Southeast QB crosses 100-yard rushing mark in football win

MURRAY, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State junior quarterback Matt Scheible has been among the Ohio Valley Conference's top running quarterbacks since his freshman year.

But Scheible never had reached the 100-yard rushing mark until Saturday night, when his all-around brilliant performance helped the Redhawks beat host Murray State 30-17 in the OVC opener for both teams.

Scheible dazzled with 134 yards on 16 carries, including a career-long 60-yard run. He did damage on the option, quarterback draws and scrambles.

"It feels good," said Scheible, whose previous career-high rushing game was 90 yards against Tennessee-Martin as a freshman in 2008. "But I can't do it without my backs and my linemen."

Scheible broke off his 60-yarder late in the third quarter, which led to a field goal.

"After about 30 yards, I was wondering why nobody was catching me," Scheible said with a laugh.

Scheible also had a strong game passing, completing 12 of 17 for 140 yards and a touchdown without an interception. He has not thrown a pick in the past five games dating back to last season.

"Coach [Vincent] White just talks about executing plays," Scheible said about Southeast's offensive coordinator.

Southeast coach Tony Samuel lauded Scheible's performance.

"For the things we do, Matt's the perfect quarterback for us," Samuel said. "He made great decisions and handled himself well. He ripped off some really critical runs and made some really critical passes to keep our defense off the field."

Senior tailback Henry Harris added a career-high 113 yards on 27 carries as he and Scheible became the first pair of Southeast rushers to reach 100 yards in the same game since 2006.

Of Southeast's 431 total yards, 291 came on the ground.

"We knew we had to come out running. That's our strength," said Harris, whose other 100-yard game at Southeast was a 110-yard performance against Indiana State in 2008. "But Matt had some good passes."

Geldbach shines again

Drew Geldbach, Southeast's first-year kicker, had another big performance after booming a 53-yarder on his first collegiate field-goal attempt during last week's season-opening loss at Ball State.

Geldbach improved to 4 of 4 on field goals by making three more Saturday. None was chip shots and all were important.

Geldbach's 40-yarder in the second quarter put Southeast ahead 10-7 although MSU forged a 10-10 halftime tie.

Geldbach's 47-yarder early in the third quarter -- it hit the crossbar and trickled over -- put Southeast up 13-10, although MSU later went ahead 17-13.

Finally, Geldbach's 37-yarder early in the fourth quarter gave the Redhawks a 23-17 lead.

"It feels good. Anything to help the team," said Geldbach, a sophomore who redshirted at Southeast last year after transferring from Missouri, where he did not play football. "The one I really lucked out on, but it's a big confidence boost, especially coming in a win."

Defense also strong

Southeast's defense had trouble with MSU's no-huddle, spread attack in the first quarter as the Racers piled up 114 yards.

But the Redhawks held MSU to just 179 yards the rest of the way as the Racers finished with 293.

Most of that came through the air as senior quarterback Jeff Ehrhardt completed 38 of 54 passes for 245 yards.

"We just had to buckle down and get our assignments down," senior cornerback Aaron Grimes said.

Grimes, who saw limited action last year after transferring from junior college, had a big performance with his first Southeast interception and a career-high 14 tackles to lead the Redhawks.

"I was just trying to do whatever I could to help my team," said Grimes, who leads Southeast with 22 tackles in two games after having just eight tackles last year.

Senior safety Aris Bowen and sophomore end Justin Love both added 10 tackles. Senior linebacker Joshua Jackson contributed nine stops.

"That's a good attack they've got and a great quarterback," Samuel said. "Our defense had some big stops. Everybody likes to talk offense and defense, but it's a combination."