Redhawks make big strides in first victory

The jury still is out on whether the Southeast Missouri State football team will be serious contenders for a second straight Ohio Valley Conference championship.

But anybody who watched Saturday night's 37-30 home win over Eastern Illinois has to agree that the Redhawks are improving by leaps and bounds.

EIU is far from a powerhouse these days, but the Panthers are not pushovers. They nearly won at consensus OVC preseason favorite Jacksonville State the previous week and returned twice as many starters as Southeast.

But the Redhawks overpowered EIU, piling up 541 total yards -- including 411 yards rushing -- while holding the Panthers to 278 total yards. Two long kickoff returns, one going for a touchdown and one setting up a short TD drive, let EIU hang around.

Senior quarterback Matt Scheible continues to direct Southeast's offense like a magician while displaying incredible toughness. The offensive line keeps getting better. The tailbacks are running well. Redshirt freshman fullback Ron Coleman is a beast, and sophomore wide receiver D.J. Foster has been making acrobatic catches a part of his regular routine.

Defensively, junior middle linebacker Blake Peiffer has been making plays all over the field, and the unit as a whole is beginning to emerge.

The Redhawks (1-3 overall, 1-1 OVC), who start a handful of seniors, might be too inexperienced to push for another conference title. That remains to be seen.

But what I've seen so far tells me there is a strong base of talent in place. Regardless of what happens the rest of the season, the future looks bright under sixth-year coach Tony Samuel after he led the Redhawks to unprecedented heights in 2010.

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Last week's results around the OVC illustrated how wide open the league is this year. There doesn't appear to be much separation between most of the nine teams.

All four conference games Saturday were decided by eight points or less, the largest margin being Jacksonville State's 38-30 triumph at Murray State.

Tennessee Tech needed a touchdown in the final two minutes to win at Tennessee-Martin 34-31. Austin Peay scored the final 17 points and got a field goal with 10 seconds left to pull out a 37-34 victory at Tennessee State.

Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech are both 3-0 in league play. The Eagles have won their first three OVC games for the first time since 2000.

Austin Peay is the only other squad undefeated in conference play. The Governors are 2-0 in the OVC for the first time since 1977, the year the Governors won their only OVC title.

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I'm not going to make a prediction on wins and losses, but after watching the Southeast men's basketball team a few times during limited workouts, I do predict fans will be pleased with the Redhawks' overall talent and athletic ability.

This looks to be coach Dickey Nutt's most talented squad in his three seasons at Southeast. I'm not sure the Redhawks are ready to challenge for the OVC title, but I see no reason why they shouldn't continue the program's steady progress.

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Charleston High School senior guard Greg Tucker, arguably the region's premier boys basketball player, gave a verbal commitment to Northern Colorado last week. Northern Colorado is a young Division I program that made the NCAA tournament last year.

Tucker also had been recruited by several OVC schools, including Southeast. I've been told that Southeast's interest in Tucker had cooled off since the summer.

The earliest Tucker can make it official with Northern Colorado is in mid-November during the NCAA's early signing period.

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Former Southeast baseball standout Justin Christian overcame a slow start after being called up by the San Francisco Giants in early September.

Christian, receiving extensive playing time in the outfield, hit .255 in 47 official at-bats covering 18 games. He scored six runs, had five doubles, drove in four runs and stole three bases in five attempts.

The stint marked the first major-league appearance for the 31-year-old Christian since 2008. The undrafted player's only other big-league experience consisted of 40 at-bats over 24 games with the Yankees. He hit .250 with three doubles, six RBIs and seven steals in eight attempts.

Christian, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, has been a standout in the minors for several organizations after starting his pro career in the independent Frontier League. He has a career batting average of .293 in the minors with 341 steals in 394 attempts.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.