Offense struggles in Kentucky

MURRAY, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State added some late suspense to a game the Redhawks had no business being in.

But the Redhawks failed to pull off what would have been a near-miraculous win.

Despite being badly outplayed on both sides of the ball and being held to a season-low 192 yards of offense, Southeast pulled to within seven points in the final five minutes.

Host Murray State, however, was able to hold on for a 17-10 victory Saturday afternoon.

"The defense played real good today and I felt like we had a chance at the end," senior quarterback Houston Lillard said. "We just couldn't get it done."

The Redhawks, who trailed 3-0 at halftime, fell behind 17-0 after three quarters as the Racers appeared set to finish off an easy win.

Still down 17-3 with under five minutes left, the Redhawks got a big break that put them back in the game as they blocked a punt.

Sophomore Aris Bowen stormed in for the block, and sophomore Nathan Grass recovered at the MSU 5-yard line.

Senior tailback Timmy Holloman scored on a 1-yard run two plays later to make it 17-10 with 4:12 remaining.

But the Racers made sure another score by Southeast would be tough to get when they bled nearly three minutes off the clock, helped out by an unsportsmanlike foul penalty on the Redhawks.

A punt pinned Southeast at its 1-yard line with 1:17 to go. The Redhawks had no timeouts left.

"It was tough, with that little time and no timeouts," Lillard said.

Southeast reached the MSU 45 after a 25-yard pass from Lillard to senior wide receiver Walter Peoples with 2.3 seconds left.

Lillard spiked the ball on first down. But before he could release a desperation heave on second down, he was sacked to end the game.

"Give the kids credit for hanging in there," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said. "But we just didn't execute today."

That, in a nutshell, described Southeast's offense, as the Redhawks fell to 3-7 overall and 1-5 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

MSU (4-6, 3-3) suffocated Southeast's offense, holding the Redhawks to 69 yards through three quarters.

Lillard and true freshman Matt Scheible, who split time at quarterback, were sacked a combined six times and threw three interceptions.

Counting 75 yards lost in sacks, Southeast's rushing attack netted 4 yards on 26 attempts.

In addition, the Redhawks converted just one of 12 third-down opportunities.

"Give them credit. They blitzed and did a lot of good things," Samuel said.

Southeast's bend-but-don't-break defense did all it could to keep the Redhawks in the game.

The Redhawks allowed a season-low point total, with one touchdown coming on a punt return and the other on a 33-yard drive after an interception.

"We hung in there and we fought," said senior linebacker Nick Stauffer, who recorded 20 tackles.

MSU gained 363 yards of offense and had numerous strong scoring opportunities, but Southeast was able to repel most of the Racers' chances.

"They don't win if they don't score," Stauffer said. "The main thing is to keep them out of the end zone."

Ahead 3-0 at halftime, MSU got a 64-yard punt return for a touchdown by Derrick Townsel early in the third quarter.

A touchdown after Scheible was intercepted deep in Southeast territory put the Racers on top 17-0 with a little more than five minutes left in the third quarter.

Southeast, which had no first downs and lost 3 yards on offense in the third quarter, finally showed some signs of life offensively.

Senior safety Vincent Anderson recovered a fumble at the MSU 28 early in the final period.

The Redhawks had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by junior Doug Spada to make it 17-3.

Southeast put together its only real drive of substance the next time it got the ball, moving from its 26 to the MSU 18.

Lillard threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Chante Ahamefule with seven minutes left, but the TD was wiped out when Ahamefule was whistled for offensive pass interference.

On third-and-32, Lillard had a pass intercepted. Southeast blocked the punt a few minutes later to make things interesting, but that was the extent of it.

"I feel like we [the defense] gave a good effort, but at the end of the day, if we're behind on the scoreboard, it's a team effort," said junior linebacker Josh Woods in refusing to place any blame on the Redhawks' offense.

But Lillard said Southeast's offense deserved some blame.

"We never really could get into a rhythm," Lillard said.