Southeast football falls to Tech, drops to 1-6

~ The 28-16 loss was the sixth straight for the swooning Redhawks

The struggles for the Southeast Missouri State football team continued Saturday as the Redhawks suffered their sixth straight loss.

Southeast fell to Tennessee Tech 28-16 in Cookeville, Tenn., as the Redhawks remained the Ohio Valley Conference's only squad without a league win.

The Redhawks fell to 1-6 overall and 0-5 in OVC play. Their lone victory came in the season opener against NAIA Quincy.

Tech (4-3, 3-2), which posted its only OVC win last year over Southeast, scored 21 straight first-half points to take control after the Redhawks grabbed an early 6-0 lead.

"This is a team game and all three phases of the game have to click," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said. "Tennessee Tech had a short field to work with on a few of its scoring drives."

The Eagles needed to drive just 45 yards, 38 yards and 35 yards for the first-half touchdowns that gave them a 21-9 halftime lead.

Two of the scores were set up by short Southeast punts and the other after sophomore quarterback Matt Scheible threw an interception.

Tech's three first-half touchdowns came within a span of less than seven minutes starting late in the first quarter.

Southeast had a chance to put Tech in an early hole but had to settle for two short field goals by redshirt freshman Curtis Huge, seeing his first action for the Redhawks in place of senior Doug Spada.

Spada, an All-American punter, performed those duties Saturday but did not handle his normal kicking job because of a sprained ankle suffered during the week.

A 32-yard field goal by Huge in the game's opening five minutes came after senior William Castro blocked a punt that gave Southeast the ball at Tech's 16.

Later in the first quarter, a 40-yard run by junior tailback Henry Harris set up Southeast for a potential touchdown. But again the drive faltered and Huge hit from 31 yards out.

The Eagles then took control with 21 straight points.

Southeast had another chance late in the first half, but a drive faltered inside Tech's 5-yard line. Huge booted a 21-yard field goal to make it 21-9 at the break.

"Huge is a good, steady kid. He kicks well in the short game," Samuel said.

The Redhawks threatened to pull closer in the third quarter, but this time Huge missed a field goal, from 44 yards out.

Tech put Southeast in a big hole when it scored with eight minutes left in the game to make it 28-9.

Southeast came right back with its only touchdown drive, a 63-yard march capped when Scheible hit redshirt freshman wide receiver Cedric Cox from 11 yards out with six minutes to play. It was Cox's first collegiate touchdown catch.

An interception by junior rover Aris Bowen gave Southeast another chance, but that possession ended on a Scheible interception.

The Redhawks got the ball one more time and drove to the Tech 27 before Scheible was picked off for the third time. The interception, with 1:06 remaining, sealed things.

Scheible completed 15 of 32 passes for 164 yards. He rushed for a team-high 69 yards on 26 carries.

In addition to throwing three interceptions, Scheible was sacked a season-high four times.

Defensively, senior linebacker Josh Woods paced Southeast with 10 tackles, including one sack and 2.5 tackles for loss.

"Josh Woods played really well. I think he really stood out," Samuel said.

Bowen added eight tackles, while senior end Quentin Brown and junior end Damian Smith both recorded sacks.

Southeast came up with three sacks after entering the game last in the OVC with only four sacks all season.

Samuel said Tech senior quarterback Lee Sweeney "held the ball. Any time you get the quarterback to hold the ball, you're going to get some sacks."

Sophomore tailback Dontey Gay led Tech with 125 yards rushing on 20 carries. He scored two touchdowns, from 37 and 4 yards.

The Redhawks had 305 yards of total offense to Tech's 262, but it was not enough to prevent Southeast's fourth straight loss to the Eagles.

Southeast plays at Eastern Kentucky next Saturday.