BEARS PLASTER INDIANS

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The wheels have suddenly fallen off Southeast Missouri State's football wagon.

When the Indians put together four straight impressive performances, making their record 3-3, there was a glimmer of hope that perhaps they would be able to prove all the preseason predictions wrong and turn around last year's 4-7 record.

But the last two games have been anything but impressive.

Southeast has been outscored 83-17 in that span, including Saturday's 45-10 whipping at the hands of Southwest Missouri State.

A homecoming crowd of 13,122 at Plaster Field saw the Bears snap a two-game losing streak and improve to 3-4 with the non-conference victory.

Southeast, which lost at home to Tennessee State 38-7 last week, fell to 3-5.

The Indians would have to win their final three games to finish with a winning record. Considering that two of the contests are against Ohio Valley Conference heavyweights Eastern Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, that is going to be a tall order.

"We just have to regroup and come back Monday," said Southeast head coach John Mumford. "The last two weeks have been disappointing, but we still have three games left, and we just have to bounce back."

Southeast was actually in the game at halftime, trailing 17-10, but the Bears outscored the Indians 21-0 in the third quarter to turn the contest into a rout.

SMS outgained Southeast 171 yards to 58 in the third period and finished the game with 445 total yards. Southeast had 282 total yards.

Quarterback Derek Jensen led the Bears' wide-open offense by completing 18 of 25 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns. With the victory in hand, Jensen spent the fourth quarter on the bench.

SMS broke on top on a 45-yard touchdown run by Maurice Daniels just 4:58 into the game. Daniels led all rushers with 97 yards on 22 carries.

Southeast struck quickly to tie the contest at 7-7 with 4:37 left in the first quarter, as quarterback Bobby Brune hit tailback Corey Williams with a 73-yard touchdown pass. Nick Reggio kicked the extra point.

On a second-and-three play, Brune was nailed as he threw but was still able to loft a perfect pass to Williams, who was about 20-yards downfield along the right sideline. Williams outran two defenders to the endzone.

It took the Bears only a little more than three minutes to regain the lead for good. Jensen hit Jeff Hewitt with a 22-yard TD strike 1:14 before the end of the opening period to make it 14-7.

Travis Brawner kicked a 20-yard field goal with 5:10 left before halftime to make it 17-7, but Reggio answered with a 25-yard field goal 1:05 before the break to account for the 17-10 halftime score.

The explosive Bears struck quickly to begin the second half, as Jensen and Tacoma Fontaine hooked up for a 64-yard scoring strike just 1:05 into the third quarter, making it 24-10.

On Southeast's next possession, Mike Gailey intercepted Brune and had a 26-yard return to the Southeast 28. Jensen hit Sean Adams with an 18-yard TD pass for a 31-10 lead with 9:55 left in the third period.

With 5:14 remaining in the third quarter, Corey McGriff scored on an 8-yard run to make it 38-10. That TD was set up by a 56-yard pass from Jensen to Robert Rose.

Another Brune interception early in the fourth quarter set the Bears up at the Southeast 47, and McGriff scored on a 5-yard run with 9:36 remaining to make it 45-10.

"We were in pretty good shape at halftime only down 17-10," said Mumford. "But we got tentative in the secondary, and they really opened things up on us. They had some 6-foot-4 receivers on some smaller defensive backs, and they played jump ball."