College Sports

Few Division I-FCS wide receivers have made as much noise this season as SEMO senior Dorian Anderson. A towering 6-foot-7, 200-pounder, Anderson had a quiet debut year at SEMO in 2023, catching just 14 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown in 10 games. But Redhawk fans only saw bits and pieces of what he could do last season...

COLUMBIA – Missouri running back Nate Noel was not a hot commodity during the transfer portal cycle this past offseason. Despite having quality production at a Group of Five program (3,074 rushing yards in three seasons), Noel, an Appalachian State transfer, was rated as just a three-star transfer recruit and the No. 34 overall transfer running back in the nation according to 247 Sports...

COLUMBIA – After two consecutive shutout victories, No. 6 Missouri faced its first ranked opponent of the season and escaped with a 27-21 victory over No. 24 Boston College on Saturday, Sept. 14 at Memorial Stadium. It was not a flawless performance, but the triumph should boost the Tigers' early-season stock and reaffirm the their top 10 ranking. ...

I have lived all over America and have been around a handful of college towns and universities, from those I attended, the football games I covered, or those my family has been involved in. I had never seen a university president so beloved by the students before I started covering Southeast Missouri State athletics...

Every week this season, a new offensive hero emerges for Southeast Missouri State. First, it was freshman running back Peyton Brown, and then it was senior wide receiver Dorian Anderson. Most recently, it was Mitchell Sellers, who hauled in 60 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-42 double overtime win over UT Martin after being held without a reception through the first three quarters...

SEMO Schedule out After a long wait, the non-conference portion of the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball schedule has been released. The road schedule is highlighted by the Redhawks' trip to Nashville to face a Vanderbilt team 9-23 season (similar to SEMO's 9-22 record in numbers only) and a new coaching era...

In case of emergency, break glass and call 33. Facing a two-score deficit in the fourth quarter, Southeast Missouri State called on receiver Mitchell Sellers and threw him the ball six times for 60 yards and three touchdowns, all career highs, to lead the Redhawks to a 45-42 double-overtime win over UT Martin on Saturday, Sept. 7, at Houck Field...

SEMO quarterback Paxton DeLaurent has played in 37 games at the collegiate level – none compared to what he experienced at Houck Stadium on Saturday night. When asked in a postgame interview if it was the craziest game he has ever been a part of, the senior nodded his head and gave the most assuring “yes” one could imagine...

The television ratings for the FCS Kickoff matchup between Southeast Missouri State and North Alabama were recently released by Sports Media Watch, showing that 672,000 people viewed the Redhawks' debut on the "Mothership". The last time the Redhawks were on national television was their 2022 FCS Playoffs appearance at Montana on ESPN2...

As a cornerback for Murray State, Justus Johnson went two full seasons without an interception. In his first two games at Southeast Missouri State, he has two. Each one is crucial in maintaining defensive momentum at North Alabama and keeping the game close at New Mexico State...

It's a long-standing tradition in college football. Really all college sports, but football especially. The big power conference programs fit their preseason into their regular season by paying smaller schools from the lower FBS conferences or even the FCS, a lower subdivision of Division I football, to come to their stadium and get sacrificed at the altar of the Big House in front of thousands of fans...

It took two weeks for the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks receivers to establish themselves as reliable targets for quarterback Paxton DeLaurent. Dorian Anderson has been the leading receiver for the Redhawks in each of the first two games. He hauled in 71 yards against North Alabama and 115 yards with a touchdown against New Mexico State. He said his breakout game showed that the hard work he put in from the spring to summer and fall camps has paid off...

Three Rivers College head women’s basketball coach Alex Wiggs might have had cause for concern when assistant coach Caleb Livingston departed for a job at a Division school last month. He needn’t have worried. Joining TRC’s women’s coaching staff is Tyrie Thomas, who played Division I men’s basketball at Missouri State University in Springfield...

Mizzou's Connor Tollison eyes SEC glory and a playoff berth in 2024. With a seasoned offensive line and star QB Brady Cook, the Tigers aim to build on last year's success. How far can this team go?

Under no circumstances should a team in the FBS lose to a team in the FCS. The FBS schools are bigger, more talented, and have so much money that they pay these small schools to come to their stadiums and get sacrificed at the altar of the Big House in front of hundreds of fans...

On a smoldering hot day on the pitch, the SEMO women’s soccer team fell to Missouri Valley Conference member the Indiana State Sycamores by a score of 3-0 on Sunday at Houck Stadium. SEMO’s record against Larry Bird’s alma mater was three wins to no losses and a draw before the match...

LAS CRUCES – SEMO and New Mexico State was billed as a defensive slugfest and those two units delivered on Saturday night at Aggie Memorial Stadium in Las Cruces, New Mexico. But after leading the entire game, a late gamble gutted the Redhawks’ chances of knocking off their FBS foe and the Aggies capitalized off the misfortunes to sneak away with a 23-16 victory...

The Southeast Missouri State cross country team hosted their only home meet of the season on Friday, Aug. 30 at the Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau. The men won the event while the women finished fourth behind Missouri State, Southern Illinois, and Murray State. Here are three takeaways from the annual season opener at Osage.

Not many football players at Southeast Missouri State get to make their Redhawk debut on a bigger stage than the FCS Kickoff on ESPN. Linebacker Jared Pedraza came in after starting middle linebacker Mali Walton was ejected due to a targeting penalty. He played a key role defensively in the Redhawks shutting down North Alabama in the second half and ultimately winning 37-14 on Aug. 24, in Montgomery, Alabama...

There is a lot of new on the defensive side of the ball for No. 11 Missouri this season. A new defensive coordinator. An almost entirely new defensive front. Three new starting defensive backs. To many coaches at the FBS level, plugging that many holes in a single offseason is a constant uphill climb. To fifth-year head coach Eli Drinkwitz, his new group is full of unwavering potential...

The Southeast Missouri State cross-country season kicks off with the Redhawks Invite, on August 30th. The race is free and open to the public at the Osage Centre Fields. The men will run the 5k at 6:15 p.m., followed by the women's 5k at 6:45 p.m.  There's plenty to look forward to from the Redhawks this season. ...

When Southeast Missouri State alum Ryan Flournoy was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round of the NFL Draft on April 27, he received a phone call from owner Jerry Jones himself, telling the Redhawk, "I’m proud to call you a Dallas Cowboy.”...

Payton Brown turned heads when he first arrived at SEMO. A Hillsboro High School product, Brown was a first-team All-State running back who helped lead the Hawks to the Class 4 state finals as a senior. When he showed up in Cape Girardeau as an 18-year-old early enrollee in January, the Redhawks coaches saw more than a true freshman...

There is only get one chance at a first impression. In the 120 years of college football at Southeast Missouri State, the Redhawks have never been featured on ESPN. The World Wide Leader gave them that rare opportunity by pairing the Redhawks with the North Alabama Lions in the FCS Kickoff. SEMO made quite the first impression by crushing UNA 37-15 on Saturday, August 24, at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama...

Most college football teams with a senior quarterback enter the new season feeling that they will go as far as he will take them. Well, what happens when said senior QB goes down within the first half of the first game of the season? Halfway through the second quarter of the FCS Kickoff matchup between SEMO and North Alabama, Redhawks quarterback Paxton DeLaurent kept the ball and carried it 15 yards before a collision with Jahbari Hill sent him flying until he landed on his shoulder...

Despite having a disappointing 4-7 record last year, Southeast Missouri State was picked to finish in third place in the Big South-OVC Association Preseason Poll. It was a pleasant surprise to the Redhawks, especially head coach Tom Matukewicz. “I was shocked. I would’ve voted myself 10th (out of 9 teams),” Matukewicz said. “I can’t watch the film, it looks so bad. Fundamentally, stupid penalties, it made my eyes bleed.”...

Unlike the previous two seasons, Southeast Missouri State will not start the 2024 football season as the punching bags to the Big 12. Instead, the Redhawks will have the opportunity to make a profound first impression, when they tangle with the Lions of North Alabama in the FCS Kickoff in front of nation-wide ESPN television audience at 6 p.m., on Saturday, Aug. 24, at the century-old Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama...

The SEMO women’s soccer team dropped their second in a row with a 1-0 loss to cross-river rivals Southern Illinois on Thursday at Houck Stadium. Both teams had equal chances to score, with four corner kicks and three shots on goal apiece, but the Salukis managed to find the net...

There is a lot of optimism in the Southeast Missouri State volleyball team continuing to contend for a conference championship in its 50th season as a program. And for good reason. The Redhawks have been picked to win the Ohio Valley Conference in 2024 by a vote of the league’s head coaches and communication directors on Thursday, August 22...

If positive momentum helps him at all, as he embarks on the next chapter of his athletic journey, then former Oran High School standout pitcher Kolten Payne should be alright this fall, as he throws for Mineral Area Community College. “Kolten is a bulldog and we’re going to ride him,” veteran Southeast Tropics manager Dustin Schwartz said recently of his top arm.

Ricky Coon was sleeping in bed at 7 a.m. on a cold winter Saturday in December of 2013 when he got the phone call. After recently being hired as an assistant football coach at Coffeyville Community College and moving his family into their new home in Kansas a day before, Coon was contacted by SEMO head football coach Tom Matukewicz to discuss a recent job opening on his staff...

From a young age, Cayla Koerner knew where she wanted to play soccer at the collegiate level. Flash forward to 2024 and the SEMO junior is scoring goals on the very same field that Chuck Koerner, her grandfather, was catching football passes on fifty-eight years ago...