Indiana State falls to SEMO in final minute

By Todd Golden

TERRE HAUTE — Gut-wrenching.

That’s the only emotion to describe what the Sycamores went through in Indiana State’s 24-21 football loss to Southeast Missouri State on Saturday, witnessed by 5,283 at Memorial Stadium.

The emotional gut punch was excruciatingly clear in ISU’s body language as it silently filed off the field in utter dejection after a last-minute loss extended the nation’s longest losing streak to 18.

And it was evident in the words of the Sycamores themselves after the game.

“It hurts … real bad. I feel like I lost the Super Bowl,” said ISU linebacker Quinton Scott, who had 17 tackles. “I’m burning inside.”

“It feels like a hit in the gut. Words can’t explain it,” ISU linebacker Jayden Everett said.

“I’m angry, more disappointed, though, because we didn’t take care of business at certain points of the game,” ISU wide receiver Ryan Patrick said.

SEMO running back Henry Harris scored a 1-yard touchdown with 42 seconds left in the game to put the RedHawks ahead to stay. It was SEMO’s third game decided by a touchdown or less this season and the RedHawks (2-3) have won two of them.

“I didn’t think we had self-doubt today. It’s the biggest challenge for any team to gain,” SEMO coach Tony Samuel said.

ISU (0-4) hasn’t been in a game decided by a touchdown or less since its last game against SEMO, a 13-10 loss in Sept. 2007.

“It’s not about anybody we’re playing anymore, it’s about what we do. If we take care of the things we control, we’ll win football games,” ISU coach Trent Miles said.

“But it’s a very hurtful process. It hurts to see those young men’s faces in the locker room after the game, knowing they could have won this game,” Miles added. “It hurts them and it hurts me to see them hurt. It feels like someone twisted something in your body and ripped your heart out. We were so close.”

SEMO’s game-winning touchdown was a cruel fate for an ISU defense that made stop upon stop throughout the game to put the Sycamores in a position to win their first game since 2006.

ISU held SEMO to three first downs in the first half, and though the RedHawks moved the ball better in the second half (248 second half yards versus 37 in the first half), ISU’s defense made plays it needed to make — including a fumble recovery and a stop on downs in the second half inside its own 10-yard line — but SEMO found a way in the end.

Ultimately, ISU was in a position to lose because of early special teams mistakes and an inconsistent offense. SEMO had kickoff returns of 85 and 56 yards in the first half. Though the RedHawks could only turn the returns into seven points, ISU gave away field position and put its offense into situations where it had to embark on long drives.

ISU’s offense wasn’t consistent enough to sustain long drives. The Sycamores ended their touchdown drought — they scored three TDs — but nine other drives went for naught, and all but one of ISU’s six second half drives came to nothing.

“The defense played great the whole game, but we have to get better as an offense. We have to, we’ve got to,” Patrick said.

ISU scored its first touchdown of the season at the 9:21 mark of the first quarter. An inspired first play from scrimmage for ISU — an option reverse by Patrick for a 44-yard gain — put the Sycamores in the red zone. A 5-yard run by Darrius Gates on 4th-and-1 inside the 10 set up a Gates 1-yard touchdown run as ISU took a 7-0 lead.

A bizarre play set up ISU’s second touchdown. Pinned in his own end zone, SEMO punter Doug Spada made a smart move to scramble out of danger and he punted on the run, uncorking a beauty, downed at the ISU 29. However, Spada was past the line of scrimmage when he punted so he had to punt again and Spada shanked it out of bounds at the SEMO 30.

ISU wasted little time taking advantage. A Chuck Dowdell 20-yard scramble put the Sycamores inside the SEMO 5, and two plays later, Antoine Brown went up the middle for a 2-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to put ISU up 14-0.

SEMO answered back with an 85-yard kick return by SEMO’s Jacob McKinley and SEMO would cash in. ISU’s defense forced SEMO into 4th-and-1 from the 1, but quarterback Houston Lillard reached over the top and just barely broke the plane of the goal line to make it 14-7.

It would stay that way into the second half. The RedHawks kicked a field goal with 9:55 to go in the third quarter, and after a pair of ISU drives went nowhere, SEMO took the lead at the end of the quarter. A pass interference penalty put SEMO in the red zone and Lillard found Miles Edwards for a 12-yard touchdown connection over the middle to make it 17-14.

ISU counter-punched with its best drive of the second half, going 82 yards in nine plays, including a 4th-and-1 conversion at the SEMO 35.

On the next play, ISU went for it all from the 33-yard line, and despite the fact that Patrick fell down in the end zone in single coverage, he caught Dowdell’s pass while lying on his back and ISU got a huge touchdown to regain a 21-17 lead with 10:46 left.

SEMO went right back at the Sycamores, driving all the way to the ISU 6-yard line, but ISU stopped them cold. The Sycamores forced 4th-and-1, SEMO went for it, and Harris was hit by Everett behind the line of scrimmage and finished off by Daniel Millington to give ISU the ball back with 7:54 to go in the game.

SEMO got the ball back with 3:21 left and didn’t fail given another chance. Lillard, who threw for 155 yards, went to work. A 17-yard pass to Harris helped SEMO convert a third down play from its own 37.

Lillard scrambled out of trouble from midfield to find Walter Peoples on the sideline for a 29-yard gain to put the RedHawks in striking range at the ISU 20. A 13-yard pass to Edwards put SEMO on the 1-yard line and Harris punched it in with 42 seconds left to put the RedHawks up 21-17.

ISU could not gain a first down in its last drive, a bomb by Dowdell to Bryant Kent near the goal line went off Kent’s hands and it was over.

ISU plays host to Illinois State in its Missouri Valley Football Conference opener next Saturday.