Southeast Football

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – With just over four minutes remaining and trailing 28-24 in its football game Saturday at Austin Peay, Southeast Missouri State faced a critical fourth down that essentially would determine whether it had any chance to win the game or not.

There are just three football teams that are unbeaten within Ohio Valley Conference play at this early juncture and two of them meet today at Austin Peay (2 p.m.) when the Governors host Southeast Missouri State. Austin Peay (3-2, 1-0) is coming off a bye week after beating No. 11-ranked Jacksonville State 52-33, while the No. 20-ranked Redhawks (3-2, 1-0) beat Tennessee Tech 43-37 in double overtime Saturday...

"We are fired up to announce this year's class. The future is bright!”

There are only three remaining unbeaten football teams in the Ohio Valley Conference in terms of league play and two of them will meet Saturday when No. 20 Southeast Missouri State travels to Austin Peay at 2 p.m.

There were several things that Southeast Missouri State football fans would have felt assured of entering the 2019 season.

Sixth-year Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz sat down for his postgame press conference following the Redhawks’ thrilling 43-37 double-overtime win over Tennessee Tech Saturday at Houck Stadium and the first thing he did was set the tone for the session before anyone had even asked a question.

The No. 23-ranked Southeast Missouri State football team (2-2) opens its Ohio Valley Conference portion of the season Saturday at 6 p.m. against Tennessee Tech (4-1, 1-0 OVC) at Houck Stadium.

If you see students in the far bleachers wearing brightly colored shirts for Saturday's Southeast-Tennessee Tech football game, give Aidan Gremminger and Sophie Machen credit. The Southeast freshmen have been hired by the university athletics department to fire up their peers for football...

When the Southeast Missouri State football squad runs onto the Houck Stadium turf Saturday at 6 p.m. to open the Ohio Valley Conference portion of its season, there will be pulsating music, fireworks, and thousands of Redhawk fans screaming in its support.

The numbers are in complete contrast when studying what Tennessee Tech quarterback Bailey Fisher has done and how the Southeast Missouri State defense has performed against the pass this season.

The problem that Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz has with the performance of his special teams so far this year has been that they aren’t, well, special.

When a football team plays Pikeville one week and Georgia the next, as Murray State recently did, it is difficult to assess just how good that team is statistically.

Based on the mass of Semoball.com traffic that clicked on the story of former Hayti athletic star Ivory Winters transferring from the Big 10 Conference (Indiana University) to Southeast Missouri State a few weeks ago, there are a lot of people curious as to when he’ll be darting onto the field turf at Houck Stadium.

Southeast Missouri State redshirt junior defensive back Bydarrius Knighten has been a college athlete long enough to know how to handle time off when he is blessed enough to receive it.

When Nathan King looked at the 2019 West Virginia State University football schedule this past spring, tears came to his eyes.

A year ago, the Southeast Missouri State football team generated turnovers better than any other in the country. That has not been the case this season, so it was a sad irony Saturday that on a play in which the Redhawk defense did force a turnover, it proved very costly from a personnel standpoint.

No one within the Southeast Missouri State football program is saying that the running back rotation is a matter of saving the best for last, but that is precisely what the strategy appears to be statistically.

West Virginia State head coach John Pennington needed a favor. He called his distant cousin, two-time National Football League Comeback Player of the Year Chad Pennington, and leaned a bit on the family connection.

Southeast Missouri State never before has played West Virginia State University. Southeast (1-2, 0-0 OVC) kicks off against WVSU (2-0, 2-0 Mountain East Conference) at 1 p.m. at Houck Stadium.

Much of the euphoria surrounding the Southeast Missouri State football program since its opening-night rout of rival Southern Illinois has faded in the 23 days and two losses that have transpired since.

Southeast Missouri State special teams coach Matt Martin could probably survive without long snapper Camden Boyle being on the Redhawks’ roster, but he doesn’t want to think about that scenario.

The sign that a Southeast Missouri State football player is being disciplined is when they are forced to wear a yellow jersey during practices that say “I let my teammates down.”

There weren’t a lot of positive aspects for the Southeast Missouri State football coaches to take from the recent 50-0 loss at Missouri, but immediately following the game, Redhawk coach Tom Matukewicz was fairly pleased with the play of his tight end position, which had been besieged by injuries.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Any post-game analysis of the Southeast Missouri State football game at Missouri Saturday needs to be kept in perspective.

The names of the Southeast Missouri State linebackers aren’t going to be altered much with the season-ending loss of veteran inside ‘backer Devin Alexander (shoulder injury).

Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz has been in this business long enough to know what is in store for his team Saturday at Missouri. “They are going to be ready to play us and it is going to be a hard task,” Matukewicz said.

Just being a fifth-year senior in the Southeast Missouri State football program allows Eric Williams to possess the knowledge to pass on to his younger teammates. However, he isn't just able to talk about leadership in the locker room, he has also shown it over the past nine months...

Southeast Missouri State fifth-year senior Bud Hilburn made the above statement this summer just a few days before his final season as a football player got underway and those words have proven to be extremely prophetic.

BOZEMAN, Mont. — The range of emotions experienced by the Southeast Missouri State football travel party, not just the Redhawk players, was wide-ranging Saturday. The day began with a jaw-dropping look at Montana State University’s magnificent Bobcat Stadium, which left everyone with Cape Girardeau ties daydreaming of what could be if Houck Stadium received the funding that Montana State had committed to its facility.

BOZEMAN, Mont. – The boarding of the flight for the Southeast Missouri State football travel party out of Cape Girardeau Regional Airport to Bozeman was an early indication that this trip might not go as planned.

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Southeast Missouri State kicker Kendrick Tiller had been on the turf at Montana State University’s Bobcat Stadium Saturday for one play, an earlier extra point when he was summoned to perform a feat he had never before executed as a Redhawk.

BOZEMAN, Mont. — There was no secret as to what Montana State wanted to do with the football against Southeast Missouri State Saturday. The Bobcats love to run the ball and then run it some more. And they were able to do exactly what they wanted as they pounded the Redhawks 38-17 in front of a packed-in crowd of 19,497 fans.

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Last week, sixth-year Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz joked that he wanted to turn the Redhawks’ upcoming road trip to Montana State into a fishing expedition.

BOZEMAN, Mont. – For those that thought the preparation for the Southeast Missouri State road trip to Montana State began once the Redhawks were finished playing their opener against Southern Illinois, you would be incorrect. Terribly incorrect.

The Southeast Missouri State football program continues to build respectability with each passing week.

If Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz was happy following his team’s recent rout of rival Southern Illinois, then you can imagine how he felt Wednesday when former Hayti football standout Ivory Winters joined the Redhawk program.

The first of the 2019 FCS Playoff games won’t be played for 13 weeks, but Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz said his team has one on its schedule this Saturday. Sort of. The No. 12-ranked Redhawks (1-0) will visit No. 13 Montana State (0-1) Saturday at 7 p.m. (Central time) and Matukewicz spoke Tuesday of the magnitude of the game...

The Southern Illinois scouting report of Southeast Missouri State probably didn’t have a tremendous amount of detail as it pertained to Redhawk wide receiver Aaron Alston. The sophomore had been a force on special teams last year, but as a receiver, he had played in the shadow of All-Ohio Valley Conference pass-catcher Kristian Wilkerson...

The Wheel remains in Cape Girardeau. For the second year of the "War for the Wheel" rivalry, Southeast Missouri State bested Southern Illinois-Carbondale Thursday night, 44-26 at Houck Stadium. A year ago, Southeast came from behind in the game's final seconds to beat the Salukis. Thursday night, the Redhawks had the game well in hand by the end of the third quarter...

Thursday was a night to shine for a special group of Southeast Missouri State students. Over 8,000 people flooded into Houck Stadium to watch the Redhawk football program pound unmercifully its rival, Southern Illinois, 44-26 in the annual "War for the wheel" game. And man did those students ever deserve praise for their effort and energy...

Southeast Missouri State hosts rival Southern Illinois tonight at Houck Stadium (6:30 p.m.) in the season-opening game for both programs.

How do you top the most successful football season in program history? Well, not doing so isn’t an option for any coach or player within the Southeast Missouri State locker room in 2019. “The relationships that we have built,” sixth-year coach Tom Matukewicz said, “that will help us to withstand any adversity. But that is the thing that we don’t know yet.”...

Rust Communications regional sports editor Tom Davis sat for a chat with Southeast Missouri State All-American linebacker Zach Hall...

It would be helpful for my career if the citizenry throughout this region believed that athletics were a matter of life or death or somewhat close to being such. However, that simply isn’t the case, nor should it be.

There is nothing sexy in writing about the play of an offensive line. If you want to read about scintillating aspects of the sport of football, particularly as it pertains to Southeast Missouri State, then it would involve fifth-year quarterback Daniel Santacaterina playing pass-and-catch with classmate Kristian Wilkerson.

The Southeast Missouri State football squad is going to take the field Thursday for its season-opening game against Southern Illinois at Houck Stadium (6:30 p.m.) with four new starters among its five offensive linemen.

When the Southeast Missouri State football team hosts Southern Illinois in its season-opening game Thursday at Houck Stadium (6:30 p.m.), a lot of people will be watching senior All-American linebacker Zach Hall, as he flies all over the turf making plays. But almost no one can truly comprehend what Hall is thinking and doing during that time.

Southeast Missouri State will take the field in its season-opening game against Southern Illinois Thursday (6:30 p.m. at Houck Stadium) as the underdog.

If Southeast Missouri State fifth-year quarterback Daniel Santacaterina is going to be able to orchestrate another victory over rival Southern Illinois in the Redhawks’ season-opening game, he’s going to do it with his hands tied.

With his sixth season at the helm of Southeast Missouri State football about to begin, the word "alignment" is on the mind of head coach Tom Matukewicz. "From the Board of Regents, to the president and the administration, the student body, the community, and right down to our program, it seems as if we're as aligned as we've ever been," Matukewicz said. "Every person who picks up a brick makes the load lighter."...