Road to winning season for Southeast Missouri State football team filled with obstacles

~ The Redhawks face three of the OVC's top teams down the stretch

The Southeast Missouri State football team kept its hopes of a second consecutive winning season alive Saturday by beating visiting Austin Peay 17-13.

But the defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Redhawks face a daunting stretch as they try to finish the campaign strong.

Southeast has four games left, including a home date against NAIA Central Methodist.

While the Redhawks will be favored in that contest, their other three opponents will be much more difficult to defeat.

Southeast visits Tennessee-Martin on Saturday in its final road game, then hosts Central Methodist, OVC leader Jacksonville State and Murray State.

Tennessee-Martin, Jacksonville State and Murray State are a combined 13-8 overall and 9-4 in the OVC.

"The rest of the way we've got some very tough conference games," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said Monday. "There haven't been any easy games. That's the type of year it's been."

The Redhawks (2-5, 2-3) will take at least some momentum into the final portion of the season after turning in a strong all-around performance against Austin Peay.

"Our team really played together," senior quarterback Matt Scheible said after the game. "It was a collective effort between everybody."

Southeast, which broke a two-game losing streak during which they were outscored 96-20 on the road, allowed season lows for points and yards.

The Redhawks gave up only 287 yards, including just 106 in the second half. They also committed only one turnover after having eight in the previous two contests.

"We played well," Samuel said.

Southeast will need to be at its best against Tennessee-Martin (4-3, 3-2), which is not leading the OVC but very well could be.

The Skyhawks led Jacksonville State, the only squad without a league loss, by 13 points in the fourth quarter Sept. 1. The host Gamecocks scored a touchdown with 38 seconds left to win 24-23.

Tennessee-Martin also was ahead of second-place Tennessee Tech on Oct. 1 before the visiting Eagles scored a touchdown with just more than a minute left to pull out a 34-31 victory.

"They've got a very good football team, very explosive," Samuel said.

The Skyhawks lead the league in scoring offense (40 points per game), total offense (451.6 yards) and total defense (313.9 yards) while ranking second in scoring defense (19.3 points).

Tennessee-Martin ranks second nationally in scoring offense.

Noteworthy

* Junior linebacker Blake Peiffer, a Jackson High School graduate, is the OVC's leading tackler and ranks sixth nationally with an average of 12 tackles per game.

Peiffer has led Southeast tacklers in all seven contests. He has reached double figures in six of the games.

* Redshirt freshman receiver/returner Spencer Davis ranks second in the OVC and 29th nationally with an average of 136.3 all-purpose yards per game. He has 555 yards on kickoff returns and needs just 14 more for 10th place on Southeast's single-season list.

* Southeast shuffled its offensive line some against Austin Peay due to injuries. All-OVC junior Evan Conrad, who had made 18 consecutive starts at left tackle, took over at right guard. Redshirt freshman Ben Schmidt made his first collegiate start, which was at left tackle.

* Saturday's game time has been changed to 2 p.m. It originally was scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.