Southeast football upsets Southeastern Louisiana 24-23

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that Southeast win over No. 5 SIU in 2010 was the program's only other win against a Top 5 team.

The Southeast Missouri State football team's victory over nationally-ranked Southeastern Louisiana Saturday night was the type that Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz thought might end with some revelry at Houck Stadium.

"I was hoping at the end of the game the student section would go rip down the goal post and throw it in the Mississippi, but that didn't happen, so I'm going to have to educate the fans," Matukewicz said with a grin. "What a victory. The list is way too long to start thanking people or start mentioning about who played well because it's just as big a team win as you can have."

The Redhawks beat No. 3/4 Southeastern Louisiana 24-23 to mark the highest-ranked opponent Southeast has defeated. Southeast's only other victory over a Top 5 opponent came in 2010 when it defeated then-No. 5 Southern Illinois.

Southeast trailed 23-17 when it started its final drive on its own 20 with 2 minutes, 47 seconds remaining in the game.

It took 13 plays to move it to the Lions' 17-yard line with 12 seconds remaining in the game.

SLU called a timeout, and Southeast quarterback Kyle Snyder used the time to let Matukewicz know what he thought he was capable of doing on the next play.

"We knew we had one timeout at the time, and it was third-and-10," Snyder said. "I went up and told coach I know I'll be able to run it here. We'll be able to run it on them because they had everyone sitting back."

Southeast set up in a five-wide formation with an empty backfield on third-and-10 and Snyder ran it up the middle to the 2-yard line that left Southeast with 7.1 seconds to score.

"My eyes lit up," Snyder said. "I thought I was going to score on that play, but the defense came in and made a play there. Basically I was going to the end zone north and south as quickly as I could and get as many yards as I could. That's been a point of emphasis all week is not so much going side-to-side running-wise, getting more north and south."

Southeast Missouri State kicker Ryan McCrum kicks the go-ahead extra point against Southeastern Louisiana in the final seconds Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

Snyder then completed his 16th pass of the game -- a 2-yard pass to receiver Paul McRoberts in the end zone with 4.6 seconds remaining to tie the game at 23-23.

"He got hit pretty hard," Matukewicz said about Snyder's run. "I mean, he was shaken, and to be able to come right back and throw a dart on a slant route is pretty impressive."

"Teams always try to play the fade or whatever, but we've just got to switch it up sometimes," McRoberts said. "I let my coach know that the fade wasn't going to be open and to try something else."

Southeast kicker Ryan McCrum made the PAT, but a penalty on the Redhawks made him rekick. His second attempt was good and the Southeast special teams halted the Lions on the ensuing squib kick to seal its second win of the season.

The Redhawks held the Lions to a 25-yard field goal in the first quarter.

With about eight minutes remaining in the first half, Southeast nose tackle Marlon Hampton forced a SLU fumble and freshman Hunter Bledsoe recovered it at the Lions' 25. It took five plays for the Redhawks to score on a 1-yard run by Lennies McFerren to give Southeast a 7-3 lead with 6:04 to go in the half.

SLU got it to the Southeast 11-yard line and lined up to kick a field goal on fourth-and-9 with about three minutes left in the half, but the Lions faked the field goal and scored on an 11-yard pass to regain a 3-point lead.

Snyder was picked off in the end zone on the next drive in the final seconds of the half but a SLU penalty negated the play. McCrum then kicked a career-long 54-yard field goal to tie the game at 10-10 going into halftime.

Southeast Missouri State wide receiver Peter Lloyd stiff-arms Southeastern Louisiana's Xavier Roberson during the fourth quarter Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

The Redhawks scored on their first drive of the second half to take a 17-10 lead on an 12-yard pass to McRoberts in the front left corner of the end zone.

Southeastern scored with 5:18 remaining in the game on a 4-yard reception by Jeff Smiley on fourth down. The Lions went for a two-point conversion, but linebacker Wisler Ymonice, who intercepted a pass in the first quarter, stopped the run to keep Southeast ahead 17-16.

"I had a feeling they were going to try to do something," Ymonice said. "As I was down in my stance I kind of saw out of the corner of my eye a guy motioned over, so I pressed my gap, and I'm like, 'I hope they just come my way,' and sure enough he came my way and it was easy money."

McFerren fumbled on the first play of the next drive and the Lions recovered on Southeast's 38-yard line.

Six plays later Southeastern quarterback Bryan Bennett ran it in 22 yards to give the Lions a 23-17 advantage with 2:53 to play.

The Redhawks held Bennett, Southeastern's leading rusher and the 2013 Southland Conference Player of the Year, to 18 net rushing yards on seven carries. He completed 15 of 29 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown and threw one interception.

Southeast Missouri State running back Lennies McFerren punctuates his touchdown run against Southeastern Louisiana during the first quarter Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

"They're a big jet-motion team, so they like to motion a guy over real fast," Ymonice said. "Our big thing was to keep them inside the box -- try to set an edge and keep them inside because they're really fast. … Another thing was to make the quarterback hit hands tonight. Keep them in the box and make him throw, see how good he could throw the ball."

Southeast used 15 plays to move the ball 80 yards down the field following Bennett's touchdown to regain the lead and upset the Lions.

"Just poise," McRoberts said he saw from his teammates when trailing. "Everybody was like, 'Alright, we've got this.' It was kind of a feeling that we knew we were going to win, so there was no need to get down. We knew we had to stay strong. I felt like the team grew up right in that moment and handled adversity well."

Southeast improved to 2-2 with the win and will face UT Martin in the Redhawks' Ohio Valley Conference opener on Saturday.

"I just felt like, especially today, it just clicked," said linebacker Roper Garrett, who led the team with 12 tackles. "I felt like this whole season we had it. We just hadn't clicked yet, and today I think we finally clicked and it's going to show for the rest of the year."