Southeast football notebook: Huge fills in admirably for Spada

Curtis Huge would have preferred not to get his opportunity because of Doug Spada's injury.

But Huge, Southeast Missouri State's redshirt freshman kicker, has taken full advantage.

Huge accounted for the Redhawks' only points during Saturday's 24-3 home loss to Jacksonville State with a 33-yard field goal late in the third quarter.

That makes Huge 4 of 5 on field goals the past three games since Spada suffered an ankle injury before the Oct. 24 contest at Tennessee Tech.

"I feel really good," Huge said after Saturday's field goal, which is the longest of his young college career.

Southeast Missouri State's Chantae Ahamefule catches a pass for a first down against Jacksonville State during the first quarter Saturday at Houck Stadium.

Spada, a senior, has handled all of Southeast's punting and kicking since his sophomore season. He earned All-American honors as a punter the past two years.

Spada sprained his right ankle during a mishap on some steps the week leading up to the Tennessee Tech game. He punted in that contest but Huge did the place-kicking.

Huge handled the kicking and punting duties last week at Eastern Kentucky after Spada's ankle swelled up.

Spada returned to punting duties Saturday, but Huge again did the place-kicking.

"Pretty much a year and a half I've been waiting for my shot," said Huge, whose first collegiate action was at Tennessee Tech. "Doug's a great player. I've been learning from him and I hated to see him get hurt.

"But I'm glad I've gotten a chance."

While Huge doesn't have Spada's leg, Southeast coach Tony Samuel lauds Huge's accuracy.

Samuel said the straight-ahead motion during punting doesn't put as much pressure on Spada's ankle as soccer-style place-kicking. That's the reason Spada can punt but not kick right now.

Spada, after struggling with his punting on the bad ankle at Tennessee Tech, returned to form Saturday as he averaged 46 yards on five attempts.

"He punted better today," Samuel said. "And Huge has done well."

Stewart goes down

While Southeast's 1-8 record, including 0-7 in Ohio Valley Conference play, can't solely be blamed on bad luck, the Redhawks have had their share of it.

In addition to Spada's fluke injury, senior wide receiver Brad Stewart suffered a knee injury during pre-game warmups Saturday.

Stewart tore the same ACL he injured last year at Jacksonville State that forced him to miss the remainder of the season. His college career likely is over.

Asked if what happened to Stewart typifies the type of season Southeast has endured, senior wide receiver Walter Peoples said, "I guess you could say that."

Statistically speaking

Southeast ran a season-high 78 plays en route to 312 yards of offense, including 235 on the ground. JSU finished with 355 yards, 206 coming through the air.

The Redhawks possessed the ball for longer than their opponent for the first time this year. Southeast had it for 33 minutes, 47 seconds to 26:13 for Jacksonville State.

Junior tailback Henry Harris led the Redhawks with 74 yards rushing on 17 carries.

Sophomore quarterback Matt Scheible gained 71 yards on 19 attempts. He completed 12 of 25 passes for 77 yards and did not throw an interception for the first time since the Sept. 3 season opener.

Defensively, Southeast was led by senior Eddie Calvin's nine tackles. Senior end Quentin Brown and senior linebacker Josh Woods both had seven tackles.

Junior safety Bryan Blanfort intercepted his second pass of the season, a halfback option play in the end zone early in the fourth quarter to halt a JSU drive. Blanfort is tied with William Castro and Aris Bowen for the team lead in interceptions.