Redhawks QB has broken foot

Kevin Ballatore will likely miss at least three weeks.

Southeast Missouri State football coach Tim Billings figured that, with all the injuries the Redhawks suffered last year, they might be due for better luck in that department this season.

But that has hardly been the case.

The Redhawks' latest casualty is quarterback Kevin Ballatore, who went down early in the third quarter of Saturday's 24-10 home loss to Jacksonville State.

Southeast's training staff feared at the time that Ballatore's left foot might be broken -- and X-rays Sunday indeed revealed a fracture.

While Ballatore probably won't miss the rest of the season, he will likely be out anywhere from three to five weeks, depending on how well the foot heals. Surgery will not be needed.

Speaking at his weekly media conference Monday, Billings said, "He's out it looks like this week and next, then we have our off week. We'll go from there. We don't know, it's up in the air.

"After a few weeks he might be able to play on it, we don't know."

Ballatore, a junior college transfer, made his first Southeast start during Saturday's Ohio Valley Conference opener.

Ballatore seemed to give Southeast's struggling offense a spark, completing 22 of 37 passes for 195 yards, although the Redhawks had only three points at the time of his injury.

"I feel bad for him. He's such a great leader," Billings said.

With Ballatore out, senior Mike Haley will return to the starting position when the Redhawks (0-4, 0-1 OVC) visit Samford (1-3, 0-1) for Thursday's 6:30 p.m. game that will be televised nationally by ESPNU.

Haley, Southeast's starting quarterback the first three games, finished off the Redhawks' lone touchdown drive against Jacksonville State, which had been started by Ballatore.

Haley completed 14 of 26 passes for 160 yards and three interceptions, although the two costly interceptions that turned the tide in Jacksonville State's favor in the fourth quarter were balls that deflected off Southeast receivers' hands.

Haley has been intercepted nine times this season, compared to just two touchdown passes, but Billings said the coaching staff remains confident in his abilities.

"As we've gone along ... Mike hadn't really played before. Now hopefully we know what Mike does well," Billings said. "We're going to try to run the things that Mike does a good job of running, and eliminate what he doesn't do as well."

Markus Mosley, one of two true freshman quarterbacks at Southeast, will move into the backup role while Ballatore is out.

Billings had hopes to redshirt both Mosley, a native of Tyler, Texas, and William Cowan, who is from California. Whether or not Mosley ends up redshirting will likely depend on Haley staying healthy and how soon Ballatore returns

"If Mike's playing well and nothing happens, we'd like to hold him [Mosley] back," Billings said. "But we have to get him ready."

Added Billings of Mosley, "He has a real good arm, and he's pretty athletic. He's an intelligent kid. We think he'll be a good player. He's a little physically ahead of Will Cowan, but we like him, too."

As for the injury bug biting Southeast again, touted running back Austen Collins suffered a season-ending knee injury on the second play of the opener against Southern Illinois.

Several other key players have also missed time over the first few weeks, and tight end Joseph Tuineau suffered a leg injury against Jacksonville State, while some other players were also banged up in that contest, although Billings hopes they'll be ready Thursday.

"It's the old SEMO jinx. It's been a rough year for us," Billings said. "I thought last year was tough, then on the second play we get our running back hurt.

"But the season goes on."

Special teams woes

Billings said he basically has no explanation for why Southeast has already had four punts blocked this season, including two against Jacksonville State, which returned one for a touchdown.

"We've had special meetings, we spent extra time each day," he said. "I thought we had it taken care of. Twice, it's just one guy not doing his job.

"It's something I can't explain. We're going to keep working on it."

On the bright side regarding Southeast special teams, redshirt freshman placekicker Colin Schermann has made all four of his field-goal attempts.

Schermann, a Central High School product, has not attempted a field goal longer than 32 yards, but Billings said his consistency has still been impressive in an area that was a major question mark after four-year kicker Derek Kutz completed his eligibility last season.

"He's money so far. He's batting a thousand," Billings said. "He's done everything we've asked him to do."

Noteworthy

* Francisco Perez, who missed much of the preseason with an injury, got his first start at left guard against Jacksonville State. Austin Russell moved to right guard in place of John Ball, and Ball replaced Joe Hadley at center.

* Thirteen Southeast players have caught passes this season, with 10 receivers having nine or more catches. Running back John Radney leads with 16, while wide out T.J. Milcic has 15 receptions for a team-high 257 yards. Tuineau also has 15 receptions.

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Southeast statistics

(Record: 0-4, 0-1 OVC)

Score By Quarter

SE 10 13 24 19 - 66

Opp. 51 48 14 47 - 160

Rushing

Player Att Yds Avg TD Long

Radney 22 92 4.2 2 12

Holloman 17 50 2.9 0 20

Simpson 3 42 14.0 0 18

Ballatore 7 30 4.3 0 15

Peterson 16 17 1.1 0 7

Miller 1 14 14.0 0 14

Collins 1 5 5.0 0 5

Simonhoff 1 2 2.0 0 2

Matthews 1 -1 -1.0 0 0

Taylor 1 -18 -18.0 0 0

Haley 18 -45 -2.5 0 7

Team 1 -9 -9.0 0 0

SE 89 179 2.0 2 20

Opp. 181 664 3.7 6 30

Passing

Player Att Cm Int Yds TD Pct

Haley 144 81 9 816 2 56.2

Ballatore 74 44 0 403 2 59.5

SE 218 125 9 1,219 4 57.3

Opp. 120 63 3 825 10 52.5

Pass Receiving

Player Rec Yds Avg TD Long

Radney 16 90 5.6 0 23

Milcic 15 257 17.1 1 71

Tuineau 15 190 12.7 0 24

Matthews 13 119 9.2 0 18

Oliver 11 168 15.3 0 44

Simpson 11 108 9.8 0 19

Goodson 11 71 6.5 1 18

Holloman 11 49 4.5 0 27

Scaife 9 101 11.2 0 22

Peterson 9 36 4.0 1 14

NesSmith 2 31 15.5 1 24

McDowell 1 3 3.0 0 3

Collins 1 -4 -4.0 0 0

SE 125 1,219 9.8 4 71

Opp. 63 825 13.1 10 57

Scoring

Player TD FG XP 2PT Pts

Schermann 0 4-4 6-7 0 18

Radney 2 0 0 0 12

Goodson 1 0 0 0 6

Hicks 1 0 0 0 6

Milcic 1 0 0 0 6

NesSmith 1 0 0 0 6

Peterson 1 0 0 0 6

White 1 0 0 0 6

SE 8 4-4 6-7 0 66

Opp. 21 4-5 20-21 0 160

Punting

Player No Avg. Long

Simonhoff 25 39.5 65

Team 4 0.0 0

SE 29 34.1 65

Opp. 18 40.4 53

Kickoff Returns

Player No Yds Avg TD Long

Oliver 12 195 16.2 0 24

Scaife 4 69 17.2 0 23

Rucker 3 53 17.7 0 19

Robinson 1 10 10.0 0 10

Holloman 1 15 15.0 0 15

SE 21 342 16.3 0 24

Opp. 11 209 19.0 0 29

Punt Returns

Player No Yds Avg TD Long

Scaife 10 43 4.3 0 25

NesSmith 4 40 10.0 0 12

SE 14 83 5.9 0 25

Opp. 14 231 16.5 2 47

Tackles

Player Solo Ass Total

Miller 21 12 33

Taylor 12 10 22

Agboke 12 9 21

White 9 10 19

Hicks 15 3 18

Harrell 11 4 15

Komondoreas 10 4 14

Jones 9 4 13

Williams 4 8 12

Tipton 6 4 10

Stolle 6 3 9

Bohnert 3 6 9

Ferguson 4 4 8

Stauffer 3 4 7

Steemer 3 4 7

Rucker 4 1 5

Andrade 2 3 5

Aubuchon 3 1 4

Casper 3 1 4

Brock 2 1 3

Dunaway 1 2 3

Lumpkin 1 2 3

McKenzie 1 1 2

Albart 0 2 2

Scroggins 0 2 2

Holloman 1 0 1

Matthews 1 0 1

Russell 1 0 1

Simonhoff 1 0 1

Hunt 0 1 1

McCoy 0 1 1

Robinson 0 1 1

Spain 0 1 1

Willis 0 1 1

QB Sacks

Player No. Yds

Jones 2.5 10

Harrell 2.0 26

Steemer 1.0 15

Bohnert 0.5 4

Team 1.0 0

SE 7 55

Opp. 7 55

Tackles For Loss

Player No Yds

Jones 3.5 11

Komondoreas 3.0 9

Agboke 2.0 2

Harrell 2.0 26

Hicks 2.0 8

Miller 2.0 3

Bohnert 1.5 5

Lumpkin 1.5 4

Ferguson 1.0 3

Rucker 1.0 1

Stauffer 1.0 2

Steemer 1.0 15

Tipton 1.0 1

Williams 1.0 3

Hunt 0.5 2

SE 24 95

Opp. 27 118

Interceptions

Player No Yds TD

Hicks 2 47 1

White 1 64 1

SE 3 111 2

Opp. 9 81 1

Fumble Recoveries

Player No Yds TD

Hicks 1 0 0

McKenzie 1 0 0

Stolle 1 0 0

White 1 0 0

Team 1 0 0

SE 5 0 0

Opp. 4 34 2