Holloman bails out teammates

If Southeast could be happy with its first-half performance Aug. 30 at Division I-A Cincinnati, then Division II Southwest Baptist had reason to be ecstatic through the first 35 minutes Saturday night at Houck Stadium.

Sure, the final scoreboard said Southeast Missouri State 38, Southwest Baptist 17, but the Redhawks had to sweat a lot more than that.

This was supposed to be the kind of drubbing Southeast took from Division I-A Cincinnati last week, when the Redhawks surrendered 40 points in the second half of a 59-3 victory.

Division II Southwest Baptist was all of 1-10 last season and had opened its 2007 campaign with yet another loss, 43-40 to Harding.

In the first half Saturday night, the Bearcats were just as good as Southeast, picking up nine first downs to Southeast's six, racking up 130 yards to Southeast's 125, watching Southeast rack up more than twice as many penalty yards (70-31) on twice as many penalties (8-4). The Redhawks' offense was nearly nonexistent against a team that surrendered 43 points to Harding.

Southeast was being heckled by its own fans, who wondered how the offensive line was failing to provide pass protection for Victor Anderson. The running game had netted just 41 yards on 23 carries, and its most effective plays were Anderson making something of nothing.

"I had a few choice words at halftime," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said. "I wasn't happy at halftime, and quite honestly, I wasn't happy at the end of the game either."

For good measure, Southwest Baptist even came out of the locker room after halftime and put together a 93-yard touchdown drive to take its first lead at 14-7.

On the next drive, the Bearcats brazenly converted a fourth-and-inches at midfield, putting Southeast on its heels nearly midway through the third.

And then the Division II team began playing like a Division II team against a I-AA opponent.

A poor snap on a punt led to one short touchdown drive. Two interceptions by Chris Nelson in a span of 90 seconds took all the air out of the Bearcats.

The Redhawks smelled the blood in the water, and junior running back Timmy Holloman was the shark, needing just 7 minutes to put together a career-high three touchdowns.

After having just 26 yards in the first half, Holloman had 113 yards in the third period alone.

"I was not discouraged," Holloman said of the first half. "I was motivated."

He finished with 203 yards, the second-best rushing day of his career.

Southeast now heads into the Division I-AA portion of the schedule with Indiana State, followed by the Ohio Valley Conference opener at Samford.

The Redhawks know things have to get better. They had just 84 yards of passing.

In what was supposed to be Anderson's homecoming party after he impressed with 118 yards rushing at Cincinnati, he instead was sacked six times, all in the first 35 minutes. He netted 29 yards rushing.

Samuel said the offense just needed to make adjustments to Southwest Baptist's blitzing schemes.

"It wasn't physical; it was mental," he said. "They did a few things we hadn't prepared for."

"We started off a little soft," added offensive lineman Francisco Perez. "Things don't always go your way and you've got to take in stride. We made some adjustments as the game went on."

Samuel would not say which, if any, quarterback seemed to be able to direct the offense Saturday. Houston Lillard completed a big third-down pass on Southeast's first scoring drive and finished 2-of-3 for 29 yards. Anderson, who played most of the way, was 4-of-8 passing for 55 yards and a touchdown. But things weren't looking so good when a third-period shotgun snap went through his hands for a 13-yard loss.

But the answer for the offense's ills on this night, at least, was Holloman, with a little help from the suddenly opportunistic defense.

"We've got a lot of work to do," Perez said. "We've just got to get better as a unit. This is a big week of practice."

Toby Carrig is the editor of semoball.com