SOUTHEAST RUNS OUT OF GAS

Southeast Missouri State University's football team finally ran out of miracles Saturday night.

The Indians, who had pulled off two straight amazing victories, looked for a while like they might make it three in a row.

But Western Kentucky took control over the final 19 minutes of the game and scored the last 21 points to prevail 38-14 in front of a Family Weekend Crowd of 10,222 at Houck Stadium.

The second-largest recorded gathering in the history of Houck -- surpassed only by the 11,015 that witnessed last year's Family Weekend contest against Eastern Kentucky -- saw the Indians put together an impressive first half before being worn down in the second half by the more physical Hilltoppers.

Southeast fell to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in Ohio Valley Conference play. WKU improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the OVC.

"They're bigger and stronger than us and we just couldn't stop them (in the second half)," said Southeast coach Tim Billings. "The kids played hard, but they just wore us down."

WKU took control of the contest after Southeast had pulled to within 17-14 in the latter stages of the third quarter. At that point, the enthusiastic crowd had visions of a third straight upset victory.

But the Hilltoppers would have none of it. Immediately following the Southeast touchdown that made it 17-14, WKU methodically marched 72 yards in 16 plays and used 7 minutes, 49 seconds of the clock to go up 24-14 early in the fourth quarter.

After a three-and-out Southeast series, the Hilltoppers used a 12-play, 79-yard drive that consumed 6:23 of the clock to score a decisive touchdown with just under four minutes left.

Another Hilltopper TD after a turnover with under three minutes to play made the final score a lot more lopsided than the contest actually had been.

"Southeast Missouri has an outstanding team," said WKU coach Jack Harbaugh. "I congratulate Tim for the job he's done.

"I feel proud of our football team that we were able to grind it out at the end."

The Hilltoppers certainly did grind it out in the second half. They held a 228 to 68 advantage in total yards over the final 30 minutes and possessed the ball for a whopping 23:12 as WKU's not overly big but powerful offensive line dominated.

"Our line won it in the trenches," said WKU quarterback Jason Johnson, who directed the Hilltoppers' option offense expertly. "They took charge."

In the first half, however, it was Southeast that did plenty of things right, even though the Indians entered the locker room trailing 14-7.

Southeast moved the ball up and down the field in the opening two quarters, piling up 223 yards to 197 for WKU. But a pair of early drives deep into Hilltopper territory came up empty, including a game-opening march that netted a first-and-goal at the WKU 7-yard line but ended when a fake field goal failed.

WKU broke on top on the next possession, moving 86 yards and scoring on a 10-yard run by Keith Brooks.

The Hilltoppers made it 14-0 early in the second quarter. The TD was set up by the defense as Southeast running back Iven Brown was hammered after catching a short pass from quarterback Rashad West. The ball popped high in the air, with Melvin Wisham scooping it up and racing 60 yards to the Southeast 10. Kevin Crisp scored on a 1-yard run.

Southeast got its only TD of the first half on an 82-yard, 15-play march that ended on West's 4-yard run with 7:22 remaining.

"We moved the ball well in the first half, we just couldn't get the ball in the end zone," Billings said.

WKU got a field goal early in the third quarter to go up 17-7. The Indians then used a bit of special teams magic to make things interesting.

Facing a fourth down at the WKU 48, backup quarterback Bobby Brune was sent into the game as if the Indians were going for it. But Brune dropped back and booted a brilliant pooch-punt, the ball dying inside the WKU 1-yard line.

The Hilltoppers couldn't get out of the hole and were forced to punt from their end zone. But Alan Ogletree mishandled a snap and was buried by several Southeast players at the 2-yard line as he tried to run with the ball.

Freshman Marcus Patton scored on a 2-yard run with 4:54 left in the third period and all of a sudden the Indians were very much alive.

But that's when the Hilltoppers totally took control with their two long drives that broke the game open.

WKU finished with 354 yards rushing, led by DeWayne Gallishaw with 157 on 21 carries. The Hilltoppers had 425 yards of total offense.

Southeast wound up with 291 total yards. West passed for 171 yards as he completed 15 of 26 attempts. Brown led the rushers with 54 yards on eight carries. Brown and Corey Chester each caught four passes.