WR Paul McRoberts relishes breaking Southeast Missouri State football record

Senior Paul McRoberts leapt up behind an Austin Peay defender and snagged a pass from Dante Vandeven with 7 minutes, 34 seconds remaining in the third quarter of the Southeast Missouri State football team's win over Austin Peay.

McRoberts' feet stayed just in bounds as he tumbled out the back of the end zone and extended the Redhawks' lead. The 2-yard touchdown also broke the school's all-time record for career receiving touchdowns.

His teammates mobbed him after he caught his 27th, which pushed him past former Southeast player and assistant coach Willie Ponder, who had 26 in his two-year career from 2001-02.

"I thought I would feel amazing, but really there's no feeling," McRoberts said. "I feel like it's accomplished and over with. It's a great deal to everyone."

McRoberts, who tries not to talk too much about his individual accomplishments, didn't remain completely unfazed by this one.

"I'm proud of myself, and I'm proud of this team. So I'll give myself a little credit," McRoberts said with a smile. "It feels good."

The pass came from true freshman quarterback Dante Vandeven, who didn't even realize McRoberts had broken the record until he checked Twitter following the team's 44-15 win.

"Before the play, I kind of went up and said, 'Paul, I'm going to throw you this ball,'" Vandeven said with a laugh. "I said, 'I'm going to check you and throw you this ball,' and he's like, 'OK.'"

"So he goes out, gets a pretty good release, goes behind him -- I think he was supposed to go in front of him -- but I waited patiently for Paul to get open," Vandeven continued, feigning annoyance at McRoberts' apparent error. "Then he came wide open out the back."

Vandeven said he felt honored that he got the opportunity to be a part of McRoberts' moment.

"Paul's a great guy," Vandeven said. "It's kind of cool I got to be on this whole experience with him. Four years ago, I was a freshman in high school, and I didn't really know about Paul McRoberts. Now I'm here, and it's nice being able to know his story, what he's all about. I'm really happy to be a part of that for him and great job for him."

McRoberts finished with a team-high 55 yards receiving on seven catches against APSU.

"I'm proud of him. I wish we could talk about Paul all the time," Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz said. "Obviously as a coach, I'll enjoy the memories that Paul has given us more so after the season because we're so focused on getting better, but man, what a great accomplishment by him."

McRoberts now has 2,209 yards receiving in his career at Southeast.

"He really is a team player, and he really does come in and say, 'I'm here for you guys. I'm not here for myself,' and I think that's really commendable," Vandeven said.

Matukewicz saw the improvement he needed to in the offense after being disappointed in last week's win.

Vandeven completed 19 of 28 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns against the Govs. He was sacked twice but didn't turn the ball over. The two sacks negated 12 yards.

"We still took some sacks that we shouldn't have taken and can still get better, which is the whole message," Matukewicz said.

Running back Tremane McCullough had a game-high 150 yards rushing on 19 carries, averaging 7.9 yards per touch.

The Redhawks were 8 of 12 on third-down conversions and 4 of 5 in the red zone. They had 404 yards of offense.

Tight ends Marquette Murdock and Logan Larson also got on the stat sheet.

Murdock, a true freshman, made a one-handed catch for 15 yards and a first down on third-and-11 in the third quarter. Larson caught a pass for 7 yards on the next play.

McCullough then had runs of 10 and 11 yards before McRoberts' record-breaking touchdown.

Larson, a sophomore tight end who played in 12 games and made five starts last season, had two catches -- a 21-yarder and an 18-yarder -- last week in the win against Tennessee Tech.

He's got five catches for 58 yards this season while Murdock has two catches for 25 yards.

"It's that same thing about getting better," Matukewicz said. "Larson's a first-year starter, Murdock's a true freshman. They've been here the whole time. We've been coaching them, and they've just now started to get better. Larson had a good game last game, and so it's that progress that I've been wanting to see on offense. These guys that have been here keep getting better."

Wilson injured

Sophomore nose tackle Joshua Wilson tore his right ACL in the Redhawks' win against Murray State on Oct. 7. The injury was one he is capable of playing on, so he decided to forgo surgery until after the season and returned to the lineup vs. TTU.

Wilson went down with an injury to his left knee during the fourth quarter of Saturday's game at APSU. He was on crutches on the sidelines the remainder of the game but was able to walk around without crutches or assistance after the game.

"I know our team has got tremendous heart," linebacker Roper Garrett said. "We've got guys playing on torn ACLs, like that tells you the type of team we have. I'd put our team up against any team any night, and I love them and that's who I play for every night."