CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (2-3, 1-0) held Murray State (1-4, 0-2) to only one touchdown in a 27-10 victory during its Ohio Valley Conference opener at Houck Stadium Saturday.
 
Southeast's defense dominated a high-powered MSU offense that entered the night averaging 467 total yards. The Redhawks stopped the Racers three times on fourth down and ended three of their drives in the red zone. In the end, that was the difference.
 
"It was won in the red zone," said Southeast head coach Tom Matukewicz. "We had phenomenal defense and knew we had to play well in the red zone. We did that. Murray State's skill is off the charts and we tried to stay in front of them."
 
The Redhawks forced two turnovers, including one on MSU's opening drive of the game.
 
MSU moved the ball all the way to Southeast's 1-yard line before the Redhawks tackled offensive lineman Chris White short of the goal line on consecutive carries. On the next play, KD Humphries completed a pass to Drew Rutland, who fumbled the ball out of bounds inside the front left pylon for a touchback.
 
After MSU came up empty on fourth down again, the Racers put the game's first points on the board.
 
Humphries picked up a first down on a 9-yard run and then threw three-straight completions to quickly get the Racers to the Southeast 22. Three plays later, Roman Clay scored from seven yards out to cap an 8-play, 75-yard march, giving MSU a 7-0 lead with 1:59 left in the first quarter.
 
Southeast scored the next 10 points with a 25-yard field goal by Ryan McCrum and a 24-yard touchdown pass from Dante Vandeven to Paul McRoberts to take a 10-7 halftime lead. McRoberts' touchdown capped a 12-play, 99-yard drive, the Redhawks longest of the season.
 
The Redhawks quickly added to their lead on their first drive of the second half.
 
Tremane McCullough ran for 60 yards on four carries and hit paydirt on a 3-yard run to polish off a nice 8-play, 82-yard drive in 3:36. McCullough's second rushing touchdown of the season extended Southeast's lead to 17-7 with 11:26 left in the third quarter.
 
Connor Mitchell's 21-yard field goal narrowed Southeast's lead to 17-10 at the 5:10 mark, accounting for MSU's only points in the final two quarters.
 
Back-to-back highlight-reel catches by McRoberts led to another touchdown for Southeast with 24 seconds left in the third period. McRoberts bobbled a 44-yard pass from Vandeven downfield and made an outstanding reception as he was hitting the ground.
 
He then went up to grab an 8-yard pass from Vandeven and got one foot down in the back corner of the end zone to push Southeast's lead to 24-10.
 
McCrum's second field goal, this time from 30 yards out, put the finishing touches on the Redhawks 27-10 win.
 
McRoberts, who had only two catches a week ago, finished with a season-high eight for 169 yards and two touchdowns. It was his first multiple touchdown game this year and he fell just four yard shy of his career-high in receiving yards.
 
McCullough, who has rushed for over 100 yards in three-straight games, piled up a game-high 220 yards on 27 carries, averaging 8.1 per rush. He had 146 of his yards in the second half alone, becoming the first Southeast player to rush for over 200 yards in a game since Levi Terrell coincidentally gained 215 at Murray State on Nov. 17, 2012.
 
Vandeven completed 16-of-25 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns en route to earning his first career win as Southeast's starting quarterback.
 
As a team, Southeast tallied a season-high 495 yards of total offense.
 
Defensively, Eriq Moore and Chad Meredith paved the way with 11 and 10 tackles, respectively. Meredith also turned in two tackles for loss and had three quarterback hurries in his big performance.
 
"Our game plan was eye discipline. We had that and it paid off," said Meredith. "The best pass rush is the best pass defense. I thought we did a great job of disrupting what they were trying to do."
 
Humphries threw for 359 yards on 36-of-58 passes, while Jeremy Harness posted a game-high 12 receptions for 117 yards to lead MSU. Clay followed with 148 yards and the Racers only touchdown on 16 attempts.
 
Southeast improved to 8-17 all-time in OVC-openers, starting league play with a win in back-to-back years for the first time in school history.
 
The Redhawks travel to Eastern Illinois on Oct. 10. That game will air live on ESPN3.