Colonels look to bounce back against Southeast Missouri State
Eastern seeks to stay among the top competitors in OVC football with conference win Saturday
Langdon Barnes
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: Sports
The Colonels will try to get back on track this weekend at Roy Kidd Stadium. Eastern (4-3, 4-2 OVC) hosts the Redhawks of Southeast Missouri State (1-6, 0-5 OVC) at 1 p.m.
The Colonels are coming off a shocking loss to Austin Peay while the Redhawks dropped their 6th game in a row by losing to Tennessee Tech. SEMO has not won since their 72-3 opening game beat down of Quincy College. That game was followed by a 70-3 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats, the No. 5 ranked team in the nation in the last FBS poll.
The Colonels lead the all-time series against SEMO 17-2, winning the last five games. Just because Eastern has dominated the series does not mean an easy win. The Colonels had previously won 22 straight games against Austin Peay before losing 24-20 last Saturday.
"We must play 60 minutes of EKU football to win," senior running back C.J. Walker said. "We did not do that against Austin Peay and we must do that to be successful."
Eastern's loss and an Eastern Illinois win moved the Panthers into first place of the OVC. The previous first-place team, Jacksonville State, fell to Eastern Illinois.
Last yearís game between the two featured a fourth quarter comeback by the Colonels. Eastern went down 16-7 late in the third quarter. The Colonel offense then scored with under a minute left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 16-14. The defense forced a punt for the first time in the game shortly thereafter, and Eastern scored a touchdown on an 84-yard drive to go up by the score of 21-16.
The Colonel defense came up big when Jeremy Caldwell returned a 66-yard interception for a touchdown. Caldwell is currently tied for first in all of FCS schools with six interceptions.
The Redhawks are led by quarterback Matt Scheible. Scheible has thrown for 1,069 yards with a 51 percent completion percentage. The sophomore has tossed six touchdowns but also 11 interceptions.
Scheible is also a dangerous threat on the ground. He has run for 285 yards and three touchdowns for the Redhawks this season.
Scheible has three receivers who catch the majority of his passes. Junior Miles Edwards, senior Walter Peoples and sophomore Chantae Ahamefule all have at least 21 receptions and one touchdown.
Combined they have 748 yards receiving.
The ground game is lead by junior Henry Harris. Harris has run for 371 yards and five touchdowns. He is averaging five yards per carry.
Junior Mike Jones is also a contributor in the running game. He has run for 260 yards and a touchdown for the Redhawks.
The Colonels are now out of the top 25 is the latest FCS rankings. Eastern has two OVC games remaining and four games remaining overall.
"We have to come into our games more focused than we have been our past couple performances," quarterback T.J. Pryor said. "The biggest thing is to stay focused for 60 minutes and to take it one game at a time and not look ahead to our other games."
The Colonels are coming off a shocking loss to Austin Peay while the Redhawks dropped their 6th game in a row by losing to Tennessee Tech. SEMO has not won since their 72-3 opening game beat down of Quincy College. That game was followed by a 70-3 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats, the No. 5 ranked team in the nation in the last FBS poll.
The Colonels lead the all-time series against SEMO 17-2, winning the last five games. Just because Eastern has dominated the series does not mean an easy win. The Colonels had previously won 22 straight games against Austin Peay before losing 24-20 last Saturday.
"We must play 60 minutes of EKU football to win," senior running back C.J. Walker said. "We did not do that against Austin Peay and we must do that to be successful."
Eastern's loss and an Eastern Illinois win moved the Panthers into first place of the OVC. The previous first-place team, Jacksonville State, fell to Eastern Illinois.
Last yearís game between the two featured a fourth quarter comeback by the Colonels. Eastern went down 16-7 late in the third quarter. The Colonel offense then scored with under a minute left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 16-14. The defense forced a punt for the first time in the game shortly thereafter, and Eastern scored a touchdown on an 84-yard drive to go up by the score of 21-16.
The Colonel defense came up big when Jeremy Caldwell returned a 66-yard interception for a touchdown. Caldwell is currently tied for first in all of FCS schools with six interceptions.
The Redhawks are led by quarterback Matt Scheible. Scheible has thrown for 1,069 yards with a 51 percent completion percentage. The sophomore has tossed six touchdowns but also 11 interceptions.
Scheible is also a dangerous threat on the ground. He has run for 285 yards and three touchdowns for the Redhawks this season.
Scheible has three receivers who catch the majority of his passes. Junior Miles Edwards, senior Walter Peoples and sophomore Chantae Ahamefule all have at least 21 receptions and one touchdown.
Combined they have 748 yards receiving.
The ground game is lead by junior Henry Harris. Harris has run for 371 yards and five touchdowns. He is averaging five yards per carry.
Junior Mike Jones is also a contributor in the running game. He has run for 260 yards and a touchdown for the Redhawks.
The Colonels are now out of the top 25 is the latest FCS rankings. Eastern has two OVC games remaining and four games remaining overall.
"We have to come into our games more focused than we have been our past couple performances," quarterback T.J. Pryor said. "The biggest thing is to stay focused for 60 minutes and to take it one game at a time and not look ahead to our other games."
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