OGDEN, Utah – #2 Weber State (10-2) scored 34-straight points after falling behind early in the game to eliminate #20 Southeast Missouri (9-4), 48-23, in the second round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Saturday.
WSU, which won its seventh-straight game, advances to the quarterfinals to face #7 Maine next weekend.
SEMO got on the board first when
Colby Cornett made an excellent catch on a third-and-30 to get the Redhawks a first down at the WSU 2-yard line. Following an incomplete pass,
Daniel Santacaterina hit paydirt on a 2-yard run to put SEMO ahead, 7-0, with 25 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Wildcats started their surge when Jake Constantine threw a game-tying 10-yard touchdown pass to Rashiud Shaheed to complete a 13-play, 64-yard drive with 10:16 left to play in the second quarter.
WSU added 20 more second-quarter points after that.
Keilan Benjamin intercepted a Santacaterina pass at the SEMO 27-yard line. Three plays later, Constantine hooked up with Devon Cooley on a 6-yard touchdown pass.
On fourth-and-10, WSU faked a punt and picked up a first down on an 11-yard completion from Doug Lloyd to Jared Schiess. The extended drive ended in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Constantine to Isiah Jackson pushing the Wildcats lead to 20-7 with under a minute left.
Santacaterina threw another interception, this time to Jordan Preator on SEMO's ensuing possession. The Wildcats capitalized on that turnover with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Constantine to Jackson to take a 27-7 lead at the half.
WSU received the kickoff in the second half and used a 21-yard run by Josh Davis to get into SEMO territory. The 8-play, 66-yard march culminated with a 10-yard touchdown run by Constantine.
SEMO continued to battle and managed to get within 11 following a 4-yard touchdown run by freshman
Zion Custis and a 33-yard fumble return for a TD by
Demarcus Rogers. The Redhawks trailed, 34-23, after those two scores.
Tre Garrett sprung for 48 yards on the first play of WSU's next drive. WSU, facing a fourth-and-Goal at the SEMO 4-yard line, lined up to kick a field goal. Lloyd, however, took the snap and ran into the end zone to make it 41-23 at the 10:00 mark.
Preator picked off Santacaterina for the second time and sprinted 52 yards for a touchdown to polish off WSU's victory.
Santacaterina completed 12-of-30 passes for 110 yards, matched a season-high four interceptions and was sacked four times as SEMO's offense had 268 yards.
Custis led the Redhawks with 62 yards rushing and a touchdown on five carries, while Santacaterina added 44 yards on 15 attempts.
Marquis Terry was limited to only one carry for three yards in the first quarter. Terry did not play the rest of the game due to a knee injury sustained prior to today's contest.
Garrett averaged nearly eight yards (7.9) per carry en route to his game-high 134 yards on 17 touches. Constantine threw for 199 yards and four touchdowns, as well.
The Wildcats collected 409 total yards with an average of 5.7 per play.
