Hess Breaks SEMO Career Rushing Record as #20 Redhawks Blank Tennessee State, 42-0

Saturday, November 5

Nashville, Tenn. / Nissan Stadium

5:00 PM

Southeast Missouri State University

7-2 , 3-0

Tennessee State

3-6 , 2-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Southeast Mo. St.	7	14	7	14	42
Tennessee St.	0	0	0	0	0

Final Statistics

11/5/2022 8:42:00 PM | Football

Box Score Final Statistics

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Geno Hess ran for 136 yards, three touchdowns and broke his program's all-time career rushing record leading #20 Southeast Missouri (7-2, 3-0) to a 42-0 win over Tennessee State (3-6, 2-2) Saturday night at Nissan Stadium.

It didn't take Hess long to become his school's all-time leading rusher. In fact, he accomplished the feat on just his third run of the game, a 9-yard carry early in the first quarter. Hess surpassed Kelvin "Earthquake" Anderson's mark of 3,392 yards which stood for 28 years.

Hess quicky put SEMO on the board when he ripped off a 44-yard touchdown run on the Redhawks second play from scrimmage. The touchdown gave the Redhawks a 7-0 lead just 2:34 into the contest.

SEMO tacked on 14 more points in the second quarter before heading into the locker room with a 21-0 halftime advantage.

Damoriea Vick caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Paxton DeLaurent before Hess scored his second touchdown, this time on a 6-yard run with 3:18 remaining in the second quarter.

TSU moved inside SEMO's 10-yard line just before the intermission, but the Redhawks defense held, and the Tigers later missed a 28-yard field goal.

After TSU botched the snap on a punt, SEMO had excellent field position at the Tigers 29-yard line. On the next play, Hess scampered 24 yards to the TSU 5-yard line and then scored his third touchdown two plays later on a 3-yard run up the middle extending the Redhawks lead to 28-0 with just under 10 minutes to go in the third quarter.

The Tigers managed to get inside SEMO's 5-yard line late in the third quarter, but the Redhawks kept them out of the end zone. SEMO held on three-straight plays from its own 2-yard line to cap its impressive stand.

Darrell Smith and Keveon Robbins capped the night by scoring their first career touchdowns in the final period. Smith scored from 56 yards out and Robbins hit paydirt on a 20-yard run.

Hess ran for 106 yards, two touchdowns and averaged 8.2 yards per touch in the game's first 30 minutes alone. He now has 3,475 yards as the Redhawks top all-time career rusher.

SEMO dominated the ground game all night outgaining TSU, 310-152. The Redhawks also piled up 459 yards of total offense and did not turn the ball over.

DeLaurent completed a near-perfect 13-of-14 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown, while Vick paved the way with five receptions for 46 yards.

Defensively, Bryce Norman turned in 12 tackles and a pair of quarterback hurries. SEMO collected three sacks and eight tackles for loss, as well.

The Redhawks posted their fourth-straight road win and has their longest road winning streak since 2010. SEMO also beat the Tigers for the fifth-straight time with Head Coach Tom Matukewicz improving to 6-2 against TSU.

Additionally, SEMO pitched a shutout in an Ohio Valley Conference game for the first time since 1997 (31-0, at Austin Peay).

SEMO heads to Eastern Illinois for its final regular-season road game on Nov. 12.