CHARLESTON, Ill. – Paxton DeLaurent threw for 364 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for another score to lead #13 Southeast Missouri (5-1, 2-0) to a 38-27 win over Eastern Illinois (1-5, 0-2) Saturday afternoon at O'Brien Field.
 
DeLaurent tied SEMO's all-time career passing touchdowns record. His 46 career touchdown passes are now at the top of the list with Daniel Santacaterina (2018-19).
 
Today's win, which was the Redhawks seventh-straight in their series against the Panthers, marked Tom Matukewicz's 60th as a head coach. Matukewicz has 59 wins at the SEMO helm and one as Northern Illinois' interim head coach.
 
SEMO, which is on a four-game winning streak, wasted no time jumping on EIU using a 17-point first quarter to grab an early advantage.
 
DC Pippin got the Redhawks going with a 26-yard field goal before DeLaurent threw a pair of touchdown passes, including a 9-yard toss to Mitchell Sellers and 29-yard third-down pass to Dorian Anderson.
 
SEMO faced a third-and-Goal at the 5-yard line when a EIU pass interference penalty gave the Redhawks an automatic first down at the three. Two plays later, Cole Ruble scored his first career touchdown on a 2-yard run to extend SEMO's lead to 24-0 with 9:35 left in the second quarter.
 
The Redhawks scored on four of their first five drives of the game. Defensively, SEMO forced the Panthers to punt five times and stopped them once on fourth down in the first half. The Redhawks allowed just 63 total yards on 30 plays for an average of 2.1 yards per snap.
 
EIU scored for the first time on the opening drive of the second half, but SEMO quickly answered in 1:31. Tristan Smith caught a pass and ran 54 yards to the Panthers 3-yard line before hauling in a 3-yard touchdown reception to put the Redhawks ahead, 31-14, with a little over 10 minutes to play in the third quarter.
 
After SEMO's defense stepped up big again with a fourth-down stop at their own 2-yard line, the Redhawks covered 98 yards in 16 plays. DeLaurent scored on a 1-yard run to cap the drive that lasted nearly eight minutes widening SEMO's margin to 38-14 with 12:22 to go in the fourth period.
 
EIU added 13 fourth-quarter points, but it wasn't enough.
 
DeLaurent completed 30-of-43 passes and threw for over 300 yards and multiple touchdowns for the third time in four starts. He completed passes to seven different receivers along the way.
 
Smith and Anderson both finished with over 100 receiving yards and a touchdown. Smith paved the way with 124 yards on eight catches and Anderson added 109 yards on seven receptions.
 
SEMO accumulated 425 total yards to EIU's 385.
 
Jared Pedraza led the Redhawk defense with nine tackles. SEMO registered a season-high five sacks, as well. 
 
The Redhawks improved to 3-1 outside of Cape Girardeau this year.
 
SEMO returns home to host Tennessee Tech on Oct. 12.