonville State started its spring season with an efficient, time-consuming 53-yard scoring drive that took 14 plays. Josh Samuel, who had two touchdown runs in the Gamecocks' victory at Florida International last October, ran in from the 2 and Alen Karajic added the extra point for a 7-0 JSU lead with 8:02 remaining in the first quarter.
Safety Kolbi Fuqua forced Golden Eagles' quarterback Bailey Fisher to fumble on the ensuing possession and recovered the football at TTU's 40. Jacksonville State needed just four plays to find the end zone, with West scoring on a 13-yard run at the 3:28 mark.
Karajic's second successful PAT extended JSU's lead to 14-0.
Tennessee Tech got on the scoreboard after forcing the Gamecocks into the first of their three turnovers. TTU covered 41 yards in seven plays with Fisher diving in from the 1 to complete the scoring drive. Hayden Olsen's extra point trimmed JSU's lead to 14-7 with 10:28 left in the second quarter.
Karajic, a freshman who converted 8-of-9 field goal attempts during the fall, stayed hot with a 34-yard kick with 7:40 to go before halftime to extend the Gamecocks' cushion to 17-7.
Karajic later wrapped the scoring with 3:43 remaining by kicking a 23-yard field goal to cap off an eight-play, 85-yard drive by the Gamecocks.
Fuqua and Stevonte Tullis recovered fumbles for Jacksonville State. Nicario Harper, Jeremiah Harris and Markail Benton had interceptions for the Gamecocks.
Harper was credited with a game-high tackles to lead Jacksonville State defensively.
MURRAY STATE 14, UT MARTIN 10
MURRAY, Ky. - The Dean Hood era of Murray State football began in spectacular fashion Sunday, as the Racers braved the rain and a two-plus hour delay to top UT Martin, 14-10, at Roy Stewart Stadium in Murray, Kentucky. Sunday marked the first game for both teams in 463 days due to the postponement of the traditional fall season amid the COVID-19 pandemic
After swapping fruitless opening drives with UT Martin, Alec Long got things going for the Racers on the Skyhawk’s second possession when he tipped a pass from John Bachus III that fell into the hands of Don Parker for the first of three takeaways by the Racer defense in the game.
On the ensuing Racers drive, Preston Rice found DeQuan Dallas deep and wide open for an 83-yard touchdown to give MSU a 7-0 lead in the first. The Skyhawks would add a field goal in the second quarter, but the Racers still led at halftime, 7-3.
The Racers forced two more turnovers in the third quarter including a forced fumble by Parker and an interception by Sylvaughn Turner. Despite the turnovers, Murray State was unable to score off them, leaving the door open for UT Martin. Then, with 39 seconds left in the third quarter, after hard rains all afternoon, the lightning arrived forcing a two-plus hour delay.
Once play resumed, however, the Racers showed no signs of being affected by the wait. After punting on their first drive of the fourth, Rice drove his team 65-yards down the field on nine plays and scored on a keeper, to extend MSU lead to 14-3 with 4:11 to play.
With 2:13 to go in the game, disaster struck for Murray State as it committed its only turnover of the game via fumble, giving UTM the ball. Following the fumble, Dresser Winn took his team 58-yards in six plays to score, punching the ball in himself from the one with 59 seconds left in the game. The Skyhawks attempted an onside kick, but Murray State recovered to hold on for the 14-10 win.
Murray State rushed for 176 yards and passed for another 152 for a total of 328 yards of offense on 68 plays. Defensively, the Racers held UT Martin to just 213 yards of offense while forcing three turnovers. MSU was also 6-of-17 on third downs in the game, while limiting UT Martin to just three conversions on 13 attempts.
Rice finished the game at 9-for-22 for 155 yards with a rushing touchdown, a passing touchdown and no interceptions. Of Rice’s 155 passing yards in the game, the majority went to Dallas, as he totaled 111 yards and a touchdown on two catches. On the ground, Damonta Witherspoon led the attack for Murray State with 89 yards on 14 carries, while Rice added 52 on 11.
Defensively, Parker did a little bit of everything for Murray State with five total tackles, 2.0 tackle-for-loss for 22 yards, 1.0 sack for 21 yard, a forced fumble and an interception with a seven yard return. Long led MSU in the game with eight tackles, including six solo, while Tay Carothers added six more, all solo, as well as a pass breakup. Izaiah Reed and Scotty Humpich had the other two sacks in the game with Reed’s dropping UTM for a nine-yard loss, and Humpich’s costing the Skyhawks eight yards.