Missouri-Rolla racks up yardage, but Southeast gets 44-23 victory

Joe Winters got his passing yards -- but Southeast Missouri State got its victory.

And now the Redhawks have their first 2-0 start since 2002 as they get ready for Ohio Valley Conference play.

The Redhawks withstood Winters' 419 yards and two touchdowns Saturday night as they kicked off their home schedule with a 44-23 victory over Division II Missouri-Rolla.

An announced crowd of 7,400 at Houck Stadium saw the Redhawks hand coach Tony Samuel a victory in his first Southeast home game.

"It feels great to be 2-0 and it's good to get these first two games out of the way," senior quarterback Kevin Ballatore said. "Now we'll find out what we're made of when we go to Jacksonville State."

For the second straight game, the Redhawks pulled away late to beat an underdog opponent. Last week it was Austin Peay, which was tied with Southeast 10-10 at halftime before losing 38-13.

UMR (0-2) also did not go down easily, even though the Redhawks built a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter.

The Miners pulled to within 17-6 at halftime and trailed just 17-9 late in the third quarter.

But Southeast scored touchdowns on four straight possessions to eventually subdue UMR, which still trailed just 37-23 with a little more than 4 minutes remaining.

"They were a tough team and they never gave up," said Southeast senior defensive end Edgar Jones, who had 2 1/2 sacks for the second straight game.

Winters, a senior transfer from Division I-AA Columbia University, proved particularly tough. He surpassed 400 yards for the second time in as many games, completing 29 of 55 passes, although he was intercepted twice, sacked four times and harassed much of the night.

"He's a great one. He's a tough kid," Samuel said. "And they've got a good offensive scheme."

Said Jones: "He's really a good quarterback. Give him a lot of credit. We just had to get a lot of pressure on him and keep hitting him."

It looked like the Redhawks might be in for an easy time when they scored on their first two offensive possessions to lead 14-0.

Colin Schermann's 27-yard field goal in the opening minute of the second quarter made it 17-0.

But Southeast's offense then became stagnant, and UMR mounted a comeback.

"We came out so strong, I think we thought we had the game won," said senior tailback John Radney, who scored three touchdowns. "But give them credit."

Freshman cornerback Todshon Jones, who had been suspended for the season opener, came up with one of the game's key defensive plays.

The Miners scored with 8:45 left in the game to pull within 31-16. They then recovered an onside kick at the Southeast 49. But on the next play, Jones intercepted a Winters bomb and returned it 63 yards to the UMR 35. Radney's 9-yard touchdown run gave the Redhawks some breathing room.

UMR finished with 474 yards of offense to 401 for Southeast. The Redhawks had 303 yards rushing.

"We bent, but we didn't break," sophomore safety Kendall Magana said. "With a team that throws it all over the place, that's about all you can do."