Turnovers Hurt Redhawks in 20-17 Loss to #20 West Florida

Saturday, September 26

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

6 PM

Southeast Missouri State University

2-3 , 0-0

#20 West Florida

3-1 , 1-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
West Florida	3	3	7	7	20
Southeast Mo. St.	3	7	0	7	17

9/26/2026 9:44:00 PM | Football

Box Score

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (2-3) turned the ball over six times in a 20-17 setback to #20 West Florida (3-1) Saturday night in front of a Family Weekend crowd of 5,286 at Houck Field.

SEMO held a 10-6 advantage at halftime before UWF recorded a takeaway on back-to-back drives to take a two-score lead.

Jamari Dickens sacked Braylen Ragland and Christian Ware-Terry scooped up a fumble and ran five yards for a touchdown to put the Argonauts ahead, 13-10, with 1:29 remaining in the third quarter.

On the Redhawks' next drive, A'Khoury Lyde intercepted Ragland's pass and sprinted 36 yards to the SEMO 20-yard line.

Two plays later, Donovan Leary threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jake Robinette extending UWF's lead to 20-10 with 14:52 left in the fourth period.

SEMO answered with a nice 14-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Jobe Bryant's first career touchdown on a 2-yard reception that to trim UWF's lead to 20-17 with 8:32 to go.

SEMO and UWF exchanged field goals in the first quarter.

Braylen Ragland completed a 45-yard pass to Tristin Purnell to help set up Justin Keller's 42-yard field goal giving the Redhawks a 3-0 edge with 11:20 remaining.

After the Argonauts recovered a fumble, UWF settled for a 32-yard field goal by Reid Grek to tie the game at 3-3 at the 6:57 mark.

UWF pulled ahead for the first time of the night on a 46-yard field goal by Grek with 6:39 left in the second quarter.

SEMO moved the ball to UWF's 1-yard line where it was in field goal formation on a fourth-and-8.

Holder Teagan Cobb instead took the snap and ran six yards to his right into the end zone regaining a 10-6 advantage. The fake field goal capped a 7-play, 75-yard drive for the Redhawks who carried a 10-6 lead.

SEMO fumbled three times and threw three interceptions.

The Redhawks finished with 268 total yards for the game.

Ragland completed 14-of-25 passes for 162 yards and one touchdown. Tristin Purnell caught four passes for 80 yards and Khyair Spain ran for 77 yards on 16 carries.

Josiah Raven paved the way for SEMO's defense with six tackles. The Redhawks limited UWF to just 39 rushing yards.

SEMO is idle next week before opening Ohio Valley Conference play at Lindenwood on Oct. 10.