Redhawks Lose to #1 Jacksonville State, 56-28

Saturday, November 14

Jacksonville, Ala.

1:00 PM

Southeast Missouri State University

4-6 , 3-3

Jacksonville State

9-1 , 7-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Southeast Missouri	0	7	7	14	28
Jacksonville State	7	14	21	14	56

Paul McRoberts had a game-high 10 catches against #1 Jacksonville State

Photo by: Dennis Hubbard

11/14/2015 7:55:00 PM | Football

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – No. 1 Jacksonville State (9-1, 7-0) piled up 617 yards of total offense in a 56-28 victory over Southeast Missouri (4-6, 3-3) Saturday afternoon at Burgess-Snow Field.

Troymaine Pope (137) and Christian LeMay (124) each rushed for over 100 yards and two touchdowns, while Eli Jenkins threw for 194 yards and three touchdowns and Josh Barge caught seven passes for 108 yards and two TDs to lead JSU.

The Gamecocks won the Ohio Valley Conference title for the second year in a row and ran their conference winning streak to 16 games, now the longest in the Football Championship Subdivision.

"I thought if we could hold them in the low 30s, we would be in a good ballgame." Said Southeast head coach Tom Matukewicz. "Obviously, we weren't able to do that."

Southeast trailed JSU, 21-7, at halftime before the Gamecocks scored five more touchdowns and tacked on another 335 yards in the final 30 minutes.

JSU put up 35 points in the second half, including 21 in the third quarter.

Tremane McCullough scored on a 7-yard run and the Redhawks got a big boost on special teams when Cameron Sanders ran back a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown with 10:10 left in the fourth quarter. Sanders' kickoff return was the longest in school history.

"I was proud of our special teams," said Matukewicz. "We talked all week about needing to make plays on special teams and we did that."

Darrius Darden-Box then scored his first career touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Dante Vandeven to cap Southeast's scoring.

Southeast marched 62 yards on eight plays during the opening drive of the game. That drive, however, stalled at JSU's 15-yard line when Vandeven fumbled after being sacked by Brandon Bender. Monty Young recovered for the Gamecocks.

The Redhawks tied the game at 7-7 when Vandeven scored on a 3-yard run with 10:36 remaining in the second quarter.

After that, JSU countered with 28 unanswered points to blow the game open.

Pope carried the ball 17 times and averaged 8.1 yards per rush, while LeMay averaged 20.7 yards on six attempts. Both of LeMay's touchdowns were in the fourth quarter, consisting of 42 and 51 yards, respectively.

The Gamecocks finished with 399 rushing yards, the most any time has had against Southeast this season.

Defensively, JSU held the Redhawks to 332 total yards and recorded four sacks and 12 tackles for loss to go along with its takeaway.

Vandeven completed 19-of-39 passes for a career-high 239 yards and a touchdown, and ran for 29 yards and another score on 13 carries.

McCullough had six catches for 104 yards and Paul McRoberts made 10 receptions for 93.

Roper Garrett and Stephon Williams led Southeast's defense with 12 and 10 tackles, respectively. Williams also contributed 1.5 sacks.

Southeast also had two sacks, a fumble recovery and one interception on the day.

The Redhawks end their season when they host UT Martin on Nov. 21. Southeast will honor its 12 seniors prior to kickoff.