Southeast Missouri State football team loses fourth consecutive game

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Southeast Missouri State football team's road game against Tennessee Tech on Saturday came down to a 62-yard field goal attempt in the final minute of regulation.

It shouldn't have, though.

The Redhawks led most of the game at Tucker Stadium. They had the ball on TTU's 2-yard line on the previous drive before settling for a field goal. They lost three fumbles and had a pass intercepted.

And so eventually Southeast's 27-26 loss to TTU came down to a missed 62-yard field goal by kicker Ryan McCrum.

"Our kids can't play any harder. It's physically impossible," Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz said. "We're laying on the field because we're playing so hard. Unfortunately we're not playing smart, and the difference between winning and losing comes down to so many plays. They're going to make them, but we've got to stop making stupid plays."

McCrum was brought out for his fifth field goal attempt of the game following a Southeast timeout with 25 seconds remaining. Southeast senior quarterback Kyle Snyder had rushed for no gain, been sacked for a loss of 4 yards and threw an incompletion under heavy pressure to set up the attempt on fourth-and-14.

"They were bringing guys to cause havoc in the backfield," Snyder said before pausing and shaking his head. "Yeah, they were bringing it."

McCrum's kick was tipped and landed well short of the uprights. He sat down on a bench on the Redhawks sideline with a towel over his head while several of his teammates tried to console him.

"It didn't come down to that," Matukewicz said. "I know McCrum is crushed, and he needs to know that he tried to come out and erase the mistake by someone else. He wasn't able to get it, and next time he will."

Southeast held a 13-point first half lead, and didn't trail until TTU went ahead 20-16 11 seconds into the fourth quarter on a 12-yard touchdown run by Jared Davis.

The Redhawks regained a 23-20 advantage when junior running back DeMichael Jackson, who finished with 172 yards rushing on 22 carries, broke free for a 48-yard touchdown run a little over a minute later.

Southeast's defense forced the Golden Eagles to punt on the ensuing drive, and the Redhawks were able to move the ball to the 1-yard line.

Southeast Missouri State's Kyle Snyder looks to pass during the Redhawks' game against Tennessee Tech on Saturday in Cookeville, Tennessee. (Tony Marable ~ Tennessee Tech)

Snyder fumbled at the 1 on second down, but Jackson recovered. Snyder was stopped for no gain on the next play, and McCrum made a 19-yard field goal with 6:15 remaining to give the Redhawks a 26-20 lead.

The Golden Eagles needed just five plays to move 76 yards after that, and running back Willie Davis ran it in 32 yards to put TTU back on top at 27-26 with 1:57 remaining.

"I knew that their favorite receiver was No. 8, and I was watching him," Southeast sophomore safety Eriq Moore said. "The quarterback throws to him a lot, so I was thinking in that situation it was going to be to him. [I thought] they'd try to get 8 on the quick slant or something like that, so I had my eyes on the quarterback, but I was feeling where 8 was. When he play-actioned I kind of checked down to see what 8 was doing, then I looked over and saw 22 running. I got over there, and my goal was to pull him out of bounds before the pylon."

The Redhawks were unable to score on the next drive to send them home with their fourth consecutive loss.

Southeast had held a 10-0 advantage after one quarter. The team's first drive resulted in a Snyder pass that was tipped and intercepted to set the Golden Eagles up at the Southeast 32, but the defense held them to a 45-yard field goal that TTU kicker John Arnold missed short.

The Redhawks went 72 yards on eight plays, including 24 and 20 yard rushes by Jackson, that ended with a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Snyder to put Southeast up 7-0 with 7:11 left in the first quarter.

Southeast defensive lineman Travis Sanders forced and recovered a TTU fumble on the next drive to set the Redhawks up at the Golden Eagles 27, but all Southeast got out of it was a 43-yard field goal from McCrum.

The Redhawks went up 13-0 on a 32-yard field goal by McCrum with 9:19 to go in the first half.

TTU put Jared Davis in at quarterback two drives later to replace starter Darian Stone. He led a 61-yard drive down the field on five plays that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Radir Annoor to make it 13-7 with 3:11 remaining in the half.

On the next drive Receiver Peter Lloyd caught a screen pass, but fumbled on contact that the Golden Eagles recovered. He suffered a broken leg on the play and had surgery Saturday night.

TTU turned the ball over on downs to give Southeast a 6-point advantage at half.

Both teams lost a fumble on their opening drives of the second half. McCrum made a 42-yard field goal after Southeast recovered the TTU fumble on its own 37.

TTU recovered a Snyder fumble on the first play of the Redhawks' next drive at the Southeast 21. Two plays later Jared Davis connected with receiver Cody Matthews for a 17-yard score.

Cornerback Tim Hamm-Bey blocked the PAT and Southeast led 16-13 after three before TTU finally took the lead in the fourth.

"We were in it because we came to fight the whole time, but turnovers killed us today," Jackson said.

Southeast had 480 yards of total offense in the game, but scored just two touchdowns. The Redhawks rushed for 348 yards on 56 carries.

Junior receiver Paul McRoberts played for the first time since fracturing his foot against Southeastern Louisiana on Sept. 20. He finished with 95 yards receiving on seven catches -- all in the second half.

"I feel very comfortable," McRoberts said. "I just want to win and do what I can."

Southeast (4-6, 2-4 OVC) has two games remaining in the season. The Redhawks host Austin Peay Saturday and the No. 1 team in the conference, Jacksonville State in the season finale on Nov. 22.

"We've really got to get ready and finish this thing off the right way," Moore said. "We've got a decent amount of seniors on our team, so coach wants to send them out the right way. We really want to send the seniors out the right way and just finish on a positive note. If you finish with two wins you go into the winter conditioning and the summer and you're looking forward to next year. You're ready for it and there's kind of some momentum that comes with you. But if you take some 'L's going into that last week, then it's really not a good transition. We're trying to make it a good transition."