CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Ryan McCrum's 42-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left with 53 seconds left and UT Martin (7-4, 6-2) escaped with a 28-25 victory over Southeast Missouri (4-7, 3-4) Saturday afternoon at Houck Stadium.
 
Southeast trailed, 28-10, before scoring 15 unanswered points to pull to within three.
 
After stopping UTM on a fourth-and-5, the Redhawks started their final drive at their own 15. Dante Vandeven kept the drive alive when he completed an 11-yard pass to Paul McRoberts on fourth down.
 
Vandeven hooked up with McRoberts, this time for 23 yards, to move Southeast to the UTM 34. A 9-yard pass from Vandeven to Tyler Manne got the Redhawks to the 25-yard line and an incomplete pass followed that.
 
Southeast then called timeout before McCrum came on and missed his seventh field goal of the season.
 
"I'm disappointed we lost the game, but we found ways to get it down to one play after falling behind by three scores," said Southeast head coach Tom Matukewicz. "I thought that we were finally able to get the ball down field to Paul and he gave us a big boost."
 
McRoberts, who finished his outstanding college career with 10 catches for 127 yards, scored both of Southeast's touchdowns down the stretch.
 
He scored on a 29-yard reception with 5:45 left in the third quarter and a 6-yard reception with 12:03 remaining in the fourth. Vandeven converted the 2-point conversion when he completed a pass to Logan Larson to make it a 28-25 game.
 
UTM, which was ahead 14-3 at halftime expanded its lead to 28-10 with a pair of third-quarter touchdowns.
 
Jarod Neal threw a 10-yard strike to Caylon Weathers at the 12:15 mark and later threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Rod Wright with 8:53 left to play.
 
McRoberts closed out his Southeast career with 175 receptions for 2,435 yards and 29 touchdowns. Today marked his eighth 100-yard receiving game as a Redhawk.
 
Tremane McCullough ran for 101 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, averaging 7.2 yards per touch. McCullough went over 1,000 yards (1,028) this year, becoming Southeast's first 1,000-yard rusher in a season since Levi Terrell had 1,349 in 2012.
 
Meanwhile, Vandeven completed 21-of-39 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns. He threw three interceptions, as well.
 
Defensively, Roper Garrett paved the way with a game-high 14 tackles, while Marlon Hampton added a career-high 10. Garrett ended the season with a team-high 106 tackles. He is the first Redhawk to get 100 tackles in a season since Blake Peiffer accomplished the feat in 2012.
 
Neal completed 16-of-29 passes for 164 yards and three touchdowns and Trent Garland ran for 138 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries to lead UTM.
 
The Skyhawks outgained Southeast, 411-373, with 247 of their yards on the ground. There were also a combined 18 penalties for 181 yards between the two teams.
 
Southeast, which honored its 12 seniors prior to today's game, ended its 2015 season.