By Tyler Wooten
GoSycamores.com

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – It came down to two-point conversions three different times over the last two minutes of the game, but Indiana State was able to prevail in the end in a wild 29-28 victory over the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

There appeared to be several cruxes to the game over the last several minutes of play in the fourth quarter, but the game literally came down to a 26-yard Southeast (1-2, 0-0 OVC) touchdown to pro-talent caliber wide receiver Paul McRoberts as time expired, and then a failed two-point conversion directed his way to ensure victory for Indiana State (2-1, 0-0 MVFC).

“First of all, I'm really proud of our team,” said ISU head coach Mike Sanford. “I thought there was a lot of maturing that happened today, which I'm excited about. This was a great team win. We struggled in the first half, which was very obvious. It wasn't pretty, but it was a great win.”

It was a tough, defensive battle for much of the game between the Sycamores and Redhawks, but the final two minutes were a preposterously fun ride with three touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions before the final attempt fell out of McRobert's reach in the right corner of the endzone.

After falling down 7-0 on a blazing 80-yard touchdown run by SEMO quarterback Tay Bender and trailing at the half for the first time since 2013 (Nov. 16, vs. Western Illinois), Indiana State exploded for 21 points in the third quarter to take a 21-7 advantage heading into the final frame.

What got it started for the Sycamores was an improbable 100-yard interception return for a touchdown by Travis Starks at the 11:15 mark in the third quarter to tie the game 7-7. Starks picked off Bender in the left corner of the endzone and proceeded to burst out and find his way to the corner, leaving Southeast's offensive pursuers in the dust around the 30-yard-line on his way to the house.

“That was the difference-maker play of the game,” Sanford said.” It gave us a whole bunch of juice. That was big. What a great interception and what a great run. One of the things we do on defense is we practice scoring; we actually have guys blocking. We did an excellent job of executing that and he made a huge play.”

The energy that play brought was palpable both in the stands and on the sideline. Freshman Marlon Fleming got in on the fun at the 5:34 mark on a 13-yard touchdown run – his second in two games at Memorial Stadium – and as time expired in the third quarter Indiana State offensive coordinator Brian Sheppard dug into his bag of tricks.

Nine yards out and with the momentum of a solid drive behind them, Sheppard drew up a fake double-pitch option to the right with quarterback Matt Adam and running back Roland Genesy, but senior wide receiver Gary Owens pulled back from blocking to catch the pitch on a reverse end-around for the nine-yard score – the first rushing touchdown of his career.

And then, the real fun began. With starting running back and No. 4 rusher in the FCS DeMichael Jackson out with an injury, SEMO turned to Tremane McCullough to lead the way – and that he did. McCullough led all rushers on Saturday with 114 yards on 18 touches, starting with an 18-yard touchdown run with 9:29 to play to regain some momentum for Southeast.

The Redhawks got the ball back and put together another impressive drive, nickel-and-diming the Sycamore defense down to the one-yard-line, where SEMO fullback Lewis Washington plowed ahead for the score to make the game 21-20 in favor of the Sycamores. SEMO head coach Tom Matukewicz then made the gutsy call to go for two – and, at that point, presumably the win – and it paid off. Quarterback Dante Vandeven – playing in place of the benched Bender following the 100-yard interception return – hit wide receiver Darius Darden-Box for the two-point conversion to go up 22-21 with 2:24 left to play.

The Sycamores, rather than panic at being down so late in the game on such a call, responded in resolute fashion with a spectacular drive of their own.

On the first play of the drive, Adam hit Roland Genesy on a swing pass for 10 yards and a new set of downs. Adam and the Sycamores weren't wasting any time, though, as Adam hit Gary Owens on the right sideline for a 25-yard pickup to the SEMO 40 yard line. The Redhawk defense fought back, forcing Coach Sanford into a tough decision on 4th and 3 on the SEMO 33-yard-line: attempt a 50-yard field goal, or go for it and risk the game.

Sanford went ahead with a gutsy call of his own and sent his offense back on the field. What followed was purely Matt Adam. All looked lost at the beginning of the play, as Southeast forced Adam out of the pocket almost immediately. Adam never lost composure, though, and found Owens without a safety over the top of him (like there had been all game) for a 33-yard touchdown up the right sideline for the score with 41 seconds left to play.

“That was actually a bootleg call,” Sanford said. “It could have been just a completion for the first down, but they squatted on Gary's comeback (route) and he just went and Matt made a beautiful throw.”

“The defense had been carrying me all game, so I had to go make a play for them,” Adam said.

Up 27-22, ISU then needed to go for the two-point conversion to be able to keep SEMO at bay. Adam found sophomore transfer wide receiver Kelvin Cook in the right flat for the score to make it a seven-point game again at 29-22.

But the game wasn't over, as Southeast used every last one of those 41 seconds to their advantage. Following a penalty to Owens for unsportsmanlike conduct that both pushed the kickoff back 15 yards and forced Owens out of the game with his second-such penalty, Southeast was able to start their drive on their own 43.

SEMO then opened its drive with a 19-yard first down to McRoberts to the ISU 38. The Sycamore defense held strong until 4th and 9, when Vandeven found Darden-Box just beyond the chains for an 11-yard pickup to the ISU 26 with two seconds remaining.

Southeast used all three of its timeouts in succession to prepare for the final play, and it appears all that preparation was worth it. Vandeven hit McRoberts across the middle five yards shy of the endzone, but McRoberts easily slipped in as time expired to make it a 29-28 game.

Rather than play for overtime, though, Matukewicz yet again kept his offense on the field and went for the win. The play was a fade to McRoberts in the right corner, but the pass sailed out of the endzone and the Indiana State bench stormed the field.

“It's all about those 11 guys out there doing their job,” Sanford said. “That was key, and that's what ended up happening.”

The win is a good one for ISU over an up-and-coming Southeast Missouri team that recently knocked off MVFC foe Southern Illinois at home on Sept. 12.

Most of all, it was a good team win for the Sycamores, who saw production spread evenly throughout its offense. Matt Adam had a career-high 252 passing yards – much of which came in the second half after being sacked five times in the first. Roland Genesy got the start in place of the injured LeMonte Booker and had a solid day with 71 yards on 14 touches, as well as 30 receiving yards on four catches. Robert Tonyan Jr. led a receiving corps that featured five different receivers with three catches each, hauling in five balls for 85 yards.

“I'm really proud of all those guys,” Sanford said. “The best thing we did is that we protected the football. This team forced seven turnovers against Southern Illinois, and we only had one today.”

The Sycamore defense was even more impressive following a 540-yard allowance at Purdue last week. ISU had two sacks, seven TFL, one fumble recovery, four pass breakups and two interceptions – one of which being the Starks touchdown return. Senior safety Marcus Gray received his first career start in place of the injured Mark Sewall and did not disappoint, leading all ISU tacklers with 11 stops (seven solo), one TFL and one interception in the endzone in the third quarter.

Jameer Thurman also had double-digit tackles with 10 (five solo), and Conrrad Nicholls led ISU in TFL with 2.0 for a loss of five yards – including a sack for the second straight game.

ISU is now 2-1 overall and 2-0 at home for the second-straight season – the first time that has happened in consecutive years since 2011-2012.

The Sycamores will be able to enjoy their bye next week, which comes at the perfect time to help nurse some injuries that ISU has accumulated over the last three weeks. Indiana State will begin Missouri Valley Football Conference play at Missouri State on Sat., Oct. 3.

“I'm extremely happy that we came out with a win today,” Sanford said. “We fought through a lot of things. I feel really good about us going into the bye week 2-1 and going into the Missouri Valley Football Conference.”

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