SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee Tech 35, Lindenwood 34
#20 Southeast Missouri 42, @Tennessee State 0
Kennesaw State 44,
@#15 UT Martin 27
@McNeese 29,
Eastern Illinois 15
TENNESSEE TECH 35, LINDENWOOD 34
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - It was fitting that Tennessee Tech’s battle with Lindenwood came down to one final play. After all, the two teams had been swapping scores back and forth the entire day. With 14 seconds to go, the visiting Lions lined up for a two-point conversion trailing 35-34.
It was a gutsy, but smart play for the visitors. If it was successful, Tech would have to find a way to score in the final seconds.
Lindenwood quarterback Cade Brister fired to the end zone, but Josh Reliford broke up the two-point pass.
It wasn’t over yet though as the Lions still had to kick the ball away after the touchdown. Lindenwood sent both of their kickers out on the onside kick attempt to try to distract the Golden Eagles. Logan Seibert ended up with the attempt but Brad Clark came down with the ball to dash Lindenwood’s hopes as Tech got to go into the two sweetest words in football – victory formation.
As Jeremiah Oatsvall knelt down, Tech completed the win, finishing off Homecoming with a 35-34 victory and winning its 50th Homecoming game and seventh of the last eight to go 50-40-1 all time in the annual event.
While Lindenwood’s offense was expected to be explosive, the Golden Eagles (3-6, 2-3 OVC) showed just how explosive they could be, racking up 553 total yards, including 250 in the air and 303 on the ground. It’s the first time the Golden Eagles have rushed for over 300 yards since the Cumberland game in 2013.
A big part of that came from David Gist, who ended up with his eighth 100-yard game in his career, the sixth-most in program history. His 100 yards puts him at 2,302 career yards, passing Dontey Gay (2,219) for sixth-place and 13 yards away from tying Jason Ballard (2,315) in fifth.
The bulk of his yardage came on 71-yard touchdown run, tied for the 19th longest run in program history. Gist also had three catches for 13 yards and another touchdown.
Oatsvall was 18-for-27 for 194 yards and a touchdown passing, but also ran 11 times for 81 yards and two touchdowns for 275 yards of total offense.
It wasn’t just the offense clicking on all cylinders though. Brister’s throwing prowess was well-known with over 10,000 career yards and leading the OVC’s top passing offense. The Lions were yielding almost three sacks a game coming into Saturday’s contest. That was until the Golden Eagles pegged Brister for a Tech single-game record 10 sacks.
Eight sacks against Eastern Illinois in 2010, Southeast Missouri in 1999 and Eastern Kentucky in 1998 were the previous record. Jacorrian Wrenn had 2.5, while Reliford, Samari Burns, Hudson Tucker, A.J. Crawford, Kail Dava, Ethan McLaurin, Aidan Raines and Theron Gaines each brought the Lions signal-caller down.
Brister, however, still ended with 303 yards on 24-of-33 passing with five touchdown completions, including two each to Payton Rose – who had three catches for 102 yards – and Chase Lanckreit -- who had the first two touchdown catches of his season.
It was also a relatively clean game for both teams as there were only one penalty for five yards against each team and one turnover each.
The first quarter was almost a clean sheet for both sides, but Oatsvall found Gist on an 11-yard pass to the end zone to take the early lead. Lindenwood responded on a short 1:47 series as Rose caught a 37-yard completion, racing to the goal line.
Tech countered with Gist’s 71-yard breakaway, but Lindenwood scored 14 straight points as Brister found Kobe Smith for a 29-yard score and a 40-yard connection to Rose, Seibert’s PAT giving the Lions a 21-14 lead at the intermission – both drives lasting less than two minutes.
With the Lions electing to receive on the opening kickoff, Tech got the ball to start the second half. The Golden Eagles took the opening drive of the third quarter up 78 yards, ending the series as Oatsvall broke free for a 47-yard keeper. Devin Parker’s third of five PATs was good, knotting the game once more at 21-all.
After forcing Lindenwood to punt on its next series, Tech needed just three plays to shift the momentum once more as O.J. Ross ran for an 11-yard pickup. One the next play, Oatsvall threw across to Willie Miller, who completed a 56-pass to Ross, who was stopped by Lloyd Lockett just short of the goal line. Tech kept the ball in Ross’ hands and he pushed forward for the three-yard touchdown, ending the 70-yard, 1:06 drive and going up 28-21.
Lindenwood started to chew up time, taking up 6:13 on its next drive and going 75 yards on 11 plays. The Lions scored on a 23-yard hookup from Brister to Lanckreit with the PAT tying the game just before the end of the third quarter.
Tech added one more touchdown with 6:36 remaining in the contest, getting into the Lions’ den on five plays, including a 28-yard pass to Quavel Thornton to get down to the Lindenwood 26. The Golden Eagles inched closer with a 12-yard completion to Clark, a Jayvian Allen rush and a Clark rush to move the chains on 1st-and-goal at the LU 2. Oatsvall was held on the first try, but facing just inches away, the Tech signal-caller pressed forward into the scrum and across the goal line.
With time waning, Lindenwood was content to take up as much time as possible. Despite two sacks in the drive as Aidan Raines and Samari Burns pushed the Lions backwards 13 yards, Brister kept the chains moving, rushing for 38 yards and completing passes for 36 yards to get to the Golden Eagle 10. His fifth completion of the 18-play drive was a score as Lanckriet caught the ball and was upended by Burns, but the Lion tight end was able to cross the line with just 14 ticks left on the clock.
The Lindenwood offense stayed on the field. It was a solid decision – the Lions had just marched down the field and had 409 yards of offense on the day. Brister stepped back, looking for Lanckreit once more, but the ball didn’t get to him. Reliford knocked the ball down, keeping Tech on top 35-34.
#20 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 42, TENNESSEE STATE 0
NASHVILLE - – Geno Hess ran for 136 yards, three touchdowns and broke his program's all-time career rushing record leading #20 Southeast Missouri (7-2, 3-0) to a 42-0 win over Tennessee State (3-6, 2-2) Saturday night at Nissan Stadium.
It didn't take Hess long to become his school's all-time leading rusher. In fact, he accomplished the feat on just his third run of the game, a 9-yard carry early in the first quarter. Hess surpassed Kelvin "Earthquake" Anderson's mark of 3,392 yards which stood for 28 years.
Hess quicky put SEMO on the board when he ripped off a 44-yard touchdown run on the Redhawks second play from scrimmage. The touchdown gave the Redhawks a 7-0 lead just 2:34 into the contest.
SEMO tacked on 14 more points in the second quarter before heading into the locker room with a 21-0 halftime advantage.
Damoriea Vick caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Paxton DeLaurent before Hess scored his second touchdown, this time on a 6-yard run with 3:18 remaining in the second quarter.
TSU moved inside SEMO's 10-yard line just before the intermission, but the Redhawks defense held, and the Tigers later missed a 28-yard field goal.
After TSU botched the snap on a punt, SEMO had excellent field position at the Tigers 29-yard line. On the next play, Hess scampered 24 yards to the TSU 5-yard line and then scored his third touchdown two plays later on a 3-yard run up the middle extending the Redhawks lead to 28-0 with just under 10 minutes to go in the third quarter.
The Tigers managed to get inside SEMO's 5-yard line late in the third quarter, but the Redhawks kept them out of the end zone. SEMO held on three-straight plays from its own 2-yard line to cap its impressive stand.
Darrell Smith and Keveon Robbins capped the night by scoring their first career touchdowns in the final period. Smith scored from 56 yards out and Robbins hit paydirt on a 20-yard run.
Hess ran for 106 yards, two touchdowns and averaged 8.2 yards per touch in the game's first 30 minutes alone. He now has 3,475 yards as the Redhawks top all-time career rusher.
SEMO dominated the ground game all night outgaining TSU, 310-152. The Redhakws also piled up 459 yards of total offense and did not turn the ball over.
DeLaurent completed a near-perfect 13-of-14 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown, while Vick paved the way with five receptions for 46 yards.
Defensively, Bryce Norman turned in 12 tackles and a pair of quarterback hurries. SEMO collected three sacks and eight tackles for loss, as well.
The Redhawks posted their fourth-straight road win and has their longest road winning streak since 2010. SEMO also beat the Tigers for the fifth-straight time with Head Coach Tom Matukewicz improving to 6-2 against TSU.
Additionally, SEMO pitched a shutout in an Ohio Valley Conference game for the first time since 1997 (31-0, at Austin Peay).
KENNESAW STATE 44, #15 UT MARTIN 27
MARTIN, Tenn. - The No. 15 ranked University of Tennessee at Martin football team saw its nine-game home winning streak come to an end on Saturday after dropping a non-conference matchup against ASUN preseason favorite Kennesaw State by a final score of 44-27 at Hardy M. Graham Stadium.
The Skyhawks (5-4) dropped their first matchup against an FCS opponent since its Week 2 setback to then No. 2 ranked Missouri State on the road. The squad had also recorded nine straight wins at Graham Stadium dating back to Apr. 11, 2021.
UT Martin faced a 14-point deficit in the first half before ending the second period with 21 unanswered points in just over three minutes of action. The Skyhawks strung together three quick scoring drives beginning with an eight-yard pass connection from Dresser Winn to Colton Dowell, a 21-yard touchdown scamper by Zak Wallace and another quick strike from Winn to DJ Nelson to take a 24-17 lead into halftime.
The home squad then added three more points midway through the third quarter on a 26-yard field goal Tyler Larco – his second of the game. After the Skyhawks built a lead as large as 10 points with six minutes to play in the third, Kennesaw State took control of the contest. The Owls rallied for several stops and three offensive scoring drives down the stretch to score 20 points in the fourth quarter – including an interception return for a touchdown on the final play of the game.
Highlighting some of the top individual performances was a UT Martin Division I record-setting performance by linebacker Rob Hicks. The graduate standout had an explosive performance with 26 tackles – including eight solos and 18 assists. The performance marked the third-most tackles in program history – trailing only Terry Giltner who notched 35 tackles in 1970 and 29 tackles in 1969 – while marking a FCS season-high.
Reigning FCS National Defensive Player of the Week Daylan Dotson also had a big game for a second straight week. Dotson recorded a career-high 14 tackles while notching 2.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Graduate safety Ty Woods joined Hicks and Dotson in double figures with a career-best 10 tackles.
Offensively, Winn completed 28-of-46 pass attempts for 286 yards and two touchdowns while throwing a career-high five interceptions. DeVonte Tanksley ranked as the team’s top receiver with 10 catches for 75 yards. Meanwhile, Nelson had 48 yards and a touchdown while Dowell had four catches and a touchdown reception. Leading the ground attack was Wallace with 13 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown scamper – his 15th of the season to rank tied for third in program single-season history with his 2021 output.
Kennesaw State (5-4) won its third straight contest after a tough start to the season with its strong fourth quarter. The Owls racked up 268 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground while also completing two touchdowns through the air. Xavier Shepherd had a big day on offense with five combined touchdowns – including three on the ground and two through the air. Receivers Gabriel Benyard and Blake Bohannon each tallied a touchdown reception in the win. Meanwhile on defense, Chance Gamble had three interceptions – including an 89-yard interception return for a score as time expired.
MCNEESE 29, EASTERN ILLINOIS 15
LAKE CHARLES, La. - Eastern Illinois stepped out of Ohio Valley Conference play one more time on Saturday evening playing at McNeese in Lake Charles, La.
The Cowboys would lead 19-7 at the half and used defensive stops in the second half to beat EIU 29-15 for the win over Eastern Illinois.
McNeese was able to use an effective ground game paced by Deonta McMahon in the first half as he rushed for 117 of his 211 yards in the opening half. However, it was McMahon taking part in a trick play that put the Cowboys on the board for their first touchdown as McMahon hit Jon McCall for a 33-yard touchdown pass with 2:15 left in the first quarter.
EIU trimmed the McNeese lead to 10-7 on the next drive with Dom Shoffner hitting Jay Vallie for a 26-yard pass which Vallie made a circus catch for the score with 12:20 left in the half. Shoffner passed for 187 yards in his first collegiate start while rushing for 66 yards.
McNeese led 19-7 at the half with a pair of Garrison Smith field goals and a Ryan Roberts 32-yard touchdown pass to Mason Pierce. Roberts came in for an injured Walker Wood and passed for 177 yards. Pierce had eight receptions for 145 yards in the game.
EIU would have two long drives that would come up short. In the second quarter the Panthers were held on a fourth and short attempt. On their opening drive of the second half, a field goal attempt was blocked as the Panthers were without the services of starting placekicker Stone Galloway who missed the trip due to the flu.
McNeese answered following the blocked field goal with a touchdown run by McMahon pushing the Cowboys lead to 26-7 with 3:40 left in the third quarter.
EIU would come up short one more time on fourth down after a long drive late in the third quarter. Smith would knock home his third field goal of the game with 5:55 left in the game for the final score for the Cowboys.
Shoffner would guide the Panthers to one more offensive score as he hit Justin Bowick for a 19-yard touchdown pass with 3:13 left in the game. Cooper Willman would connect with Nile Hill for a two-point conversion to make it 29-15.
Nick Coates led EIU’s defense with 13 tackles. Jordan Vincent had 12 tackles and a forced fumble. Kordell Williams led McNeese defense with 14 tackles.
EIU fell to 2-7 on the season. McNeese improved to 2-7.