The UTM football team led in nearly every statistical category this afternoon against Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) rival Southeast Missouri (SEMO) except for the most important category – the final score – falling at home to the Redhawks 21-16 on Saturday afternoon.
The Skyhawks (2-4, 2-4 OVC) controlled the tempo of the game, dominated the time of possession battle with 63 percent while tallying 22 first downs and 370 yards of total offense on the afternoon. UTM even forced a season-high four turnovers but it was the team’s inefficiency in the redzone which proved costly as the team converted just three of its six prime scoring opportunities.
Quarterback John Bachus III completed 26-of-45 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns. With his two touchdown strikes, he surpassed Troy Cook and moved into sixth place on the program’s all-time touchdowns leaderboard with his 33rd career passing touchdown.
Wide receiver Colton Dowell led the team with seven receptions for 59 yards while tallying a pair of touchdown receptions. Peyton Logan also tallied seven receptions for 41 yards while notching 17 carries for 35 for a total of 76 all-purpose yards. Wide receiver Donnell Williams paced the team with 101 receiving yards on six catches.
The safety duo of JaQuez Akins and Takeem Young led the team with nine tackles each. Akins and Giovanni Davis both tallied fumble recoveries on defense while John Ford rounded out his day with three tackles, a sack, 1.5 tackles for loss and an interception.
On special teams, Tyler Larco was 1-for-2 on field goal attempts with a season-long 47-yard field goal in the second quarter. Larco also averaged 40.3 yards per punt while pinning one inside the 20 on three attempts.
“When you look at the stats, stats are usually for losing coaches and that’s what I feel like right now,” UTM head coach Jason Simpson said. “Bottom line was in the redzone we were 3-of-6 and they were 2-of-2. We had plenty of opportunities, but we didn’t make enough big plays. I give our kids credit though because our kids are down. We have so many players out right now, we are asking new guys to step up. I appreciate their effort and fight. I’m disappointed for them and I feel for them. When you hold a team to 21 points, you feel like you have a chance to win.”
The game got off to a bumpy start when the Skyhawks gave the Redhawks a short field after a botched punt return resulted in a fumble just outside of the redzone. Five plays later, SEMO would be in the endzone following a one-yard rush by Geno Hess to take a 7-0 advantage.
The Skyhawks cut into the margin on the final drive of the first and the opening minutes of the second. UTM would wrap up the 11-play drive with a 47-yard field goal by Larco to make it a 7-3 contest.
UTM nearly took the lead on the following drive, stringing together a 12-play, 68-yard drive right down the field. The Skyhawks would eat up over six minutes of the clock and reach the SEMO two-yard line but could not punch in the go-ahead score – ultimately turning it over on downs.
With the margin still sitting at 7-3 coming out of halftime, Southeast Missouri used a quick strike from Andrew Bunch to find Rashaan Palmer who wrangled in a deflected pass and scampered 74 yards for a touchdown just 48 seconds into the third quarter.
The Skyhawks looked to respond on the following drive as they marched down for a 12-play drive. Bachus found Williams for a pair of big completions totaling 35 and 17 yards, respectively, to set up first and goal. From there Bachus punctuated the drive by finding Dowell for their first of two touchdowns with a two-yard completion to make it 14-10.
Southeast Missouri added one final score before the end of the third quarter. After Hess moved the Redhawks down the field with big gains of 31 and 14 yards, Bunch threw his second touchdown pass of the afternoon by finding Zack Smith for a three-yard touchdown to take a 21-10 advantage.
The Skyhawks put together a nice scoring drive in the fourth quarter through the air. Bachus completed passes of 33, 15 and 29 yards on the drive to move inside the SEMO five. Just needing to punch it in from there, Bachus found Dowell again for a two-yard strike. While the touchdown brought the deficit to 21-16, UTM could not find another scoring chance down the stretch.
UTM will close the season on Sunday, April 11 when playing host to Tennessee Tech at home. Kickoff from Hardy Graham Stadium is scheduled for 3 p.m.
