McCrum's long field goal, late PAT help Southeast football team to victory

Southeast Missouri State kicker Ryan McCrum said he gave Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz a big hug following the Redhawks' 24-23 win over No. 3/4 Southeastern Louisiana and thanked him for the opportunity that he'd just had.

Matukewicz's response?

"Wasn't that fun?"

McCrum had two chances to win the game for the Redhawks on Saturday night at Houck Stadium and was successful both times.

"I was on the sideline -- I don't know how many balls I kicked into that net. I think I did over 30," McCrum said of his nervousness. "Everybody was like, 'We trust you. We've got your back no matter what.' It gave me confidence."

The sophomore made the PAT following junior receiver Paul McRoberts' 2-yard touchdown reception with 4.6 seconds left in the game.

However, it was called back because of a holding penalty, so McCrum had to step up and make it again from the 20-yard line to help the Redhawks defeat their highest-ranked opponent ever.

McCrum, the reigning Ohio Valley Conference Specialist of the Week, has made 16 of 16 extra point attempts this season.

He also remained a perfect 4 for 4 on field goals this season.

He made a career-long 54-yard field goal in the final seconds of the first half.

"I really just wanted to focus on getting good height on it," McCrum said. "Everybody's like, 'You have the strongest leg I've ever seen, but you just need to work on your accuracy,' so I just wanted to work on accuracy and if it goes short, it goes short. But it had good height. It had good leg power and it went through, luckily."

The make sent the Redhawks into halftime with a 10-10 tie.

"We were pretty live in the locker room. Everybody was jumping around," McCrum said of the momentum going into half. "But we knew we were still in this game. This team isn't any better than us. We were making way. When I made that field goal it gave us a boost like, 'We're going to win this game.' We knew at half we were going to win this game."

McCrum is second on the team in points this season with 28 behind only McRoberts, who has six touchdowns for 36 points.

He was a part-time kicker on the team last season and completed just 8 of 11 PATs and 2 of 6 field goals, including his longest of 38 yards.

"I was going to call a fake, a fake field goal called 'Playboy.' It's a naked boot," Matukewicz said of the long field goal. "I wasn't sure and then it's just, the guy, you look at him and it's like he's just, he's got it. He just stepped up and kicked it. Then he had to win the game twice. Why not? Those kickers dream about stuff like that, so it was awesome for him."

Another special teams member had a notable accomplishment in Saturday's win.

Senior receiver and punt and kick returner Spencer Davis broke Southeast's all-time career record for all-purpose yardage.

He had 145 yards against Southeastern Louisiana to put him at 4,248 for his career.

Davis passed Kelvin Anderson, who compiled 4,173 yards from 1992-94.