CHARLESTON, Ill. - Bradley Dewberry intercepted Jesse Hosket's pass at the 1-yard line with 23 seconds left and Eastern Illinois (2-2, 1-0) hung on for a 19-16 win over Southeast Missouri (0-4, 0-1) Saturday night in the teams' Ohio Valley Conference opener at O'Brien Field.

SEMO converted two big fourth down plays to get into field goal range on its final drive of the game. On fourth-and-3 at the Redhawks 37-yard line, Hosket scrambled out of the pocket and completed a 9-yard pass to Trevon Billington for a first down. 

Five plays later, the Redhawks faced a fourth-and-2 at the EIU 46 when Hosket rolled to his right and hooked up with Billington again, this time for 24 yards. That play ended at the Panthers 22-yard line. A 6-yard carry by Marquis Terry got the ball to the 16-yard line before Hosket threw his second pick of the night.

SEMO again had a slow start offensively, but battled in the second half.

EIU, which entered the game second-to-last in the OVC in rushing with 50 yards per contest, surpassed that mark when it used 56 yards on 11 carries to key a 17-play, 87-yard opening drive.
 
In his first career start, redshirt-freshman quarterback Scott Gilkey completed 3-of-6 passes for 31 yards, ran for another 21 and capped the march with a 1-yard touchdown run putting the Panthers ahead, 6-0, with 7:48 left to play in the first quarter.
 
EIU took over on downs at its own 17-yard line following a SEMO punt and used another long drive to stretch its lead. This time, the Panthers covered 83 yards in 13 plays. Gilkey polished off the drive with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Alexander Hollins. Nick Wilson's second-straight missed PAT kept the score at 12-0 with 6:25 to go in the second quarter.
 
A 29-yard pass from Hosket to Zack Smith on third-and-8 moved SEMO to the Panthers 18-yard line with 10 seconds remaining in the first half. Shortly after a Redhawks timeout, Hosket was intercepted by Mark Williams as EIU remained ahead by 12 at the half.
 
EIU had more rushing yards (154) than SEMO had total yards (125) in the first half. The Redhawks picked up just 35 yards on the ground and 90 through the air.
 
SEMO got on the board with a 4-yard touchdown run by Terry in the third quarter. Terry, who scored a rushing touchdown in three-straight games, completed the Redhawks longest drive of the season consisting of seven plays and 97 yards.
 
Gilkey fumbled the snap and Aaron Gooch recovered in EIU's end zone resulting in a safety and SEMO pulled to within three (12-9) with 44 seconds left in the third quarter.
 
EIU and SEMO then exchanged touchdowns in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter.
 
Gilkey found a wide open Hollins for a 38-yard strike to make it a two-score game, 19-9, at the 11:19 mark.
 
On the ensuing kickoff, Cameron Sanders broke free for a 93-yard touchdown. Sanders returned a kickoff for a touchdown for the third time in his career, slicing the Panthers lead to 19-16 just 13 seconds later.

Kristian Wilkerson caught seven passes for a career-high 134 yards, while Smith and Billington followed with 55 and 46 receiving yards, respectively. For Wilkerson, it was the third 100-yard game as he went over 1,000 career receiving yards.

Terry finished with 68 yards on 20 carries and Hosket threw for 249 yards on 22-of-43 passes. Hosket surpassed 3,000 passing yards in his SEMO career.

SEMO tallied a season-high 355 total yards.

Gilkey ran for 98 yards and a touchdown and threw for 142 yards and two TDs to lead EIU. Hollins added seven catches for 118 yards and two scores.

Defensively, Kendall Donnerson led SEMO with a career-high 12 tackles, including one for loss. Zach Hall followed with nine stops. The Redhawks matched a season-best three sacks as well.

SEMO returns home to host Eastern Kentucky during Family Weekend on Sept. 30. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m., CT, at Houck Field.