The Skyhawk football team was unable to continue their perfect conference record, as the Skyhawks dropped a sloppy, rainy game to the nationally-ranked Southeast Missouri (SEMO) Redhawks 10-17 on Oct. 26.
UTM didn’t have the best showing on Saturday’s game. The Skyhawks had a season-high five turnovers, one of which being a pick-six, in addition to a couple of missed field goals that could’ve helped the team pull away with a win.
The Skyhawks’ first drive, though ending in a punt, looked good for junior running back (RB) Peyton Logan. On five carries, Logan helped the Skyhawks obtain two first downs – one off a penalty and another off of an 11-yard run.
On SEMO’s second drive, quarterback (QB) Daniel Santacaterina’s completed a six-yard pass to wide receiver (WR) Aaron Alston, a play that resulted in Skyhawk sophomore safety Devan Sims forcing a fumble that was recovered by graduate defensive back (DB) Cam Ordway.
The ensuing drive by UTM didn’t end any better than it had for SEMO, as freshman QB John Bachus III was sacked by linebacker Zach Hall. SEMO defensive lineman (DL) Deterraion Richardson recovered the ball at UTM’s 33 yard line.
Though the Redhawks didn’t score a touchdown on the following drive, the sack and fumble recovery left them in position to kick in a field goal from 29 yards out, giving SEMO a 3-0 lead.
The following drive saw the Skyhawks march their way down the field off of a 10-yard rush by graduate RB Jaimiee Bowe and two 25+ yard completions to junior RB Lamarcus Young (35 yards) and senior WR Terry Williams (29 yards), with the latter being a touchdown pass.
With the extra point by junior Ryan Courtright good, the Skyhawks took the lead by a 7-3 margin to close out the first quarter. Despite a loss of 26 yards on the drive that ended in sack and fumble recovery by SEMO, the Skyhawks still managed 111 total offensive yards in the quarter.
Things didn’t get much better for the Skyhawks going into the second quarter. UTM’s run-game got some work thanks to a handful of carries by Logan and Bowe that got the Skyhawks from their own 30 yard line down to SEMO’s nine yard line.
Courtright took to the field to kick the field goal, but the kick was blocked and recovered by linebacker Omardrick Douglas to hold the Skyhawks at 7-3.
UTM’s next drive didn’t end any better. After a sack, short completion and short run, graduate kicker Zane Cox took the field, but instead of a punt, Cox attempted to rush, resulting in a loss of 12 yards and a fumble that was recovered by SEMO, putting the Redhawks in a prime scoring opportunity at UTM’s 10-yard line.
UTM’s defense, thanks in part to a penalty to SEMO that pushed them back to the 20, stood strong and held the Redhawks to a field goal opportunity that ultimately went missed wide and kept the score the same.
Here, the tables started to turn for UTM, Courtright booted a field goal to make the score 10-3 and junior LB D’Carrious Stephens at UTM’s goal line to close out the second quarter.
On SEMO’s first drive of the third, the Redhawks managed to turn a 3rd and 11 at their own 39-yard line into a 61-yard rushing touchdown by QB Joe Pyle. The score evened out to 10-10.
Courtright uncharacteristically missed a field goal towards the end of the quarter, failing to give the Skyhawks another lead.
The fourth quarter proved to be a dagger in the heart for the Skyhawks. Junior QB Dresser Winn made his first appearance of the season during the quarter after, throwing an interception to SEMO DL Clarence Thornton.
Bachus took the reins after Winn’s brief appearance, throwing two more interceptions in the quarter. The first interception thrown by Bachus in the quarter was intercepted by DB Bydarrius Knighten and returned for a touchdown, giving SEMO a 17-10.
The Skyhawks were unable to comeback from the deficit, as Bachus’ final pass was once again intercepted by Knighten, effectively ending the game.
Bachus ended the game with 284 passing yards on 34 attempts with one touchdown against two interceptions. The Skyhawks acquired 142 rushing yards, with Logan (72 net yards) and Bowe (26 net yards) leading the way.
This game marks the first time the Skyhawks were unable to rush into the end zone since the 0-45 loss to Florida on Sept. 7.
The receiving core was led by sophomore tight end Colton Dowell, who caught three receptions for 104 yards.
Courtright had a rough game himself, with two of his three field goal attempts not resulting in points on the board.
The Skyhawks will return to action on Homecoming weekend, Saturday, Nov. 2, against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. Kickoff will be at 2 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN+.
