UPDATE: SEMO football being tested by weather, rival

Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz is bundled up during a recent practice at Houck Stadium.

Tony Capobianco ~ Tcapobianco@semoball.com

With six-plus inches of snow already on the ground and a possibility of more coming throughout this week, seventh-year Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz is lamenting his team’s situation as it prepares (or doesn’t) for its very unusual 2021 season-opening game on Sunday. Though he isn’t feeling TOO sorry for himself.

“We haven’t traditionally prepared like we normally would,” Matukewicz said. “But that is the world we live in.”

The No. 23-ranked Redhawks were scheduled to host Murray State Sunday at 2 p.m. at Houck Stadium, however, due to the weather, the game has been rescheduled for March 7.

“There is a layer of ice on the turf, with snow on top of it,” Matukewicz explained of Houck Stadium, “and you can’t clean the field.

“There are a lot of issues we’re dealing with.”

The game will be one of seven Ohio Valley Conference games that SEMO will play this spring.

The Redhawks had a pair of bye weeks built into its schedule, so this game will fill one of those.

The snow has created a challenge this week, however, Southeast Missouri being engulfed by a lingering and frigid air mass for the past couple of weeks has been just as tiresome to deal with.

“We’ve had to use the (Cape Girardeau SportsPlex) twice,” Matukewicz said. “The biggest concern is that we have to be able to do conditioning.”

The SportsPlex has an indoor soccer field that the Redhawks have utilized and Matukewicz said his team could get work done in there. However, neither SEMO or Murray State have been able to practice this week at all.

“We can go in a gym and run around or run a running play or something,” Matukewicz explained, “but the real problem is that our conditioning is affected.”

In 2019, SEMO rode its superior conditioning to an Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship.

Half of the Redhawks’ 12 regular-season games were decided by one score or less, with SEMO winning five of those.

An icy Mississippi River is seen Tuesday at Cape Girardeau. (Southeast Missourian)

“One (reason for that success) is you have to be in the best shape,” Matukewicz said, “because that is where it is magnified. After you have played 60 plays, let’s find out where you are.”

Heading into its lone game of 2020 (a road loss at Southern Illinois), SEMO’s lack of preparation and conditioning was evident at the game’s most critical point.

Due to COVID pause situations, the Redhawks had just nine practices leading up to that October game.

“When we played SIU in 2019,” Matukewicz explained, “we had 45 practices, plus spring football. To not be a joke out there was actually pretty amazing.”

SEMO led early in the fourth quarter and was still tied as the clock neared zero. However, the Salukis were able to drive 53 yards in the final 1:23 and kick the game-winning field goal.

“If it is a tight game,” Matukewicz said, “obviously it is going to be won or lost in the fourth quarter. And the best-conditioned team is going to have the best chance.”

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Matukewicz did state Tuesday that he feels his team is much better prepared for this spring than it was against SIU.

“For sure,” Matukewicz said. “I feel really good about our skill-building. The kids have developed skills and their fundamentals are pretty solid.”

The forecast for Sunday is a balmy 38 degrees with a 63 percent chance of rain. However, it isn’t expected to be warm enough, quickly enough, to make an impact on the Houck Stadium turf.

“We haven’t had any practices,” Matukewicz said, ‘and we won’t be. And then you go out and play a game and some guys get injured, that just isn’t right.”

Tough test

The Racers will come to town with a new coach, but a familiar face.

Former Eastern Kentucky coach Dean Hood was hired in December 2019 and he has a history of success against SEMO.

“SEMO and Murray, historically, has been a fourth-quarter game, an overtime (type) game,” Matukewicz said. “It is a rivalry game. You can throw the spread out the window and see who is going to make plays in the end.”

Hood was 7-1 against SEMO in his eight seasons leading the Colonels’ program. He only had one losing season during that stretch and that was the 2009 season (his second year in Richmond) and his team finished 5-6.

“Dean Hood is 7-1 against the Redhawks,” Matukewicz said. “I’m like 0 for 7,500 versus him. This would be a huge accomplishment if we could beat them because of how much respect we have for him and his program.”