EASTERN KENTUCKY CONTINUES ITS WINNING STREAK VS. SEASON

RICHMOND, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University's football Indians suffered their fourth straight loss -- and remained winless against Eastern Kentucky -- as the Colonels posted a 19-7 victory here Saturday afternoon.

The Indians are now 3-7 overall and 2-5 in Ohio Valley Conference play. They have one game left in the season, next Saturday when they travel to Carbondale to face Southern Illinois.

EKU, having one of its worst seasons in more than 20 years, is 5-4 overall and 3-3 in OVC play. The Colonels have won all nine meetings with the Indians.

Southeast scored on the game's opening series but never found the end zone again, although the Indians certainly had plenty of chances. They had a long touchdown run by Riki Smith wiped out by a penalty and penetrated deep into EKU territory several times with no success.

"It's extremely frustrating," said Southeast coach John Mumford. "It's the same thing, a lot of missed opportunities. We had two or three drives where we're inside the 20 and just didn't come away with anything."

Southeast finished with 260 yards of total offense, including 137 on the ground. Corey Williams led the way rushing with 96 yards on 21 carries while Broderick Benson added 65 yards on 12 attempts.

Quarterback Bobby Brune completed 12 of 23 passes for 123 yards. He was intercepted twice. Mitch Fryer had four receptions for 36 yards while Dante Bryant caught three passes for 60 yards.

The Colonels had 479 yards of offense as quarterback Jon Denton, the OVC's top-rated passer, was 13 of 23 for 292 yards and two touchdowns. Rondel Menendez caught both TD tosses and he finished with six receptions for 161 yards.

After receiving the game's opening kickoff, the Indians put together an impressive drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Williams 4:13 into the contest. Nick Reggio's extra point gave the Tribe a 7-0 lead.

The Colonels came right back as Denton and Menendez -- one of the OVC's fastest players who runs the 40-yard dash in close to 4.2 seconds -- hooked up for a 62-yard touchdown pass with 8:28 left in the first quarter. That tied the contest at 7-7.

Smith appeared to put Southeast ahead again when he broke loose for a 51-yard touchdown run, but a motion penalty against the Indians wiped that out.

Menendez and Denton teamed for a 32-yard touchdown with 8:54 left in the second quarter, but Troy Baglio broke through to block Stephen Brown's kick, leaving the Colonels with a 13-7 lead.

Brown booted a 23-yard field goal with two seconds left before halftime to make it 16-7 at the break.

The only scoring in the second half was a 41-yard Brown field goal in the third quarter. Three times in the second half, the Indians drove deep into EKU territory but were turned back.