INDIANS' RED WINS SCRIMMAGE BY A SHADE

Points were at a premium Saturday, but the more than 500 fans at Houck Stadium were still treated to some late excitement during Southeast Missouri State University's annual Red vs. White spring football game.

Each squad scored only one touchdown, but a 65-yard TD run by the White's Broderick Benson with 2:18 remaining in the fourth quarter pulled his team to within a point.

Corey Williams was then nailed by linebacker Kevin Meachem on a two-point attempt and the Red squad held on for a 7-6 victory that signified the end of spring practice.

"I guess we did a pretty good job of splitting the teams up," said Southeast head coach John Mumford with a laugh. "It was really pretty even and overall I liked what I saw."

Mumford was a somewhat neutral observer as he left the actual game coaching up to his assistants.

"After the last touchdown, they (his assistants) said `coach, what do we do,' and I said I didn't want to go to overtime," said a smiling Mumford. "It was nice to watch the coaches call the plays and I could just kind of be in the background."

The teams played four 12-minute quarters. The Red's Chris Mosley romped through a huge hole to score virtually untouched on a 27-yard run with 1:38 left in the second quarter. Nick Reggio's conversion kick made it 7-0.

That's the way things stood until Benson's long run, during which he eluded several would-be tacklers, in the closing moments.

After the two-point conversion failed, the Red got the ball back one more time in the final seconds but Bobby Brune's pass was intercepted by Brian Hinton to end the contest.

Jeff Shaw, by far the Indians' most experienced quarterback, was impressive Saturday.

A senior-to-be who started some late in the season last year after moving over from wide receiver, Shaw completed six of 10 passes for 43 yards and also had a nice 19-yard option run as he directed the Red team.

"Jeff is coming," Mumford said. "He has the maturity factor, but he was an option quarterback (in high school) and he's still learning."

The rest of the quarterbacking was done by two local redshirt freshmen, Bobby Brune out of Cape Central and Mike Gross from Jackson.

Brune, who started for the White squad, was 6-for-19 for 78 yards and he was intercepted twice. Gross, who backed up both teams, was 1-for-5 for five yards.

In fairness to Brune and Gross, they both had some passes dropped.

Benson rushed for 85 yards on just five carries while K.D. Koleosho had 72 yards on 11 attempts. Both ran for the White team, which gained 166 yards on the ground.

The Red team had 92 yards rushing, led by Mosley (29), Riki Smith (27) and Shaw (25).

Defensively, Meachem and lineman Marcus McClellan both had eight tackles for the Red, with McClellan getting two sacks. Hinton and Isaac Powell both intercepted passes for the Red.

"Our defense is flying around," said Mumford. "Our offense still needs to get better. We have to improve on the passing game, but I think the running game is there.

"I think overall this team is coming together. It's kind of a no-name bunch, but as long as they don't care who gets the credit, I think we can do well."

Southeast will open the 1998 season Sept. 3 with a Thursday night home game against Division II power Truman State.

That will be the first of four straight home games to open the season for the Indians.