NATCHITOCHES, La. – Quarterback Paxton DeLaurent was 13 of 24 for 201 yards with three touchdowns as #16 Southeast Missouri Football (6-1, 2-0 OVC) powered its way to its sixth-straight victory with a 51-16 decision over Northwestern State (3-5, 3-0 Southland) Saturday afternoon at Turpin Stadium. 
 
SEMO ran the ball 54 times for a season best 418 yards in the win. Geno Hess continued to be the bell cow for the Redhawk rushing attack, carrying the ball 17 times for 207 yards and found the endzone on three separate occasions. 
 
The Redhawks defense got a huge play early on the second offensive play for Northwestern State. Defensive back Eric Ivory, Jr. intercepted NSU's Zachary Clement and returned it 11 yards to setup an eventual 54-yard field goal by SEMO's DC Pippin to give SEMO an early 3-0 advantage. 
 
NSU would tie the game on their second possession with a 24-yard field goal from kicker Eddie Godina to knot it at three, midway through the first quarter. 
 
SEMO would regain the lead with another Pippin field goal, this time a 20-yarder to give the Redhawks a 6-3 advantage, and SEMO would never trail again. 
 
Nasim Cairo then recovered a Demons fumble after a Keandre Booker sack to set the Redhawks up at the NSU 29-yard line. 
 
Hess then took the handoff from DeLaurent and scampered into the endzone from 29-yards out to give the Redhawks a 13-3 lead at the 7:11 mark in the opening quarter. 
 
Another Hess rushing touchdown (4 yards, 6:33) and a Pippin 29-yard field goal would give the Redhawks a 23-3 lead after the first 15-minutes. 
 
Pippin was 3-for-3 on field goals Saturday. He also was 3-for-3 on PATs. 
 
Austin Harpenau, Jorge Figueroa, and Clark Curnow also, all made PATs for the Redhawks Saturday. 
 
Shamenski Rucker added 58 yards on the ground for SEMO and Darrell Smith finished with 49 yards. 
 
SEMO would then increase its advantage to 37-3 at the break with a pair of touchdowns by Damoriea Vick and Johnny King.
 
Vick caught a three-yard touchdown reception at 3:09 left in the half before King hauled in a 12-yard touchdown at 1:41 in the second quarter.
 
King turned in five catches for 68 yards with a touchdown.
 
Ryan Flournoy added 85 yards receiving on five receptions. He extended the SEMO lead to 44-3 at 10:24 in the third with a 19-yard touchdown from DeLaurent. 
 
Flournoy has now registered a touchdown in five-straight games.
 
DeLaurent also had 45 rushing yards Saturday. 
 
Hess then scored his third touchdown of the day with 9:02 left in the third quarter to provide SEMO a 51-10 advantage.
 
Northwestern State benefited from two huge plays to cut the Redhawks advantage to 51-16. Clement hit Scooter Adams on an 84-yard touchdown at 10:10 in the third before a 59-yard touchdown reception by Ke'Nard King wrapped the scoring at 8:49 in the third stanza. 
 
SEMO's defense was stout once again, turning the Demons over two times, with one interception and one fumble recovery. 
 
Safety Lawrence Johnson and Jackson, Missouri, native Bryce Norman led the Redhawks with 5 total tackles each on the afternoon to lead the defense for the second-straight week. 
 
Norman was most recently added to the Buck Buchanan Award Watch List on Thursday. 
 
Christian Fuhrman, Dony'e Taylor, Antonio Taylor, and Jacob Morrissey all added four tackles. 
 
Northwestern State's offense was held to just 104 yards on the ground and registered 305 yards through the air. 
 
Clement was 17 for 38 and 305 yards passing, registering a pair of touchdowns and one interception. He also ran 11 times for 53 yards.
 
The Redhawks used special teams to create big sparks for the team, recovering an onside kick and capitalizing on a fake punt. 
 
Will Weidemann took the direct snap from long snapper Jenson Walker and scampered for 22 yards to the NSU 22-yard line to give the Redhawks another scoring opportunity late in the second quarter on 4th and 3.
 
SEMO dominated time of possession, possessing the ball for 38:42 while NSU only had 21:18 with the football. 
 
SEMO's six-game winning streak ties the longest win streak the program has had since it won six in a row during the 2019 campaign. 

Saturday marked the first-ever meeting between SEMO and Northwestern State. The matchup closed out SEMO's two games against Southland Conference foes as part of the Ohio Valley Conference/Southland scheduling alliance.
 
The Redhawks totaled a season best 51 points.
 
SEMO has now earned its sixth winning season in its NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision history. For head coach Tom Matukewicz, it is his third winning season in his last five seasons at the helm of the Redhawks. 
 
The Redhawks will next return home Saturday, Oct. 29, to take on Eastern Kentucky for Homecoming at Houck Field. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m., CT.