CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The University of Tennessee at Martin football went toe-to-toe with Big South-OVC Football Association rival Southeast Missouri in a double-overtime matchup but ultimately fell short in the road contest by a final 45-42 margin.
The Skyhawks (0-2, 0-1 Big South-OVC) led by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter before the Redhawks charged back in the final minutes – including a touchdown with 39 seconds to play by the home squad to force overtime.
Once in the overtime period, the game continued its see-saw affair in a game which saw six lead changes. In the first period, SEMO connected quickly on an 11-yard pass from Paxton DeLaurent to Mitchell Sellers for their third consecutive touchdown connection to take the early advantage. Then the Skyhawks found some new life when a potential game-ending interception was overturned, setting up a seven-yard jet sweep from Kinkead Dent to Asa Wondeh to tie the game and send it to double-overtime. A 36-yard field goal attempt by the Skyhawks was pushed right, opening the door for SEMO who converted its 37-yard field goal attempt to walk-off with the 45-42 victory.
“Congratulations to SEMO, they made one more play then us tonight,” UT Martin head coach Jason Simpson said. “I’m proud of our guys, we played really, really hard. Just sometimes we didn’t coach as good as we needed to or play as disciplined as we needed to with the penalties. We have to gather ourselves and win some games. Things don’t get any easier in the weeks to come. We have to regroup and get some confidence.”
In an offensive matchup, UT Martin tallied 470 yards of total offense by delivering 277 yards through the air and 193 yards with the rushing attack. Dent paced the offense with an efficient game, completing 23-of-33 pass attempts for 277 yards and four touchdowns through the air. Meanwhile on the ground, Patrick Smith carried a heavy lead with 26 attempts for 148 yards and a touchdown.
One of Dent’s top targets was graduate receiver DeVonte Tanksley who caught seven of his 12 targets for 113 yards. Then a pair of first half connects from Dent to Trevonte Rucker resulted in passing touchdowns – scoring on receptions of 20 and three yards, respectively.
On the defensive side of the ball, transfer cornerback Rob Johnson played a gutsy game in the secondary. Despite battling an injury throughout the second half, he led the team with seven tackles and a staggering four pass breakups. Meanwhile the trio of Jaylon Sharpe, Josh Hastings and Oshae Baker each tallied five tackles while Baker tied the program record for career pass breakups with a pair to bring his all-time total up to 30 – tying Chris Jones atop the UT Martin leaderboard. Rounding out the top defensive contributors was outside linebacker Michael Pleas, Jr. who tallied 1.5 sacks in the contest.
Southeast Missouri (2-1, 1-0 Big South-OVC) continued its impressive play at home, pushing its home winning streak against the Skyhawks to three games. The Redhawks passed it 64 times and racked up 365 yards of total offense behind the arm of DeLaurent, who completed 36-of-63 pass attempts for 376 yards and six touchdowns. SEMO posted a pair of 100-yard receivers in the contest with Cam Pedro pacing the team with nine receptions for 126 yards while Dorian Anderson hauled in eight catches for 127 yards and a pair of scores. Sellers did most of the damage however as he tallied six receptions for 60 yards – including three touchdowns.
A fourth quarter forced fumble by Bryce Norman played a big key in the comeback victory as the Preseason Big South-OVC Defensive Player of the Year racked up 13 tackles in the victory. Khalani Riddick (11 tackles) and Mali Walton (10 tackles) also reached double figures for the Redhawks.
UT Martin will look to bounce back next week when making its home debut against United Athletic Conference foe North Alabama on Saturday, Sept. 14. Kickoff from Hardy Graham Stadium is slated for 6 p.m. for the Hall of Fame Game.
