Football team routs Austin Peay 42-7

The Southeast Missouri State football team picked up its first win since homecoming on Oct. 4 in a 42-7 rout of Austin Peay on Saturday, Nov. 15.

Senior quarterback Kyle Snyder had a career day, tossing five touchdown passes and totaling a career-high 334 yards through the air while wearing the No. 7 on his jersey rather than his usual No. 12 to honor recently injured junior wide receiver Peter Lloyd.

Snyder's five touchdown passes tied a Southeast record, a feat last done by former quarterback Jack Tomco in 2002.

Four different Redhawks found themselves on the receiving end of a touchdown pass by Snyder, the longest coming from senior wide receiver Spencer Davis with a 71-yard reception to extend their lead to 13-0 after an 11-yard touchdown pass to junior running back DeMichael Jackson put the Redhawks up early.

Davis joined his quarterback in having a career day as the 71-yarder was the longest touchdown reception of his five-year career at Southeast.

"If you can get your seniors to play their best football their senior year, that's a great sign of where your program is at," coach Tom Matukewicz said. "If they're leaving playing their best football then I think that's great."

Jackson was able to punch in a 2-yard rushing touchdown at the end of the second quarter, and after the point after touchdown attempt was good, the Redhawks took a 21-0 lead into halftime.

The Redhawks' offense was able to continue to keep piling it on the Governors, however their defense set the tone for the game, not allowing Austin Peay's offense to find the end zone once.

Snyder opened play in the second half right where he left off in the first, heaving a 70-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Paul McRoberts, his first of two touchdown receptions on the day.

During the Redhawk's next drive, Snyder made a mistake that would put Austin Peay on the board and eliminate a chance at the shutout. Defensive back Dami Whitfield picked off a Snyder pass and ran it 12 yards into the end zone for Austin Peay's only points of the afternoon.

"[Snyder] needs to play better, because that's embarrassing the way he flipped the ball on the option and the pick-6, otherwise our defense gets a shutout and, you know, he's got to take that off the film," Matukewicz said.

Regardless of the miscues, Southeast was able to solidify the win against the last place team in the OVC in Austin Peay at home, something that was expected by the team.

Senior linebacker drags down an Austin Peay player on Nov. 15 at Houck Stadium. (Photo by Julian Sanders)

"When you walk in the locker room you'd think there would be people just doing back flips, but it really wasn't," Matukewicz said. "Man, I love seeing that, because there just really wasn't a lot of people surprised or shocked or anything like that."

Matukewicz was looking forward to seeing his team play like they have in previous weeks, and see that translate into a win.

"We've been doing a lot of good things, and all I wanted this week is to do what we've done, and win the turnover margin, and so we were able to do that today and play well," Matukewicz said.

While the defense was able to stop every Austin Peay drive, they also combined to force three turnovers including two interceptions and a fumble.

With five defensive starters out due to injury, Matukewicz was pleased with his team's performance on the defensive side of the ball.

"Our defense has really been put in bad situations with the injuries, and for them to come out like they did today, I'm just proud of their coaches and proud of the players," Matukewicz said.

The defense was able to prevent Austin Peay from scoring in each of its two visits to the red zone, an area where the Redhawks' offense excelled. While the Governors went 0-2 on the day in the red zone, Southeast was able to capitalize on all four of its chances.

"You get more hungry in the red zone," Davis said.

Southeast was also able to make plays when it mattered, converting on 11 of 16 third down conversions and holding Austin Peay to just 4 of 17 on the day.

The Redhawks will play in their final game of the season on Saturday, marking the end to many Redhawk careers.

Davis will be playing his final game as a Redhawk, along with Snyder.

"I wish I had a couple more years left, but hey I got one more game and just do the best I can and help my team win," Davis said.

Davis has been impressed with what his quarterback has been able to do this year.

"He is an elite quarterback, he can do a lot of things, run, throw," Davis said. "Kyle does a good job at making a good throw and putting the ball where it needs to be. I told him, we're going to make him look good if he throws us the ball. We've got some elite receivers that can catch anything so he puts the ball where it needs to be we're going to make the play."

The Redhawks will take on No. 3 ranked Jacksonville State on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Houck Stadium.