INDIANS BRACE FOR ANOTHER RUGGED GATEWAY FOE

The 1999 season in general has not been kind to Southeast Missouri State University's football team, but the Gateway Conference has been particularly rude to the Indians.

Southeast will be playing its fourth and final Gateway squad of the year Saturday when Southwest Missouri State comes to Houck Stadium for a 1 p.m. kickoff.

The 0-7 Indians have been outscored 132-45 by Gateway squads Southern Illinois, Illinois State and Indiana State.

So there is no doubt the Indians will need to put together a superlative performance against the Bears if they are to notch their first victory of the season and break a school-record-tying 12-game losing streak dating back to last year. Southeast currently has the nation's longest losing streak among I-AA teams.

"The Gateway is an extremely tough league. They've always been strong," said Southeast coach John Mumford during his weekly media conference Monday. "Even the best OVC teams, I don't know how well they'd fare in the Gateway."

The Gateway has a much higher power rating than the Ohio Valley Conference and, generally, even the lower-level Gateway squads are able to compete extremely well with most of the OVC's top teams.

As an example: Southern Illinois is in last place in the Gateway but the Salukis have beaten Murray State, one of the OVC's better teams.

And Indiana State, which is, like SIU, winless in the Gateway, took OVC power Eastern Kentucky to the wire.

Four Gateway teams are ranked among the nation's top 19 squads in this week's Sports Network I-AA poll. Northern Iowa is seventh, Youngstown State ninth, Illinois State 12th and Western Illinois 19th.

Two OVC squads are nationally-ranked, led by No. 2 Tennessee State. Eastern Kentucky is No. 16.

* Southwest Missouri is 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Gateway in its first season under coach Randy Ball, who built Western Illinois into a I-AA national power before moving to Springfield.

The Bears have the Gateway's top rusher in Jason Ringena, who has gained 619 yards but missed Saturday's 29-17 loss to Northern Iowa with an injury. His status for the Southeast game is up in the air.

Bears' quarterback Jay Rodgers, a transfer from Indiana, has thrown for more than 1,200 yards.

* After putting together the best performance by a Southeast running back this season -- 97 yards during Saturday's 34-13 loss at Indiana State -- K.D. Koleosho has taken over the team rushing lead with 224 yards.

"K.D. ran extremely hard, and I thought our offensive line had their most complete game of the season," said Mumford.

Also on the offensive front, Leslie Weaver -- despite being the Indians' smallest player at 5-feet-7 and 155 pounds -- continues to pace Southeast's receivers with 27 catches for 364 yards.

"Leslie has got one thing and that's speed," Mumford said. "And he's got a little mean streak in him. I'm proud of Leslie because he kind of had a rough start, dropping some passes against SIU, but he's really bounced back and done well."

* Defensively, linebacker Jeremy Atwell continues to lead Southeast and the OVC in tackles with 74. He is second in the OVC in tackles for losses with 16.

Safety Issac Powell is fourth in the OVC with 70 tackles while linebacker Donovan LaViness is sixth with 69 after a 17-tackle performance against Indiana State.

* In an unusual occurrence, both Southeast quarterbacks who played against Indiana State caught passes in the contest.

Starter Bobby Brune was credited with a reception when he caught his own pass that had been batted back to him by a defensive player.

Rashad West, who quarterbacked the Indians in the late going, played receiver early in the game and caught two passes.

"We're probably the only team in America with two quarterbacks catching passes," said Mumford, who added that the versatile West will continue to work out at receiver and quarterback. "We have to have Rashad's hands on the ball."

* On the injury front, Mumford was happy to report that defensive lineman James Jennette, who was involved in a scary incident against Indiana State, is doing fine.

Jennette was involved in a head-on collision with a teammate during a goal-line play and was taken to a Terre Haute hospital, where X-rays were negative. Jennette returned with the team following Saturday's game.

"It was scary for all of us, but James is fine," Mumford said. "He should be ready to go Saturday."

* Defensive linemen Jonathan Irvin and Demond Williams, who both saw limited action this season, recently left the team for personal reasons.