INDIAN 'D' GETS BETTER PART OF OFFENSE IN SE SCRIMMAGE

Southeast Missouri State University's spring scrimmage Saturday evening ended with the shootout-like final score of 52-42.

But don't get the idea that the 90-minute intrasquad affair, which officially concluded spring workouts for the Indians, was an offensive show.

The Indians' offense, in fact, never did dent the end zone during the main portion of the scrimmage, although Southeast did score twice toward the end during red-zone and goal-line situations.

Still, the event that drew several hundred fans to Houck Stadium and featured an interesting offensive and defensive scoring system seemed to satisfy the crowd as well as second-year Southeast head coach Tim Billings.

"When you basically have no offensive line (because of injuries and a lack of depth), it's hard to score," said Billings. "It's hard to protect the quarterback when you don't have any offensive linemen.

"But overall, I liked what I saw. Like I've said before, we're so much better than we were last year (when the Indians went 3-8 in Billings' first season). We're a lot better athletically, but we're young. How good we'll be depends on how quick the young kids mature and how well our offensive line (which will receive reinforcements in the fall) comes along."

Southeast's white-clad defense prevailed over the red-clad offense, much to the delight of defensive end Tatum Kitchen, a Cape Girardeau Central High School product.

"We got after it. We didn't want to let them get into the end zone," said Kitchen with a smile. "But they've got some explosive players on offense."

Under Saturday's scoring system, the offensive team received seven points for a touchdown, three points for a drive inside the 30-yard line and one point for a first down while the defensive team received three points for a three-down-and-out series and four points for a turnover.

With the defensive squad dictating much of the play, that unit opened up a big lead and then held on when the offense went into goal-line and red-zone situations, which made scoring touchdowns a bit easier.

The touchdowns, both late in the scrimmage in those specialized situations, came on a 25-yard pass from Bobby Brune to Adrian Sanders and a 1-yard pass from Brune to Willie Ponder.

Ponder and Sanders, both junior-college transfers, showed that they will be exciting additions to the Indians' wide-receiver corps. Ponder caught six passes Saturday.

Curtis Cooper, the Indians' elusive kick returner from last season, also showed that he should be a weapon after being moved to running back from receiver.

Brune and Rashad West split time at quarterback last year. West played very little Saturday as he is still recovering from ankle surgery, but Brune was solid (completing seven of 14 for 76 yards) and highly-touted Jeromy McDowell -- who redshirted last year -- was impressive, going 16 of 24 for 140 yards.

McDowell is battling the more experienced West and Brune -- who will be seniors -- for the starting quarterback spot in the fall.

"I really respect the guys ahead of me. They've helped me a lot," he said. "But I plan to compete (for the job)."