SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Southeast Missouri 35, Central Arkansas 28
Eastern Illinois 35, @Murray State 21
@#18 UT Martin 56, Lindenwood 26
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 35, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 28
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (3-1) used a 21-point second quarter to fuel a 35-27 win over Central Arkansas (1-3) on a hot Saturday afternoon at Houck Field.
After SEMO got on the board first with a defensive touchdown, both teams combined for 38 points in the second quarter.
Henry Pickens III put a big hit on UCA quarterback Will McElvain on the Bears' third play of the game. McElvain fumbled on the play and Bryce Norman picked up the ball and ran three yards into the end zone putting the Redhawks ahead, 7-0, with 9:44 left in the first quarter.
It was then a shootout during the next 15 minutes of the contest.
UCA tied the game with an 80-yard touchdown pass from Kylin James to Jarrod Barnes. McElvain threw to James before his heave landed in the hands of Barnes.
Paxton DeLaurent ran for six yards and pitched the ball. After the ball bounced off the turf, T.D. Williams recovered and dashed 85 yards to give UCA a 14-7 advantage.
On the second play of SEMO's ensuing possession, DeLaurent hit Ryan Flournoy in stride for a 62-yard touchdown to quickly tie the game at 14-14.
A 28-yard pass from DeLaurent to Will Weidemann moved SEMO to the UCA 17-yardline. Two plays later, DeLaurent threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Johnny King regaining a 21-14 lead for the Redhawks with just over four minutes left in the second quarter.
Hayden Ray's 28-yard field goal made it a 21-17 game, but Dalyn McDonald returned the next kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown to grab SEMO a 28-17 halftime lead.
The first half ended with Ray's 34-yard field goal attempt clanking off the left upright.
UCA was within a possession twice in the second half, but SEMO held off the Bears.
Ray kicked a 38-yard field goal to narrow the margin to 28-20 with 9:17 to go in the third quarter.
SEMO, however, manufactured a 12-play, 61-yard drive capped by an 11-yard run by DeLaurent that extended the Redhawks lead to 35-20.
UCA answered with a 1-yard touchdown by Darius Hale to pull within eight points again.
Following a SEMO punt, UCA had one last chance, but the Redhawk defense forced the Bears off the field in three plays.
SEMO ran out the final 2:39 of the game en route to its third-straight victory.
DeLaurent completed 17-of-31 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns, while Geno Hess ran for 123 yards on 20 carries. Hess averaged 6.2 yards per carry and ran for 100 or more yards for the 11th time in his career.
As a team, SEMO finished with 457 total yards and limited UCA to only 16 rushing yards. The 16 yards were the fifth fewest in a game the Redhawks held their opponent to during their FCS era.
McDonald added 182 kick return yards as his 97-yard touchdown tied for the second longest kick return for a touchdown in program history. It was the first time a SEMO ran back a kick for a touchdown in four years.
Lawrence Johnson, Norman and Ty Leonard paved the way for SEMO's defense. Johnson had 10 tackles, while Norman and Leonard followed with eight each Norman also scored the first touchdown of his career, added a half-sack, recovered a fumble and notched two breakups.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 35, MURRAY STATE 21
MURRAY, Ky. - Eastern Illinois rushed for 339 yards on Saturday afternoon led by quarterback Dom Shoffner and running back Kendi Young as the Panthers won 35-21 at Murray State in their Ohio Valley Conference opener.
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IU improved to 1-3 on the season, 1-0 in the OVC as they snapped a nine-game losing streak. Murray State fell to 0-4 on the year, 0-1 in the OVC.
Dom Shoffner came in for the second series of the game for Eastern Illinois and led the offense to 24 first-half points as the Panthers held a 24-14 lead at the break. Shoffner rushed for 51 yards in the opening half including tying the game at 7-7 with a 1-yard touchdown run with 6:41 to play in the opening quarter.
Shoffner would find Justin Thomas for a 2-yard touchdown pass to give EIU a 14-7 lead before Kendi Young ripped off a 36-yard run with just under a minute to play in the opening half to give the Panthers the halftime lead. Young rushed for 79 first half yards, finishing with 160 for the game.
Murray State was led by quarterback Jayden Stinson, making his first start of the season. Stinson led the Racers to a score on their opening drive hitting DeQuan Dallas for a 12-yard touchdown pass. Stinson later found Taylor Shields for a 28-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14-14 early in the second quarter.
Stinson passed for 334 yards in the game but EIU was able to force two first half turnovers with interceptions by Jordan Vincent and Elijawah Tolbert. Vincent’s interception set up the Panthers final first half score.
The teams played a scoreless 3rd quarter setting up a dramatic finish to the contest. Following Stone Galloway’s second field goal of the game with 6:23 left in the game, EIU led 27-21.
Murray State took the ball with 3:09 left in the game with Tolbert picking off his second pass of the game to end that drive. EIU would cash in to ice the game with a Shoffner 8-yard rush with 2:46 left in the game. Shoffner finished with 88 yards on the ground.
Mark Aitken would pick off a pass on the next Racers drive for the fifth turnover gained of the game for the Panthers. Tolbert had six tackles to go with his two interceptions. Colin Bohanek led the EIU defense with 10 tackles.
Jamari Dailey had nine tackles for Murray State. Dallas had nine catches for 97 yards.
#18 UT MARTIN 56, LINDENWOOD 26
MARTIN, Tenn. - The No. 18 ranked University of Tennessee at Martin football team opened its quest for back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference championships on Saturday night with a commanding home victory over new league foe Lindenwood by a final score of 56-26 at Hardy Graham Stadium.
The Skyhawks (2-2, 1-0 OVC) opened conference play in impressive fashion on Saturday evening by tallying 541 yards of total offense while averaging 9.8 yards per play in just 55 offensive snaps. The ground attack was especially fruitful as the home squad racked up 343 rushing yards – the team’s highest rushing output since the 2015 season against Eastern Kentucky – while tallying five rushing touchdowns.
With a healthy offensive line back in action for the first full game this season, the running back duo of Zak Wallace and Sam Franklin flourished. Wallace made the most of his 11 carries by tallying 204 rushing yards – including a UT Martin record-breaking 97-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter for his second of the game which also marked the longest rush in the FCS this season. With his big day, Wallace added two touchdowns to his career tally, moving him into a tie for third place on the program’s career touchdown leaderboard with Jaimiee Bowe (2015-19) at 22. Also enjoying a breakout performance was Franklin who tallied six carries for 56 yards and three touchdowns – the first of his career. Franklin now joins Wallace as just the eighth player in program history to tally three rushing touchdowns in a single contest.
The ground attack wasn’t the only bright spot for the Skyhawk offense as quarterback Dresser Winn was efficient in the pocket by completing 19-of-26 pass attempts for 198 yards and two touchdowns. Winn also rose on program’s career touchdown leaderboard with his two touchdown throws, taking sole possession of ninth place with 28. The quarterback found DeVonte Tanksley for a game-high eight catches along with 57 yards – including a 25-yard touchdown connection on the opening drive of the game. Colton Dowell tallied 59 yards through the air while DJ Nelson recorded the Skyhawks final touchdown reception with a seven-yard catch in the fourth quarter.
UT Martin added to its scoring output with the team’s first defensive touchdown of the season as linebacker Rob Hicks tipped a pass on the squad’s opening possession on defense which safety Oshae Baker returned 41 yards for a touchdown. The Skyhawks forced another turnover in the third quarter as Tyler Gore stripped the Lions and Carson Evans jumped on the loose ball to set up another scoring drive.
The team flushed the Lindenwood pocket throughout the game while tallying four sacks and 7.0 tackles for loss in the contest. Sophomore Christian Dowell led the team in tackles in his first career start at nose tackle, tallying a game-high eight stops. Trailing close behind was safety Deven Sims who registered seven tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss while Baker and Evans notched six tackles each.
Lindenwood (2-1, 0-1 OVC) suffered its first loss of the season in their OVC debut despite tallying 429 yards of total offense. Quarterback Cade Brister was versatile by escaping pressure and making plays down field while completing 25-of-42 pass attempts for 306 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Payton Rose was Brister’s primary target with seven catches for 156 yards.
UT Martin jumped out to a quick 14-0 advantage in the contest behind the long scoring drive offensively and the pick-six on defense. From there Lindenwood settled down and scored 13 unanswered points on a touchdown pass and a pair of field goals by Logan Seibert. Then in the final seconds of the first half, the Skyhawks padded their advantage on a 12-yard touchdown by Wallace to take a 21-13 lead into the break.
The Skyhawks came out of the halftime break looking to add some extra padding on the scoreboard and did just that. UT Martin rattled off three consecutive rushing touchdowns as a 97-yard scamper by Wallace was sandwiched between a pair of scores by Franklin to 29-point advantage. The fourth quarter saw Lindenwood cut into the deficit with a one-yard rushing touchdown by Andrew Martin just 42 seconds into the period before UT Martin responded with two more touchdowns by the redshirt-freshman pair of Franklin and Nelson to officially put the game out of reach as the home team’s margin spanned as large as 37 points.