Southeast Missouri State football team returns to win column

The Southeast Missouri State football team didn't let two straight road losses by a combined 76 points ruin its confidence.

Southeast bounced back from the disheartening blowouts by celebrating a happy homecoming Saturday, 17-13 over Austin Peay.

The Redhawks, playing just their third home game before an announced crowd of 6,800 at Houck Stadium, improve to 2-5 overall and 2-3 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

"Our team really played together," senior quarterback Matt Scheible said. "We started doing that last week [a 41-17 loss at Eastern Kentucky] even though the score didn't show it.

"It was a collective effort between everybody."

Southeast Missouri State's Spencer Davis, left, and D.J. Foster celebrate a completed pass to Foster during the third quarter of Saturday's game against Austin Peay at Houck Stadium. Southeast won 17-13. (Kristin Eberts)

Southeast coach Tony Samuel praised his players for not sagging despite the recent struggles, including a 55-3 destruction at Tennessee State on Oct. 8.

"Especially with the amount of new people we have," said Samuel, whose defending OVC champions lost many of their top players from last season.

Samuel expected a physical, closely contested game against the Governors (2-5, 2-3).

That's exactly what the Redhawks got. Both teams had 16 first downs and less than 300 yards of offense (295 for Southeast, 287 for Austin Peay).

"Those cats play you hard," Samuel said. "You see the stats, see how even they are. We expected that."

Southeast Missouri State fans cheer during the first quarter of Saturday's homecoming game against Austin Peay at Houck Stadium.

Southeast entered play having forced only four turnovers all season, none over the past two games. The Redhawks committed eight turnovers of their own during that stretch.

But the Redhawks won Saturday's turnover battle 2-1, and the contest turned on an Austin Peay miscue early in the second half.

The Govs, leading 10-7, faced third-and-7 from their 45-yard line. Quarterback Jake Ryan, under heavy pressure from blitzing senior linebacker Philip Klaproth, barely got off a pass that floated high into the air. True freshman cornerback Tim Hamm-Bey came down with the ball and returned the interception 36 yards to the Austin Peay 22.

"It went up in the air. I saw I had enough time to get to it," Hamm-Bey said.

Junior tailback Renard Celestin scored on the next play, racing 22 yards for a 14-10 Southeast lead with 11 minutes, 55 left in the third quarter.

Southeast Missouri State players salute the crowd after their 17-13 win against Austin Peay at Saturday's homecoming game at Houck Stadium.

"It's a great feeling," Celestin said about his second career touchdown and first since 2009. "You always want to see the end zone."

The Redhawks never relinquished the lead as their defense took over the second half, allowing Austin Peay only 106 yards.

"We missed a lot of tackles in the first half," senior safety Bryan Blanfort said. "We discussed that at halftime and played better."

Southeast's defense gave up season lows for yards and points.

"We had some big stops and did some really good things defensively," Samuel said about the unit's strong second half. "I was proud of the way we played today."

Scheible's 58-yard completion to sophomore wide receiver D.J. Foster set up junior Drew Geldbach's 31-yard field goal with 6:05 left in the third quarter to make it 17-10.

Austin Peay's only points of the second half came on a 33-yard Stephen Stansell field goal less than three minutes into the final period.

Hamm-Bey came up big again when he intercepted a third-down pass from freshman Landon Curtis, who was pressed into duty after Ryan suffered a knee injury. Hamm-Bey returned the pick 26 yards. The field position was important even though Southeast didn't convert the turnover into points.

Sophomore Joe Vucic got off a 46-yard punt that pinned the Govs at their 8 with 3:24 remaining.

Vucic averaged 45 yards on four punts and pinned the Govs inside the 10 three times.

"Joe did a good job of placing that thing," Samuel said.

After an incompletion, Hamm-Bey broke up a second-down pass. Junior end Justin Love and junior tackle Joe Malolo then combined to sack Curtis on third down, forcing the Govs to punt from their end zone.

Southeast took over at the Austin Peay 34 with 2:17 left. The Govs still had three timeouts remaining.

That became a moot point when Foster made a diving catch on third-and-3, barely getting his hands under a low toss from Scheible. The completion was good for six yards and Southeast ran out the clock.

"I was trying to keep it low in case the cornerback jumped it. It was too low," Scheible said, marveling at Foster's grab. "That ball had to be an inch off the ground."

Austin Peay got on the board first, putting together a 95-yard drive on its opening possession to lead 7-0.

Southeast answered right back, marching 76 yards. Redshirt freshman fullback Ron Coleman's 3-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter made it 7-7.

Stansell's 38-yard field goal with just over five minutes left before halftime put the Govs up 10-7.