Southeast Missouri State football team concludes season with 28-25 loss to UT Martin

Dante Vandeven met junior kicker Ryan McCrum on the field and walked with him over to the Southeast Missouri State football team's sideline, where McCrum knelt down next to the net he'd practiced kicking into countless times and stared down at the ground.

The true freshman quarterback crouched down next to him as the final seconds ticked off the clock at Houck Stadium on Saturday and the UT Martin players lined up in victory formation.

The Redhawks scored 15 unanswered points in the second half to pull within three, and on fourth-and-1 with 53 seconds left, coach Tom Matukewicz elected to send McCrum out for a 42-yard field goal.

McCrum's attempt missed wide left, and the Skyhawks handed the Redhawks a 28-25 loss in the season finale.

"Pretty much told him that people look up to him, you know, and just to keep your head up," Vandeven said. "This is a game in Southeast Missouri, a college football game, that 10 years from now people aren't going to remember anything like that -- that's just a good way of thinking about it. That this isn't everything.

Southeast Missouri State quarterback Dante Vandeven carries to the sideline against UT Martin during the third quarter Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

"It's good to get wins, it's good to play football, it's fun to do everything, but there's more to what we're doing here on the field. We have our four cornerstones that we work on: attitude, effort, passion and discipline, so there's more than kicking a field goal to win a game."

The Redhawks got the ball back for their final drive with 2 minutes, 4 seconds remaining on their own 15.

Vandeven hit McRoberts for an 11-yard pass on fourth-and-5. McRoberts had a 23-yard catch three plays later to move into UTM territory before a 9-yard pass to Tyler Manne got Southeast to the 25 and set up third-and-1.

Vandeven's next pass intended for McRoberts, who was darting into the end zone, fell short, and Matukewicz took a timeout before sending out McCrum.

Matukewicz remained confident in his decision after the loss.

"So let's say we get the first down. Well, the clock's running or you throw it and anything can happen. Now you lose the game," Matukewicz said. "The odds are we were going to kick a field goal anyway. Maybe it's 10 yards closer, but the risk didn't outweigh the reward. You have to kick it there."

Southeast trailed 14-3 at halftime. Running back Tremane McCullough scored on a 30-yard run 33 seconds into the second half to cut it to 14-0, but the Skyhawks answered with a 10-yard touchdown catch by Caylon Weathers 2:12 later and a 20-yard Rod Wright TD reception with 8:53 left in the third that made it 28-10 UTM.

"I'm telling you, that quarterback is as good as there is in our conference," Matukewicz said about UTM QB Jarod Neal. "Those are some tough balls. Every one of those were not like wide open balls. He just put them on the money, and a great ball beats great coverage every time, so hats off to those guys."

The teams exchanged punts on their next drives -- a 61-yarder by Southeast's Alex Knight pinned UTM at its 2, and then a Jackson Redditt punt went just 35 yards and was returned to the Skyhawks' 29 by Peter Lloyd.

Vandeven completed a pass to senior receiver Paul McRoberts in the middle, just a step in front of the end zone on the first play of Southeast's drive. McRoberts made the catch with a defender on his back, turned to his left and dove into the end zone to cut it to 28-17 with 5:45 to go in the third.

Southeast came up with a stop on fourth-and-1 at the Redhawks' 27 with 1:10 left in the third on UTM's next drive and moved it to the Skyhawks' 49 by the end of the quarter.

Six plays into the fourth quarter McRoberts wrestled a pass away from a defender in the back left of the end zone for a 6-yard TD. Vandeven connected with tight end Logan Larson for the two-point conversion to cut it to 28-25 with 12:03 left.

"We left it all on the field," said McRoberts, who was one of 12 seniors to play in their final collegiate game. "Rough start, but we stayed in the game. Most teams would've got down and sad, but we stayed positive and up and believed in each other. I feel like we gave it our all, and I'm proud of these guys. I'm going to miss them and I love them."

Both teams punted on their next drives. The Skyhawks had it on their own 26 with 6:49 to go. Running back Trent Garland had two 3-yard carries and an 11-yard run on the drive, and Neal completed an 11-yard pass to Caylon Weather to move into Southeast territory.

Southeast cornerback Ryan Moore forced a fumble on Garland's fourth carry of the drive that Redhawks' linebacker Kendall Donnerson recovered on the Southeast 44 with 3:59 left.

Vandeven was picked off for the third time in the game on the first play of the ensuing drive.

"Defensively, they did exactly what you need to do in that scenario. Get the ball to our offense," Matukewicz said. "Offensively, we turned the ball over. We've done a good job of that all year, and really I feel like if you just said, 'Hey, coach, what's the one thing we've got to improve?' It's just discipline. Turning the ball over is a lack of discipline, having stupid penalties is a lack of discipline, not holding your gap is a lack of discipline."

Southeast's only lead came with 1:07 left in the first quarter on a 23-yard field goal by McCrum that made it 3-0.

The Skyhawks scored with 9:13 left in the half on a 1-yard run by Garland and with 3:59 to go before the break on a 7-yard pass to Wright that made it 14-3.

"The thing that hurt me the most is just there's 12 guys that came in this program and went through coaching changes, went through learning a different offense and learning a different defense, and those 12 guys, they played their last game at SEMO today," junior safety Eriq Moore said. "We couldn't win for them, and I think that's what's hurting me the most, just knowing that their last game at SEMO was a loss and it was a tough one, so that hurts me."

The Redhawks concluded their second season under Matukewicz with a record of 4-7 and 3-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference. They were 5-7 and 3-5 in the OVC in his first season after three consecutive three-win seasons under former coach Tony Samuel.

"I figured Year 2 we should be in about every game," Matukewicz said. "We should have some good wins, wanted to play for some meaningful games in November. I think we did that. We've had some really disappointing losses, but I think we've had some really good wins, too. So I think what we have to do is take that next step as a program and play more smart football, more disciplined, and that's just a lot easier when you return a lot of the guys, when you're not counting on a lot of the freshmen, and hopefully you're to the point where not a lot of freshmen can make the two-deep because you've got a lot of those guys there.

"So I'm excited. I really am. There's nothing that I feel there's any reason we can't have success next year."