Winning season stays in reach

Southeast must win two of its last three games to post a winning record.

By MARTY MISHOW

Southeast Missourian

The Southeast Missouri State football team still has plenty of work to do in order to post just the program's third winning season since moving up to Division I-AA in 1991.

But had the Redhawks not beaten Murray State Saturday, the chances of accomplishing the feat would have been extremely difficult, since they would have needed to sweep their final three games.

Now the Redhawks (4-4, 2-3 Ohio Valley Conference) need to win two of their last three to pull it off, beginning with Saturday's 6 p.m. home contest against surging Tennessee-Martin (7-1, 4-0).

"I think these seniors really deserve a winning season," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said. "It would be great for them to go out that way."

Senior quarterback Kevin Ballatore, in fact, doesn't even want to settle for a 6-5 record, even though that would mark Southeast's first season of better than .500 since 2002.

"We really want to go 7-4," said Ballatore following Saturday's 24-17 triumph at Murray State. "We need to win the rest of our games and it won't be easy, but we're capable of doing it."

Added senior defensive tackle Jeff Steemer, "A winning season is what we really want. It would be great for everybody, especially all the seniors."

Among Southeast's final three games, two are against the teams currently tied for first place in the OVC.

After playing Tennessee-Martin, the Redhawks visit Tennessee State (5-3, 4-0) on Nov. 11 and finish at home against Tennessee Tech (2-6, 2-3) on Nov. 18.

Tennessee-Martin and Tennessee State have been by far the biggest surprises in the conference after both were picked to finish in the lower part of the standings.

Tennessee-Martin has climbed to No. 10 in the national Division I-AA rankings after Saturday's 15-9 home victory over defending OVC champion Eastern Illinois.

The Skyhawks, who have won seven straight games, had never been nationally ranked as a Division I-AA program before this season. They feature the OVC's top-ranked defense and figure to pose a huge challenge for Southeast's run-oriented offense.

"They're solid. They're just a bunch of good football players is how we classify it," Samuel said. "You're looking at a nationally ranked team coming to town. It should be exciting."

Last year Southeast held a 21-3 halftime lead at Tennessee-Martin, but the Skyhawks rallied to win 24-21.

Noteworthy

* Sophomore tailback Tim Holloman has been officially credited with 212 yards rushing against Murray State, instead of the 188 that he had originally been given. It marks Holloman's career-high total.

* Senior defensive end Edgar Jones continues to rank as the national Division I-AA leader in quarterback sacks with 11. He has had at least one sack in seven of Southeast's eight games. Jones is also second nationally in tackles for loss with 14.5. He leads the OVC in both categories.

* Senior All-American punter David Simonhoff is second nationally with an average of 45.3 yards. Buck Ackley of Southern leads the nation at 46 yards per punt. Simonhoff leads the OVC.

* Junior linebacker Adam Casper, whose 72 tackles are 21 more than anybody else on the team, is 45th nationally in tackles.

* Freshman kickoff specialist Doug Spada leads the OVC in touchbacks with 12. Nobody else has more than eight.