Southeast Missouri State football team falls to Division II Shorter University

The Southeast Missouri State football team readied itself to face Division II Shorter University's unorthodox triple-option offense in the week leading up to the Redhawks' final non-conference game of the regular season.

But the Redhawks preparation didn't hold up against the Hawks, who handed Southeast its first loss to a non-Division I opponent since the Redhawks moved to the Football Championship Subdivision with a 26-21 defeat at Houck Stadium on Saturday.

"Believe it or not, we worked our butts off. We didn't do a good enough job," Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz said. "We prepared, and the problem with this is you do this, they do that. They know how to adjust their triple-option more than we know how to adjust our triple-option defense because we don't have a system. They did a good job. We didn't get any takeaways. We turned it over once and got it to a tight ballgame, and that was the difference."

The Hawks, who picked up their first win of the season and snapped a nine-game losing streak, scored on the opening drive -- a 15-play, 78-yard drive that lasted 8 minutes, 46 seconds.

Shorter attempted a pass that fell incomplete on its first play before running the ball the remainder of the touchdown drive that was capped with a 3-yard run by quarterback Aaron Bryant that put the Redhawks in a 7-0 hole with 6:14 left in the first.

"We definitely struggled on technique stuff that we usually go over, like fundamentals like tackling," junior linebacker Roper Garrett said. "We've got a lot to improve."

The Southeast offense, led by quarterback Dante Vandeven in his first career start, answered with a 54-yard drive.

Vandeven completed 17 and 15-yard passes to sophomore receiver Adrian Davis to move into the red zone. The true freshman quarterback finished the drive with a 12-yard run and a 5-yard touchdown run to knot it at 7-7 with 1:56 to play in the opening period.

Southeast Missouri State's Bryce Warner carries to the sideline against Shorter during the first quarter Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

Shorter was forced to punt on its next drive -- one of two stops for the Redhawks defense -- and Southeast needed five plays to go 63 yards and take the lead.

Junior running back Tremane McCullough broke off a 48-yard run on the first play of the drive that put the Redhawks on the Shorter 15.

McCullough carried for a yard before sophomore running back Brendan Stewart took the next three carries, including an 8-yard TD run to make it 14-7 Southeast with 10:09 left in the half.

Sophomore linebacker Chad Meredith sacked Bryant on third-down on the next drive to force the Hawks' only other punt of the game.

Southeast went 68 yards over the next 3:31, but after consecutive passes of 9 yards to senior receiver Paul McRoberts, 20 yards to senior receiver Peter Lloyd and 13 yards to junior receiver Darrius Darden-Box, Vandeven was picked off by Dominique Henfield to leave it a one-possession game at halftime.

"In the beginning of the game we got in rhythms offensively and took two drives down the field and scored on both drives, and then one of the drives we get down in the red zone and I turn over the ball," Vandeven said. "Can't have those mistakes because that'll cost you the game. One touchdown on that drive and we would've been in that game right there, so overall it was just some execution things that we have to get through before OVC play."

The Redhawks had the ball to start the second half but after runs by McCullough, Stewart and QB Tay Bender, who came in for three carries in the game, they were forced to punt on fourth-and-2.

Southeast Missouri State's Lawrence Hills tackles Shorter quarterback Aaron Bryant who fumbled the ball and recovered it during the first quarter Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

Shorter tied it 14-14 on its next drive when fullback Bryce McCoy scored on a 37-yard run on third down with 9:55 left in the third. The Hawks, who completed 1 of 2 passes for 12 yards in the first half, kept the drive alive with a 33-yard pass to Cody Simpson on third-and-10 following a timeout.

"The game before they didn't throw hardly any and they did some things," Matukewicz said. "Hats off to their coaching staff because they made those adjustments and the quarterback played really, really good."

Southeast's next drive resulted in a 5-yard TD run by Stewart to give the Redhawks a 21-14 advantage with 4:00 remaining in the third.

Shorter's next drive continued into the fourth quarter. Bryant connected with Simpson from 18 yards out on third-and-7 on the first play of the last quarter. Hawks kicker Kenny Langford's extra-point attempt hit the goal post to keep Southeast's lead at 21-20 six seconds into the fourth quarter.

Southeast punted on its next drive and the Hawks used nine consecutive run plays to move to the Southeast 4.

McCoy scored on a 3-yard run, but the two-point conversion attempt failed when Bryant was tackled before he could even get a throw off to make it 26-21 with 6:11 left.

"That's what they did," Matukewicz said of Shorter's time-consuming drives, which allowed them hold the ball for 13 minutes more than the Redhawks in the game. "They got it into a one-possession game. We threw a pick, they scored, and it was like tennis. They one series got ahead of it and then that was frustrating because the athleticism and all those things don't matter against that offense."

McCullough escaped down the right sideline for a 53-yard run on the Redhawks final drive to move Southeast into the red zone, but a false start on Logan Larson pushed it back to the 33.

Vandeven fumbled on third-and-9, but recovered to set up fourth-and-11 from the 30.

"It was a read," Vandeven said. "I meant to pull it and take it up the middle and it just came out."

His next pass under heavy and immediate pressure fell incomplete to give Shorter the ball back with 3:03 to play.

The Hawks moved into Southeast territory on a 27-yard run by Kartez Carr. Shorter took a timeout, facing fourth-and-1 on the 32 with 51 seconds remaining and Bryant pushed through for a 2-yard gain and the first down to seal the win.

"Our game plan was eye discipline, and we didn't play well enough, so the game happened the way it did," Meredith said.

"The game plan was solid," Meredith added. "We just didn't execute it well enough."

Southeast, which fell to 1-3 on the season and 15-1 against non-Division I schools, hosts Murray State in its OVC opener on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

"Obviously it's a really, really tough loss, so our team has a choice to make," Matukewicz said. "We can have a pity party or we can turn all of this and our energy and focus onto Murray, which is what needs to happen. At the end of the day, non-conference doesn't have an effect on the OVC. If you're 4-0 you've still got to win your OVC games, so that's my message and that's going to be our focus this week."