Indians like first week of practice

Southeast Missouri State University's football team wrapped up its first week of practice Sunday with a lengthy intrasquad scrimmage that had coach Tim Billings encouraged but also realizing there is still plenty of work to be done.

The Indians ran off well over 100 plays in a Houck Stadium scrimmage with officials that lasted a little more than two hours. It was Southeast's first true scrimmage of the preseason.

"There's no question we're farther along than we were last year at this time," Billings said. "We played real well at times on offense and we played real well at times on defense. I don't think any one area dominated.

"It was a really good scrimmage and it was good to get a lot of work in, but we still have a long way to go."

Said offensive tackle Justen Meyer, "It was a good scrimmage for us. I think coach Billings said it best. We're already a lot farther along than last year at this time.

"The defense looks a lot better. The offense still has a lot of work to do, but we'll get there."

Southeast coaches mixed and matched personnel groupings, although they did keep the bulk of the first and second units together, and worked on a variety of situations.

The Indians' offense gained about 400 yards in the scrimmage, but that was spread over more than 100 plays, meaning Southeast's defense limited the damage to less than four yards per play, which is an impressive statistic.

About 285 of those yards came through the air in close to 40 attempts, spread fairly equally among starting quarterback Jack Tomco, backups Jeromy McDowell and Andrew Goodenough, and walk-on Reid Thomas.

Southeast's running game was not overly effective, gaining about 115 yards on more than 60 attempts counting losses and sacks, although starting tailback Corey Kinsey, along with backups David Taufoou, Bobby Dorsainvil and Elton Peterson, all had their moments.

Taufoou, a junior-college transfer, had the scrimmage's longest run, about 25 yards, and true freshman Peterson -- who stands about 5-feet-4 -- ripped off a 21-yarder.

"I thought all our quarterbacks played pretty well and our backs ran hard," Billings said.

The Indians scored just two touchdowns on drives of significant yardage, getting three other touchdowns and field goals of 42 and 31 yards by Derek Kutz when they were working with a short field from deep in the defense's territory.

Touchdowns came on a 50-yard pass from Goodenough to Ray Goodson; a 30-yard pass from Thomas to true freshman Antonio Scaife; a 3-yard pass from Tomco to Goodson; a 3-yard run by Kinsey; and a 5-yard run by true freshman fullback Adam Casper from Anna-Jonesboro (Ill.) High School.

"We didn't show a whole lot of different things and the defense knows our offense well," Billings said. "But I think we're a lot better on defense this year. I think we're a lot better against the run."

The Indians begin their second week of practice today. They'll have another scrimmage with officials at 5 p.m. Saturday. The season opener is Aug. 28 at Division I-A Ohio.

"The first week flew by," Meyer said. "We just have to keep improving every day."