CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (3-6, 3-3) held #2 Jacksonville State (8-1, 5-0) to season-lows in rushing yards, total yards and did not allow a point in the second half during a 17-10 loss Saturday afternoon at Houck Stadium.
 
SEMO put together another nice defensive performance and held the Ohio Valley Conference's top scoring offense to its second-lowest point total of the season.
 
"I'm not going to walk out of here hanging my head," said SEMO head coach Tom Matukewicz. "I was proud of the way our defense responded and our linebackers did a nice job tackling. Jacksonville State plays with an intimidating style and our team didn't back down."
 
In a chippy game filled with a combined 25 penalties for 214 yards, JSU was able to hold off the Redhawks in the end to claim its 22^nd consecutive conference victory.
 
Josh Barge scored the game's first touchdown on a 20-yard pas from Eli Jenkins at the end of an 11-play, 81-yard drive with 1:44 left to play in the first quarter.
 
Cameron Sanders ran the ensuing kickoff back 83 yards for a touchdown, but the play was negated due to a holding penalty by the Redhawks.
 
JSU later used a 45-yard field goal by Cade Stinnett and an 11-yard touchdown pass from Bryant Horn to Josh Clemons to take a 17-0 halftime lead.
 
SEMO got on the board when Jesse Hosket tossed a 49-yard touchdown pass to Kristian Wilkerson with 7:08 remaining in the third quarter. The play polished off an eight-play drive that covered 73 yards in 3:11.
 
The Redhawks later had the ball at JSU's 47-yard line in the fourth quarter when a low snap bounced off the turf and scooted by Hosket. SEMO recovered, but lost 25 yards on the mishap. After another loss, this time of four yards, the Redhawks faced a third-and-39.
 
On the next play, Hosket's underthrown pass was intended for Wilkerson downfield when a flag was thrown. The official initially ruled pass interference, but later waved the penalty ruling the pass was uncatchable. SEMO then punted the ball away.
 
During JSU's next drive, two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties by SEMO put the ball at the Redhawks 27-yard line. Two plays later, Stinnett attempted a 36-yard field goal, but Fernando Whigham blocked the kick.
 
On its final drive of the game, SEMO managed to get all the way to JSU's 7-yard line with the help of a 44-yard completion from Hosket to Wilkerson on the eighth play of that possession. The Redhawks, however, settled for a 23-yard field goal by Ryan McCrum with 24 seconds on the clock.
 
McCrum's onside kick fell into the arms of Dalton Campbell who appeared to bobble the ball while his knee was on the ground. Redhawk linebacker Devin Alexander took the ball from Campbell, but Campbell was later ruled down on the play.
 
JSU ran out the last 19 seconds of the game to secure the win.
 
Offensively, the Gamecocks finished with 151 rushing yards and 350 yards of total offense. SEMO had 206 total yards and did not gain a yard on the ground. It was the Redhawks third-lowest rushing yardage in a game during their Football Championship Subdivision era.
 
"It was unfortunate we weren't able to establish the run game more and there were a bunch of penalties," commented Matukewicz.
 
Jenkins completed 10-of-19 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown, and Horn ran for a game-high 55 yards and threw a touchdown pass to lead JSU. Barge added a game-high eight catches for 145 yards and a score.
 
Hosket threw for 206 yards and a touchdown on 14-of-39 passes. As a result, Hosket reached 2,000 passing yards this season, becoming the second SEMO quarterback to throw for 2,000 yards in three years.
 
Freshman linebacker Zach Hall led SEMO's defense with 10 tackles in his first career start. Chad Meredith, Eriq Moore (7) and Roper Garrett (7) followed with eight and seven tackles, respectively. As a unit, the Redhawks forced two fumbles and contributed six tackles for a loss of 18 yards, as well.
 
JSU, the league-leader in penalties, was penalized 16 times for 138 yards.
 
The Redhawks drew a crowd of 6,839 for their Homecoming game, their second-largest home attendance of the season.
 
SEMO travels to UT Martin on Nov. 12.