Redhawks overcome first-half turnovers, rout Golden Eagles 34-3; DeLaurent sets SEMO touchdown record

The Southeast Missouri State University Redhawks overcame a turnover-laced first half to rout the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech 34-3 in Cape Girardeau on Saturday, Oct. 12.

Quarterback Paxton DeLaurent threw for more than 400 yards and tallied four touchdown passes, becoming SEMO's career touchdown passing leader.

No. 11 SEMO improved to 6-1 — 3-0 in Big South/OVC play — with the win.

The Redhawks (6-1) only led 10-0 at halftime but DeLaurent threw three touchdowns in the second half to take care of business. The defense continued to play at a high level and came out on fire after holding Tennessee Tech (2-4) to 60 total yards at the break while forcing three turnovers in the game.

Here are some immediate SEMO takeaways:

DeLaurent writes history

The senior Camdenton product set two school records on Saturday by becoming the SEMO all-time leader in career passing yards and career passing touchdowns, surpassing both Jason Liley (6,179 career passing yards) and Daniel Santacaterina (46 career touchdowns), respectively, for the milestones.

It was another day in the office for the veteran gunslinger who looked like his normal self: a confident passer, athletic scrambler and catalyst of offensive coordinator Jeromy McDowell’s playbook.

DeLaurent capped off the day 34-of-46 for 418 yards and four touchdowns. Unlike SEMO’s last home outing against Northwestern State, Saturday was the quarterback-does-everything operation as DeLaurent ignited all of the scoring with his arm.

The SEMO quarterback’s finest moment came late in the third quarter when he eluded the initial pass rush by stepping up and firing a 46-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Cam Pedro, padding the lead to 17-3.

Better yet, each of DeLaurent’s four passing touchdowns went to four different targets in Pedro, Tristan Smith, Dorian Anderson, and tight end Mitchell Sellers. Pedro stole the show after posting a gaudy 6-111-1 line, while Smith and Sellers both finished with six receptions of their own.

Offensive line shows no sign of slowing down

Nobody was entirely sure how the SEMO offensive line would hold up on Saturday. Would they remain dominant in the trenches despite being without their heartbeat in All-American caliber center Zack Gieg?

It seemed just fine. The Redhawks totaled 455 yards and looked crisp up front on most reps. The rushing attack was not perfect behind 37 total yards on the ground, but DeLaurent had time to throw and suffered just four quarterback hits against a respectable Tennessee Tech pass rush. The Golden Eagles only recorded one sack, too.

Fill-in center Kobe Sixkiller stepped up in place of Gieg and had a clean game at the line of scrimmage. Playing on the opposite side of Carter Guillaume was true freshman Yusef Sanogo-Kendrick, who made his first career start to give SEMO a pair of starting freshmen offensive guards in the game.

Matukewicz was more than pleased with the offensive line’s effort, as well as Guillaume and Sanogo-Kendrick’s ascension.

“It was Coach (Lucas) Orchard’s birthday today,” Matukewicz said. “We turned the heat up on him. Last year they got after us — their front four did — and they're good players. There's two true freshmen who started in that game on the o-line. Two true freshmen. So, obviously the recruiting is good. Those players are good players, but also they're getting coached well, so very, very happy there. It's tough to not see Zack out there. It still stings a little bit watching him on the sideline, but proud of those guys.”

Lockdown defense puts on a show

SEMO’s defense did not take a step back on Saturday after completely relinquishing control over Tennessee Tech through four dominant quarters of football.

The stat sheet tells the story, as SEMO yielded just 265 total yards (3.6 yards per play) and no touchdowns, forced three turnovers and seven punts, and held Tennessee Tech’s conference-best rushing attack to 27 rushing yards on the day.

Anchoring the unit was linebacker Bryce Norman, who finished with 15 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one pass breakup, and a quarterback hit. Senior defensive lineman Sam Keeper sparked the pass rush after tallying 1.5 sacks.

“It starts with the defensive line,” Norman said. “Our outside linebackers and the D tackles, they've really been getting after the quarterback. So, any time you can do that and you can stop the run, it really takes pressure off the linebackers and the DBs. It just starts up front.”

The secondary has been a question mark over the past few games, mainly due to three injured starters, but Saturday showed an important glimmer of hope after the unit shut down Golden Eagle quarterback Jordyn Potts.

Cornerback Ty Leonard intercepted a pass at the SEMO 19-yard-line early in the fourth quarter, while the unit held Potts to a 55-percent completion rate on 47 attempts. Linebacker Slade Dollar’s interception in the red zone with 4:12 remaining in the ball game put the icing on the cake.

Resiliency has been driving force

If there is one word to sum up the SEMO Redhawks’ past few weeks, it’s “resilient.”

“We’ve just got a really determined group,” DeLaurent said. “I think we're senior led, but there’s also underclassmen that were around how we lost last year, and they just want to work their butts off and make sure that thing doesn't happen again. We understand we're not as good as we need to be yet still, and that's a great attribute to have.”

SEMO entered Saturday’s game without two of its starting running backs, two-time all-conference center, veteran defensive tackle, and three defensive backs. Impressively enough, Matukewicz’s squad still did not skip a beat.

The Redhawks continued to overcome and adapt to the imploded injury list, as they limited mental errors, never wavered under pressure and played a complete game on both sides of the ball in what was a team-wide effort.

“We talk a lot about trying to focus on things you can control and it's all about how you handle it,” Matukewicz said. “Any adversity or any problem in life is really, what? An opportunity, right? So, it gives those guys time to get in there and it speeds up their development. At the end of the game in a playoff run or something like that, one of these guys has gotten the reps to come in and maybe help us win a game.”

The result means SEMO remains on the national radar entering the heart of the schedule, with games to come against Charleston Southern and Gardner-Webb to close out October. Barring the handful of injuries, SEMO continues to prove that it's good enough to run the table through the next two months.

“Depth is really important and we are abnormally hurt,” Matukewicz said. “So, certainly that's not good. We’ve got to figure out why and why we can't get guys back faster. But right now, crying about it or having pity parties doesn’t help you. It's just about making sure the next guy's ready to go.”

What’s next?

SEMO will turn the page and shift its focus to next Saturday when the Redhawks travel to Charleston, South Carolina for a conference road test against Charleston Southern at 3 p.m.