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Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois led No. 15 Southeast Missouri 7-6 at the half halting three Redhawks first half scoring drives. In the second half SEMO was able to break through and knock off EIU 26-12 on senior day at O'Brien Field.
EIU fell to 1-10 on the season, 1-6 in the OVC. SEMO improved to 8-3 overall, 6-1 in the OVC.
EIU turned SEMO away on its second drive of the game as the Redhawks drove to the EIU 16 yard line.
Mark Williams picked off a pass that was deflected giving the Panthers some early life. EIU would score on the next possession as
Harry Woodbery hit
Isaiah Hill for what appeared to be a 73-yard touchdown pass. EIU had an unsportsmanlike penalty during the return which negated the score but did set up the Panthers at the SEMO 27. EIU would score a few plays later with Woodbery hitting Hill for a 26-yard strike.
Woodbery would exit the game at the end of the first quarter as he was sacked on the final play of the quarter. Woodbery was off to a stellar day going 6-of-9 for 118 yards and a touchdown.
Jaylon Banks and true freshman
Jonah O'Brien would be called in to finish the day. Banks would go 3-of-7. O'Brien was 12-of-21 for 84 yards in his collegiate debut.
EIU would then stop two SEMO drives in the second quarter as the Redhawks settled for a 32 and 34 yard field goals by Kendrick Tiller.
Raymond Crittenden and
Jason Johnson were in on three straight tackles to hold SEMO to its first field goal attempt.
Joe Caputo had a big sack on third down to stop the second SEMO drive. Caputo finished with a 11 tackles in his final home game.
Special teams would give SEMO the second half spark it needed as Shabari Davis returned a punt 46 yards for a score to give SEMO a 13-7 lead with 13:03 to play in the third quarter. EIU cut the lead to 13-10 on the next drive as O'Brien led the Panthers on a 21-play, 65 yard drive that ended with a
Christiaan Masucci 27 yard field goal.
SEMO would add a Daniel Santacaterina 1-yard rushing touchdown to open the fourth quarter and a Mark Robinson 16-yard rush midway through the fourth to extend the Redhawks lead. On the extra point,
James Ubaike blocked the kick and
Corneliuss Page scooped it up and returned it for the two-point conversion. It marked only the second time in school history EIU has blocked an extra point and returned it for a score.
EIU's defense held SEMO to just 284 yards of total offense including limiting Kristian Wilkerson to four catches for 56 yards and no touchdowns.
EIU was led by
Isaiah Hill with 13 catches for 152 yards and the one touchdown. It was Hill's second double figured receptions game this season and second time he has been over the 100 yard mark.
James Sheehan finished with 27 yards receiving as he became the 33rd EIU player to pass the 1,000 yard mark for receiving yards in his EIU career.
Jason Johnson joined Caputo for top EIU defensive honors finishing with 12 tackles and two tackles for loss. Crittenden added nine tackles.
Zach Hall had 12 tackles with a sack and interception to lead SEMO's defense.
