Sun finally shines on Redhawks football with OT win

I don't know how many more games the Southeast Missouri State football team will win this season, but I couldn't help but feel really good for the Redhawks on Saturday after they finally broke through with their first victory of 2013.

And what a wild, wacky triumph it was.

In a game that featured about as many ups and downs -- and twists and turns -- as anybody could imagine, the football gods finally smiled on the Redhawks for a change.

Southeast, playing just its second home game, pulled out an improbable 37-34, triple-overtime victory over Murray State to hand the Racers their initial Ohio Valley Conference loss of the season.

It's easy for fans and media to pile on a team when it's struggling, as Southeast has been this year, but the players and their coaches work just as hard as most, if not all, other squads across the country.

That's why it was so great to see the young and inexperienced Redhawks finally rewarded for all their effort.

Southeast displayed plenty of grit after the Racers rallied from a 20-6 third-quarter deficit to carry a 27-20 lead into the final minutes of regulation.

The Redhawks scored with under a minute left to force overtime. The Racers went ahead in the first extra period but Southeast answered right back.

After each side turned the ball over in the second overtime, the Racers missed a field goal in the third extra session and then Southeast true freshman Alex Knight won it with a 30-yard kick.

Southeast, 1-5 overall and 1-2 in OVC play, still faces an uphill battle the rest of the season beginning Saturday at defending OVC champion Eastern Illinois, which is ranked fourth and fifth in the two major FCS polls and is looking like one of the conference's best football teams in years.

EIU leads the nation in total offense with an average of 584 yards per game and is ranked high in most of the other major statistical offensive categories, including scoring at 46.8 points per contest.

The Panthers, 5-1 overall and 2-0 in OVC play, have not scored fewer than 39 points all season despite playing two FBS programs. They beat one of them -- San Diego State -- and narrowly took down undefeated, 23rd-ranked Northern Illinois, which handed EIU its only loss 43-39.

Southeast will be a massive underdog Saturday -- but at least the Redhawks will head to Charleston, Ill., with a win under their belts.

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It seems like I give the Chaffee High School football team props almost every week, but more are deserved after the Red Devils' latest accomplishment.

Friday's 28-18 win over Malden in Chaffee's toughest test of the season so far made the Red Devils 7-0 for the first time since 1956.

The victory also gave Chaffee its first SEMO South Conference title since 1979.

Chaffee still has two tough regular-season games left, at home against Jefferson this Friday and at Charleston next week, but a 9-0 regular campaign is becoming more and more a distinct possibility.

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The University of Missouri football team picked up a huge win Saturday, even if it was against a banged-up Georgia squad.

Still, the Bulldogs were ranked seventh nationally and playing at home. But the Tigers pulled off the 41-26 upset to remain undefeated at 6-0, including 2-0 in the Southeastern Conference. MU jumped up to 14th from 25th in the national rankings.

But there was a huge negative for the Tigers as senior quarterback James Franklin, who is having a big season, suffered a separated shoulder that will sideline him indefinitely.

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The Cardinals are off to a great start in the NLCS that features a nice local angle which quite a few people are probably familiar with.

A.J. Ellis, the Dodgers' starting catcher the past few years, was born in the area and I'm sure he had a nice personal rooting section for the first two games in St. Louis on Friday and Saturday.

The 32-year-old Ellis lived in Jackson until age 11. The family had no previous ties to the area when his parents moved here because of his father's work at Procter & Gamble.

After moving from Jackson, the family eventually settled in Lexington, Ky., where Ellis played high school baseball. He later went on to star collegiately at Austin Peay.

I wrote an article on Ellis in 2010 that detailed his ties to Southeast Missouri. He seemed like a really good guy during my telephone interview with him, and it's great to see that his major league career has really taken off in recent years.

But sorry, A.J., I'm a serious Cardinals fan who is rooting hard for the Redbirds -- and I'm thrilled that they won the first two games of the series.

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The Murray State men's basketball team, which returned just one starter -- who averaged less than seven points per game -- will face even more of a challenge this year after sophomore point guard Zay Jackson suffered a season-ending knee injury during a recent practice.

Coach Steve Prohm was quoted as saying Jackson was the Racers' best offensive and defensive player. He was expected to play a leading role in replacing standout guard Isaiah Canaan, now in the NBA.

Jackson missed all of last season after an off-the-court incident resulted in him spending nearly two months in jail.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.