Southeast Missouri ends Jacksonville State's OVC win streak

Oct 21, 2018, 12:32 am

(STATS) -- The Southeast Missouri "Pink Up" jerseys on Saturday are to be auctioned off to support breast cancer awareness and research.

Bidders should add a little extra to their donations -- the jerseys have become collectors' items in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Redhawks upset No. 5 Jacksonville State 37-14 in Cape Girardeau to end the Gamecocks' 36-game conference winning streak.

Daniel Santacaterina threw two touchdowns and Bydarrius Knighten returned a blocked field goal 85 yards for a score to power Southeast Missouri (5-2, 3-1). The Gamecocks (5-2, 4-1), who trail Murray State (4-3, 4-0) in the OVC standings, fell three wins shy of Duquesne's all-time FCS record of 39 straight conference wins in the MAAC from 1999-2006. Their last OVC loss was to Eastern Illinois, 52-14 on Nov. 16, 2013.

"We were right with what we thought we had to do to win this game and executed on both sides of the football," Southeast Missouri coach Tom Matukewicz said. "Offensively, we had to keep hammering and got our run game going. We had some huge game breaker type plays and our quarterback played smart. It was a huge team win for our program."

Southeast Missouri had five takeaways, including linebacker Omardrick Douglas with two fumble recoveries, and didn't commit a turnover. The big special teams play put the Gamecocks ahead for good as Knighten scored off Zach Hall's block of JSU's Cade Stinnett to make it 14-7 with 5:09 left in the second quarter.

"I thought that was a huge turning point in the game," said JSU fifth-year coach John Grass, who lost to an OVC opponent for the first time. "We had a good drive and were going in to score and the block field goal was huge at that moment. We just weren't able to play out of that."

A safety by Hall (game-high 15 tackles) pushed the Redhawks' lead to 16-7 before halftime. Santacaterina then threw his second touchdown pass just 1:01 into the second half and the Redhawks were in full command.

Marquis Terry rushed for 102 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown with 1:58 left.

The victory was Southeast Missouri's seventh all-time over a ranked opponent, and the fourth in Matukewicz's six seasons. JSU had won 10 in a row and 15 of the previous 16 meetings with the Redhawks.