Indians stun Illinois St. again

Southeast scores late TD to overtake Redbirds 38-33.

By Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian

NORMAL, Ill. -- Thrilling finishes are fast becoming old hat for Southeast Missouri State University's football team.

And Saturday afternoon, the Indians were finally able to pull out a victory in one of those down-to-the-wire contests, using an amazing fourth quarter to rally for a stunning 38-33 triumph over Illinois State in front of 7,027 fans at Hancock Stadium.

Southeast evened its record at 2-2 while dropping ISU to 0-3. The Indians, who won for the first time at Hancock Stadium after dropping their previous five games here, could easily be 4-0 as they failed to hold late leads during losses to Eastern Michigan (16-12) and Southwest Missouri (31-28 last week).

But those two contests seemed like only distant memories after the euphoria of Saturday's comeback from a 14-point second-half deficit.

"This feels really good," said a smiling Willie Ponder, Southeast's junior-college transfer wide receiver who had another huge game. "After losing those two games the way we did, this is nice."

Said Southeast coach Tim Billings, "We could have come in here 3-0, but we didn't. But everybody believed. It's a great win for us. Our kids are young and it would have been very easy for us to fold our tent, but we didn't. It wasn't pretty, but we found a way to win."

That appeared to be unlikely when ISU scored the first 14 points of the second half to break away from a 16-16 halftime tie and open up a 30-16 lead late in the third quarter.

But the Indians were far from deterred. On the first play of the fourth quarter, quarterback Bobby Brune -- who played most of the game after starter Jeromy McDowell suffered a knee injury late in the opening period -- hit wide receiver Adrian Sanders with a 25-yard touchdown pass to cap a 70-yard drive. Derek Kutz kicked the extra point to make it 30-23.

ISU came right back with a field goal to go up 33-23 with 11:29 left in the contest.

But again the Indians were not bothered. They drove 48 yards and got a career-long 43-yard field goal from Kutz, their true freshman kicker, with 7:40 left to close within 33-26.

Then things got really wild. Southeast's defense, which was not all that impressive overall but managed to come up with some key late stops, forced a punt that went into the end zone, putting the ball at the Indians' 20-yard line.

On the first play of the possession, Brune handed the ball to Sanders on a reverse. As Sanders drifted toward the left sideline on what looked like a running play, the left-hander suddenly pulled up and lofted a strike to Ponder, who had gotten behind the secondary.

Ponder caught the ball at about the ISU 40 and was not touched as he pulled away to the end zone. The 80-yard pass play, with 5:47 left, pulled the Indians to within 33-32. Even though Southeast failed to tie the contest as Kutz had his PAT blocked, the Indians certainly had gained plenty of momentum.

"That was a great play on everybody's part," said Ponder, who caught seven passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns, after he had made eight receptions for 170 yards the previous week against Southwest Missouri. "We needed a big play."

Billings said that Southeast offensive coordinator Russ Martin and assistant coach Kip Shaw had both talked about the trick play.

"It worked out great for us," Billings said.

Southeast's defense then held for the second straight time, at the ISU 25, to force a punt. The kick went to Curtis Cooper at the Southeast 30 and Cooper received some great blocks, which led to plenty of daylight.

At about the ISU 30, Cooper was knocked off balance by a Redbird, but he was able to stay on his feet and dashed into the end zone on a 70-yard touchdown return with 3:30 left, putting the Indians ahead 38-33. A pass for two points on the conversion failed, but Southeast had its first lead since 2-0 on a safety in the early going.

"It was exciting," said Cooper. "There was a big hole there and by the time I got to the last guy, it was all open field. I just had one guy to beat."

Added Cooper with a laugh, "Coach Billings could have run that one in."

The Indians' defense than came up with one more stop to seal things. ISU drove into Southeast territory, but faced a fourth-and-six at the 44. James Jennette and Ricky Farmer then nearly sacked ISU quarterback Kevin Zouzounis, who was way off the mark on a pass attempt before going down.

"Late in the game, the defense had some big stops," said Billings. "Against Eastern Michigan and Southwest Missouri, we would have won the games if we had come up with a stop at the end of the game. Today, the defense made the stops at the end."

With ISU down to one timeout and only a little more than one minute remaining, Brune simply had to take a knee three straight times to end the contest.

"I really felt like we'd find a way to win this game," Billings said. "I'm really proud of the guys."

Both teams piled up impressive offensive numbers. ISU had 441 total yards, including 239 yards passing from Zouzounis, who completed 15 of 29 attempts. Tailback Willie Watts rushed for 135 yards, but it took him 37 carries as he averaged just 3.6 yards a pop.

Southeast gained 409 yards, 320 coming through the air. Brune went 18-for-30 for 159 yards and two touchdowns. Cooper rushed for 81 yards on 18 attempts.

According to unofficial pressbox statistics, Farmer was credited with 14 tackles to lead the Southeast defense. Leotis Belcher had 10 stops while Cal Jillson added nine, including three for losses and a sack. Todd Frazier was credited with two tackles for losses.

"I'm very disappointed," said ISU coach Denver Johnson. "I thought our kids battled hard, but they (Southeast) had some good skill guys. Their guys that touch the ball are pretty good. They have some real speed there."

After getting a safety with 6:07 left in the first quarter after an ISU snap on a punt attempt sailed way high and out of the end zone, the Redbirds scored 13 straight points to go up 13-2 and Southeast faced something of an uphill battle most of the rest of the way.

Ponder caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Brune with 6:30 left in the second period and Mark McCluney hauled in a two-point conversion toss from Brune as Southeast pulled to within 13-10.

Trailing 16-10, the Indians got a tying TD with just 48 seconds left before the intermission when Brune scored on a 5-yard run. But Kutz pushed the PAT wide right, leaving things deadlocked at the intermission.

ISU then appeared to take control with two touchdowns over the first 11 minutes of the second half -- but the Indians had other ideas.