PANTHERS WIN COMEBACK WAR; SOUTHEAST TURNS LOPSIDED LOSS INTO 35-33 HEARTBREAKER

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- A couple of feet.

That's all that separated Southeast Missouri State University's football Indians from one of their biggest wins in school history.

Nick Reggio's 52-yard field-goal attempt at the buzzer had the distance but drifted wide left as Eastern Illinois held on for an amazing 35-33 victory Saturday afternoon in front of 3,687 fans at O'Brien Stadium.

EIU, ranked 24th nationally in Division I-AA, improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Southeast, playing its first road game of the season, fell to 2-3 overall, 1-2 in the league.

Behind the brilliant play of redshirt freshman quarterback Bobby Brune, the Indians had staged a near-miraculous second-half rally.

Trailing 29-3 early in the second quarter, 29-10 at halftime and 32-13 in the final period, Brune directed three long touchdown drives in the last 10 minutes.

Brune's 29-yard TD strike to tight end Mitch Fryer with 1:26 remaining gave the Indians a 33-32 lead -- and sent the Southeast sidelines into a frenzy.

But EIU had a miracle of its own left. On fourth-and-20 from his own 45, quarterback Anthony Buich hit Frank Cutolo with a bomb that carried 53 yards to the Southeast 2.

Cutolo was interfered with on the play as flags flew, but he still made a juggling catch.

After a first-down run netted one yard, EIU called timeout and Chad Larner kicked a 17-yard field goal with 14 seconds remaining.

But the Indians were not dead yet. Out of timeouts, Brune hit Leslie Weaver for 28 yards and the receiver got out of bounds at the EIU 35 with 3.3 seconds left.

On came Reggio, who earlier had booted field goals of 45 and 27 yards. His kick had plenty of leg but was wide left.

"I hit it well," said Reggio. "It was against the wind, but I still should have made it. I thought it had a good chance but it just went wide."

Thus ended an epic battle -- that much of the game looked like anything but.

"I don't know why we came out so flat to start the game," said Southeast head coach John Mumford. "But in the second half they really played as one and left it all out on the field.

"It's a tough loss. There are a lot of young men crying in there (the locker room) right now. But I told them they played like men."

Brune, playing the entire second half after Kevin Seto played the whole first half, made one huge play after another down the stretch.

The former Cape Girardeau Central High standout completed 12 of 18 passes for 212 yards, with at least a couple of passes dropped.

And Brune also ran for 80 yards on just eight attempts as he kept EIU defenders on their heels with option and bootleg plays.

"It hurts pretty bad right now," said Brune. "We had a great comeback and I thought we had it at the end."

Brune led the Indians to 321 second-half yards as they finished with 460 total yards against a defense that had been giving up an average of just 228 yards per game.

The Panthers had 431 yards, led by Buich, a first-year starter who completed 16 of 24 passes for a career-high 301 yards.

Justin Lynch rushed for 102 yards on 26 carries to pace the Panthers on the ground.

Two early mistakes helped EIU get off to a strong start. Midway through the first quarter, Corey Chester muffed a punt and EIU recovered at Southeast's 7-yard line.

On the next play, Shaun Grace went around the left side for a touchdown and the Panthers led 7-0 with 8:11 remaining in the opening period.

Less than a minute later, Seto had a pass intercepted by Kourtney Young at the EIU 41.

On the next play, Buich hit Phillip Taylor with a short pass. Taylor made a defender miss and then used his speed to sprint to the end zone for a 59-yard touchdown, making it 14-0 with 7:02 left in the quarter.

The Panthers scored their third touchdown on a lengthy drive that culminated in a 7-yard pass from Buich to Nathen Kreke with only 54 seconds to play in the period. This time EIU ran for the conversion, making it 22-0.

Southeast got on the scoreboard early in the second quarter when Reggio booted a 45-yard field goal.

Lynch scored on a 27-yard run later in the period to put EIU up 29-3.

K.D. Koleosho's 3-yard run with 5:13 left before halftime made it 29-10. The Indians could have gotten even closer later in the first half, but Koleosho lost a fumble inside the EIU 10.

Reggio kicked a 27-yard field goal early in the third quarter to make it 29-13, but Larner's 31-yard boot late in the period made it 32-13 and the Panthers appeared to be cruising.

But Brune and the Indians had other ideas. An 81-yard drive ended in Koleosho's 2-yard run and Brune hit Broderick Benson with a conversion pass, pulling Southeast to within 32-21 with 9:57 remaining.

After Southeast's defense held, Brune directed a 72-yard march that ended with a 28-yard TD pass to Weaver with 4:09 left, making it 32-27 after a failed conversion run.

Larner missed a 45-yard field-goal try with 2:11 left and the Indians took over at their own 29.

Brune threw a completion to Andy Dunaway, who pitched the ball to Chester, who ran some additional yardage for a total play of 31 yards to the EIU 40.

Brune then scrambled to the EIU 29 and he hit Fryer for a touchdown on the next play. The big tight end caught the ball near the right sideline at about the 10 and lumbered into the end zone.

A celebration penalty set the Indians back 15 yards on the conversion and a run for two points failed.

After EIU drove to the Southeast 45, a sack by Kevin Meachem, another loss and an incompletion forced the Panthers into a fourth-and-20, which they converted and ultimately kicked the winning field goal.