CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (0-3) established momentum early, but couldn't overcome 13 penalties in a 35-17 loss to longtime rival Southern Illinois (2-0) Saturday night in front of a crowd of 7,025 at Houck Field.
 
SEMO lost a total of 143 as a result of its miscues.
 
"We made a lot of mistakes. If you try to find a silver lining, you can see that we're playing better offense. Everytime we had momentum, we shot ourselves in the foot and it snowballed on us," said Redhawks head coach Tom Matukewicz.
 
On the first play from scrimmage, Daquan Isom fumbled the ball when he was hit by Kendall Donnerson. Rico McWilliams recovered at the SIU 35-yard line.
 
Nicholas Litang's 30-yard field goal capped a 7-play, 29-yard drive giving SEMO an early 3-0 lead with 12:07 left to play in the first quarter.
 
SIU answered with three-straight touchdowns, consisting of a 5-yard pass from Sam Straub to Raphael Leonard, a 2-yard run by Jonathan Mixon and a 38-yard pass from Straub to Darrell James, pulling ahead, 21-3.
 
A roughing the snapper penalty on a fourth-and-9 kept the Salukis drive alive that led to Leonard's TD reception.
 
Marquis Terry scored on a 3-yard run at the end of a 12-play, 65-yard drive before SIU held a 28-10 advantage at halftime. The Salukis scored 21 second quarter points prior to the intermission.
 
Each team scored once in the second half with Straub hooking up with Jacob Varble on a 6-yard pass and Jesse Hosket completing a 12-yard pass to Zack Smith. Smith's first career touchdown marked the end of the scoring with 13:19 remaining the in fourth quarter.
 
Straub completed 13-of-29 for 206 yards and four touchdowns to lead SIU. James followed with a game-high six catches for 119 yards and two TDs.
 
The Salukis outgained the Redhawks, 305-278.
 
Hosket threw for 166 yards and a touchdown on 20-of-38 passes. He also threw two interceptions and was sacked three times.
 
Terry ran for a game-high 90 yards on 21 carries. Trevon Billington added six receptions for 81 yards and Cameron Sanders returned four kickoffs for 133.
 
Defensively, Omar Pierre-Louis recorded a career-high eight tackles and Bydarrius Knighten followed close behind with seven for the Redhawks.
 
Cody Crider and Ryan Neal each had eight tackles to pave the way for SIU.
 
SEMO opens Ohio Valley Conference play at Eastern Illinois on Sept. 23.