Southeast's Kutz caps wild Houck farewell with winning kick

Southeast blocked a field goal on the final play of regulation and went on to a 31-28 victory over Tennessee Tech in overtime.

By Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian

Derek Kutz was admittedly a bit down in the dumps last week after he missed a 27-yard field goal with 4:29 remaining that could have put Southeast Missouri State University on top during what turned out to be a two-point loss at Tennessee State.

But Southeast's normally reliable senior placekicker made amends Saturday afternoon. His 44-yard field goal in the first overtime provided the winning margin in a 31-28 victory over Tennessee Tech.

"After last week, it was really disappointing, and I'm just glad I could do it," said Kutz, a St. Vincent High School graduate who was one of 18 Southeast seniors playing the final home game of their careers. "I love all my seniors and I was glad I could come through for them."

The winning kick was certainly not a thing of beauty as it appeared to knuckle and barely made it over the crossbar.

"I don't know if it got hit or I didn't hit it good," Kutz said. "I'm just glad it went over."

While Kutz wasn't sure if the kick had been tipped, Southeast coach Tim Billings had no doubts.

"They partially tipped it, but he had enough strength to get it over," Billings said. "I feel great for Derek after he missed the kick last week."

And Billings felt good for all his players -- particularly the 18 seniors -- as they won their last home game of what has been a disappointing season.

"They showed a lot of heart and character," Billings said. "They never gave up."

An announced Houck Stadium crowd of 3,212 saw Southeast improve to 3-7 overall and 3-4 in Ohio Valley Conference play. Coupled with Jacksonville State's win at Eastern Illinois, Tech (6-4, 3-3) was eliminated from having a shot at sharing the OVC title.

But it appeared as if the Eagles would indeed remain in the championship hunt during the late stages of regulation Saturday after they erased second-half deficits of 21-7 and 28-21.

First Southeast turned back a Tech scoring opportunity when, with under three minutes left in the fourth quarter, Jared Odom forced a fumble by Eagles quarterback Robert Craft and John Paul Usrey recovered at his own 28-yard line.

But on third down, Southeast quarterback Andrew Goodenough -- who passed for 250 yards and four touchdowns -- was intercepted by Brandon Shelby, who returned the ball 28 yards to Southeast's 11-yard line with 1:05 remaining.

On second down, Southeast appeared to recover a fumble, but Tech's Derek White was ruled to have been down, which drew the ire of Billings.

"They fumbled the ball. We should have gotten it," Billings said.

Tech ran the clock down to 2.9 seconds before calling a timeout and lining up for a 31-yard field-goal attempt by Josh Foster. But on regulation's final play, Southeast's T.J. Milcic -- a 6-foot-5 wide receiver -- blocked the kick, which ultimately rolled through the end zone as time expired.

"I owe it to the line. They allowed me to get that much closer to the kick," Milcic said. "I jumped as high as I could and felt it hit my arm."

Perhaps nobody in Houck Stadium was more relieved than Goodenough, who had thrown the late interception.

"They saved me there," he said, smiling.

Southeast won the coin toss to begin overtime and elected to play defense first. Starting from Southeast's 25-yard line, Tech gained nine yards in three plays, then faced fourth down and one from the 16.

Instead of trying to take the lead with a field goal -- which would have left open the opportunity for Southeast to win with a touchdown -- the Eagles went for it on fourth down. But White was stuffed for perhaps a half-yard gain by safety Mike Miller as Tech came up short of the first down.

"He was back there dancing and I just came up and got him," Miller said.

So all Southeast needed was any kind of points on its offensive possession of the first overtime. The team didn't make it any easier on Kutz when three plays lost two yards back to the 27, forcing the 44-yard field-goal attempt that just snuck over the bar.

"We made so many big plays," Billings said. "It looked like we were out of it and then we blocked the field goal. We just kept fighting."

The game began ominously for Southeast when, on its first offensive possession, David Simonhoff had a punt blocked and Tech recovered in the end zone for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead just 4:24 into the contest.

But Southeast scored two second-quarter touchdowns -- on a 2-yard pass from Goodenough to Jamel Oliver and a 30-yard pass from Goodenough to Brian Matthews -- to go ahead 14-7 for its first halftime lead of the season.

A 19-yard touchdown pass from Goodenough to Oge Oge on Southeast's opening possession of the third quarter made it 21-7.

Tech then got its offense going and used two long TD drives to forge a 21-21 tie.

With just 1:09 left in the third period, Goodenough and Milcic hooked up on a 19-yard TD strike as Southeast went back on top 28-21. Tech tied it with 9:36 remaining on Trey Bonner's 10-yard run and that's the way things stood until overtime.