Offense needs a half to find its rhythm

Houston Lillard did end up going to the bench in the first half of Saturday's game, but it had more to do with the senior quarterback's two interceptions than it did any off-the-field business from earlier in the week.

During his absence, a freshman mistake left Southeast in such a large deficit by halftime even Lillard's sharp second-half performance couldn't save the Redhawks.

Southeast Missouri State had three interceptions in the first half — two thrown by Lillard, one by freshman Matt Scheible — that essentially resulted in at least a 17-point swing in Southeast's 45-28 loss to Missouri State on Saturday night at Houck Stadium.

And Missouri State ultimately ended Southeast's comeback hopes with another interception of Lillard, which also was returned for a touchdown in the game's final minute.

Southeast fell to 1-3 for the season — 0-2 against Division I-AA competition — but the white flags aren't waving yet, even though the Redhawks are trying out freshmen and sophomores extensively at eight positions other than quarterback.

"All the disappointment is in knowing the talent we have and just that we're kicking ourselves in the back," said Lillard, who finished with 331 yards of passing on 30 completions in 44 attempts. "We're beating ourselves."

Lillard's status as a starter was seen as somewhat controversial after he was arrested Monday for failing to make a scheduled court appearance to face his charge of public urination from earlier this summer.

CHUCK WU ~ cwu@semissourian.com Missouri State safety Skylar Smith intercepts the ball in the end zone during Saturday's game.

"There were a lot of distractions this week, but I tried to block them out," Lillard said. "It was challenging to focus on school and football and try not to pay attention to the other things people were saying."

On the field, Lillard said he was too passive, "going with the flow and not controlling the play."

Southeast coach Tony Samuel said it was more a matter of Lillard being a competitor, trying to make the superstar play instead of letting the game come to him.

For whatever reason, Lillard's floater to Ashton Farmer in the corner of the end zone in the first quarter was picked off, snuffing out Southeast's second drive of the night into Missouri State territory.

Lillard was intercepted on the next drive, and this time it set up Missouri State at Southeast's 24-yard line, from which the Bears scored to claim a 14-0 lead.

Enter Scheible, who completed 5 of 8 passes in the first half for 25 yards. But it was Scheible's last throw of the first half that was a gift to Missouri State.

Southeast moved the ball from its 17 to its 36, and, with 9 seconds remaining, called a trick play — a hook-and-lateral to Mike Williamson on the left side of the formation, with a second player coming across the formation from the right to take the pitch. But Williamson turned inside, and Scheible threw the ball outside.

"I got a little confused with the receiver. It's my fault," Scheible said.

Chris Farrar collected the mistake and ran it back 47 yards to make the halftime lead 21-0. With three defensive players surrounding Williamson, it didn't look like the kind of play that would result in Southeast going the distance or even getting a crack at a field goal.

How much of a more difficult task did it make for the Redhawks?

"You tell me," Samuel said.

The Redhawks never were closer than 10 points in the second half, despite 318 yards of offense.

Lillard passed for 264 yards while hitting 21 of 31 passes and throwing for three touchdowns after halftime. The interception returned for Missouri State's final TD with 58 seconds to play just finalized what was looking inevitable anyway.

"It's like it takes us a half to get warmed up, and once we get warmed up, we're on," Scheible said. "I don't know what it is, but we're going to have to figure it out."

Scheible threw just one pass in the second half, an incompletion, though he rushed twice for 12 yards, including a first-down run on one scoring drive. He was behind center for parts of two scoring drives.

"Our play-calling was a little more aggressive in the second half, trying to catch them off guard," he said.

And he couldn't help but be impressed with Lillard's second half.

"If we play like we did in the second half, we can beat some teams," said Scheible, who said he tried to keep Lillard positive throughout the week with text messages.

While there may be no quarterback controversy, Southeast is in that middle ground of having confidence in the senior Lillard, who passed for more than 300 yards for the second time this season, and getting in some snaps for Scheible, a true freshman who may be the future.

"We're trying to get two quarterbacks ready, plain and simple," Samuel said. "The freshman, we think he has a chance to be a good quarterback for us.

"We're not trying to hold any weight over Houston."

Lillard said his time on the sidelines Saturday gave him a different perspective.

"It doesn't really affect my rhythm," he said. "Sometimes you like to stay in the game, but sometimes it's better to change the pace. I had to come out and see the game from a different perspective on the sidelines."

As for the future?

"I would like to just get the job done in the first half," Lillard said.

The Redhawks still are two weeks from their second Ohio Valley Conference game and the return of standout running back Tim Holloman — "I've never seen him play," Scheible said, "but I hear he can change the game." — which makes this week's game at Indiana State technically the exhibition season.

It's still time to experiment with the quarterback of the present and the quarterback of the future while hoping that Holloman can change more than a game but perhaps the entire season.

"We're still confident," Lillard said.

"We're not hanging our heads," Scheible said. "We're still fighting. It's too early to put your head down and look at next year."

Toby Carrig is the editor of the regional Web site semoball.com