Southeast football team extends roll with win over Tennessee Tech

Southeast Missouri State experienced no letdown following last week's huge victory at Southern Illinois.

The Redhawks continued their roll by holding off Tennessee Tech 23-21 in Saturday night's home opener.

"We got after it in practice," senior defensive lineman J.J. Sanchez said of the days following the upset at nationally ranked SIU that ranks among the biggest wins in program history. "We just had to stay focused."

An announced crowd of 8,732 on Family Weekend -- although there appeared to be about 10,000 people at Houck Stadium -- saw the Redhawks improve to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Southeast has won its first two OVC games for just the second time since joining the league and moving up to Division I-AA in 1991.

Southeast's Henry Harris drags Tennessee Tech's Marcus Edwards during the second quarter of Saturday's game at Houck Stadium. (Kristin Eberts)

The program's other 2-0 OVC start came in 2002. Southeast never has been 3-0 in the OVC.

The Redhawks also now have won three straight for the first time since 2003. And they are 3-1 for the first time since fifth-year coach Tony Samuel's inaugural season in 2006, although that campaign ended 4-7.

"It's a big win, a really big win," said Sanchez, who had the game's only quarterback sack.

Added junior quarterback Matt Scheible of the Redhawks' 2-0 OVC mark that has them leading the league: "You never want to dig yourselves out of a hole. It gives you a lot of confidence."

Tech (1-3), which was playing its OVC opener, had beaten Southeast four straight times, including twice in Cape Girardeau.

Southeast quarterback Matt Scheible delivers a pass during the first quarter Saturday.

Six of the past seven meetings between the teams had been decided by seven points or fewer, and Saturday's contest followed suit -- although it probably didn't have to.

The Redhawks held a 467-375 advantage in total yardage -- 353 yards came on the ground -- and a whopping 37 minutes, 35 seconds to 22:25 edge in time of possession as they ran 87 offensive plays to just 47 for the Eagles.

"I thought the possession offensively was very good," Samuel said.

But Southeast lost two first-half fumbles that halted prime scoring opportunities, including one drive that reached Tech's 2-yard line. The other fumble was inside the 40.

"It's still a game of turnovers," Samuel said. "We had two critical turnovers."

Scheible said it's a sign of how far the Redhawks have come that they are able to overcome those types of things this year. That rarely happened when they went 2-9 overall and 1-7 in the OVC last season.

"We made some mistakes, but we showed we can overcome adversity," said Scheible, who continued his strong play by completing 13 of 18 passes for 114 yards and rushing for 82 yards on 20 carries while not throwing an interception for the seventh straight game.

Senior tailback Henry Harris, who rushed for a career-high 196 yards on 32 carries, expected things to be tight until the end.

"We knew Tennessee Tech would come out and play hard," Harris said. "We knew it was going to take a lot.

"It was a hard-fought game. Coaches always preach about finishing."

Both teams scored on their opening possessions.

Tech went up 7-0 with a 77-yard drive, and Southeast answered with a 65-yard drive that ended when senior wide receiver Miles Edwards took an option pitch from Scheible and scored from 9 yards out for a 7-7 tie.

Southeast's next two possessions ended with the fumbles in Tech territory.

"We have to execute," said Harris, who lost one of the fumbles while Scheible lost the one near the goal line.

Tech missed a 44-yard field goal with two minutes left in the second quarter, and Southeast drove for a 24-yard field goal by sophomore Drew Geldbach on the final play of the half for a 10-7 lead.

Southeast took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched 80 yards. Scheible hit senior fullback Nathan Grass on a 4-yard touchdown pass for a 17-7 advantage.

The Eagles made it 17-14 on their next possession. That's the way things stood until a 1-yard plunge by Harris with 7:02 left in the game capped a 65-yard drive and put Southeast up 23-14. Geldbach missed the PAT.

Southeast appeared to ice the victory when sophomore defensive end Justin Love forced a fumbled and recovered the ball with 3:45 remaining after Tech had driven to the Redhawks' 20.

The Redhawks burned more than two minutes, but Tech made things interesting by scoring a touchdown with 56 seconds left.

But Tech's onside kick went out of bounds so Southeast took over. Two Scheible kneel-downs ended things.

"It's nice," said Samuel of Southeast's strong start. "We'll take the win and move on."