Southeast Missouri State football is its own worst enemy as it drops a heartbreaker to Dayton, 25-23

Southeast Missouri State wide receiver Trevon Billington breaks loose for a 68-yard touchdown catch against Dayton on Saturday at Welcome Stadium in Dayton, Ohio. The host Flyers won 25-23.

Jillian Francois Hocker ~ Special to The Southeast Missourian

DAYTON, Ohio -- The Southeast Missouri State football team spent four quarters Saturday creating its misfortune and, in the end, couldn't overcome that.

Searching for their first win of the season, the Redhawks failed to convert a two-point opportunity to punctuate a last-minute touchdown and fell to Dayton 25-23 at Welcome Stadium.

"We'll certainly play the what-if game and wish we would've taken care of a lot of those mistakes, so that's my job," Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz said. "Since I've been here, our biggest opponent has been SEMO. The bottom line is we beat ourselves."

The Dayton football team celebrates after denying a potential game-tying two-point conversion by Southeast Missouri State in the final minute of a game on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, at Welcome Stadium in Dayton, Ohio. The host Flyers won 25-23.

Jillian Francois Hocker

Senior quarterback Jesse Hosket guided Southeast (0-2) on a nine-play, 87-yard drive inside the final minute, capping it with a lob to wide receiver Kristian Wilkerson in the left corner of the end zone and cutting Dayton's lead to two points with 46 seconds to go.

Out of a timeout, SEMO lined up for the two-point conversion and Hosket rolled to his right but was intercepted by linebacker Jack Crain, as the Flyers recovered the ensuing onside kick and held on.

"They were rolling. That's why I believed they were going to finish the game out," Matukewicz said about his offense. "It wasn't a lack of execution on the two-point play. They just had the perfect defense called for what we were wanting to run, and they did a better job executing than we did."

The decisive play sent Wilkerson in a pre-snap motion from left to right and was designed to give him leverage on the outside, but with the receiver blanketed in coverage, Hosket was forced to find another option.

"We didn't get that leverage so I just tried to come back inside," Hosket said. "You've got to throw it somewhere. You can't hold onto it and take a sack, so that's what happened."

Hosket completed 20 of 32 passes (62.5 percent) for 251 yards and two touchdowns. He also had two interceptions, the second of which came with a little less than three minutes remaining in the game.

After Patrick Sandler converted a 38-yard field goal to give Dayton (1-1) a 25-17 lead with 2 minutes, 59 seconds remaining, Southeast began the following drive at its own 24-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Hosket threw into a host of defenders and was picked off by Andrew Lutgens at the 36. Three straight runs by Tucker Yinger forced Matukewicz to burn all of his timeouts, leading to a pooch punt that was downed at the 13 with 1:47 to go.

On SEMO's final drive, Hosket was 7-of-8 for 81 yards, mixing in completions to both Wilkerson and sophomore Trevon Billington.

"The defense did a great job getting us the ball back with time," Hosket said. "We had to go make something happen, and we did that.

"We just weren't able to finish on that two-point conversion."

Yinger led Dayton's potent rushing attack, finishing with 141 yards on 24 carries. The senior tailback averaged 5.9 yards per carry, while Sean Prophit added 45 yards on eight rushes (5.6 ypc).

"Give credit to them. They've won a lot of football games," Matukewicz said about Dayton. "There's a reason they've had the record they've had. They got us today."

After both teams traded possessions to start the game, quarterback Kyle Kaparos led the Flyers on a nine-play, 64-yard scoring drive that ended when J.P. Forcucci hauled in a 15-yard pass in the right corner of the end zone on third-and-goal, giving Dayton a 7-0 lead with 7:19 to go in the first quarter.

That lead grew to 10-0 on the Flyers' next possession, as Sandler booted a 32-yarder with 47 seconds left in the period.

Southeast answered by putting together a methodical, 16-play drive that spanned 65 yards and chewed up 8:10 off the clock. During the scoring drive, the Redhawks converted on fourth-and-1 before picking up first down on three separate third-down plays. Running back Marquis Terry ended the drive by burying his way into the end zone from 3 yards out to pull the visitors within 10-7 at the 7:41 mark of the second quarter.

"Physically, we could dominate them up front, and we did that," Hosket said. "We ran the ball great that drive. We ran it all the way down there and scored. It was a good drive. We just should've been able to do that the whole game."

Dayton responded with a 12-play drive that was kept alive by conversions on third-and-20 and third-and-16, respectively, both of which were gained on the ground. The Flyers reached goal-to-go territory but stalled out at the 8, settling for a 25-yard field goal by Sandler that moved the hosts ahead 13-7 with 2:02 left before halftime.

"It was all third-down issues on defense," said Matukewicz, whose defense allowed Dayton to go 6-of-9 on third down in the first half alone. "We got them in great third-down situations. They surprised us a little bit, and they were still committed to the run game. We had some pass calls in there, and they were able to convert those long third downs, which certainly kills you when they keep the drive alive."

Southeast Missouri State defensive back Shabari Davis defends a pass to Dayton wide receiver Jack Euritt during a game on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, at Welcome Stadium in Dayton, Ohio. The host Flyers won 25-23.

Jillian Francois Hocker

The Redhawks' offense went 53 yards to set up a 41-yard attempt for kicker Nicholas Litang, whose kick sailed wide left as time expired, allowing the Flyers to take a 13-7 lead into halftime.

Despite six penalties in the first half that negated 59 yards and stalled the offense, Matukewicz said his team felt fortunate being down only six points at the break.

"It was still really upbeat. We were getting the ball (back)," Matukewicz said. "I think the only disappointment was that we could've played better."

Southeast went three-and-out to start the second half, and Evan Scales' rugby punt was blocked, giving the Flyers a short field to work with at the Redhawks' 12. Dayton was unable to find the end zone and settled for a 25-yard field goal that extended the lead to 16-7.

Richie Eisenhart returned the ensuing kickoff 52 yards, giving SEMO's offense a break of its own. A 31-yard FG by Litang pulled the visitors within 16-10 with 10:57 left in the third.

Then, on the Redhawks' next possession, Hosket wasted no time finding the end zone, tossing a deep ball over the middle to Billington, who showed tremendous balance by staying on his feet for a 68-yard TD. Litang's PAT gave Southeast its only lead of the game, 17-16, with 8:58 remaining in the period.

Billington led all receivers with six catches for 135 yards. Wilkerson added 88 yards on a game-high nine catches.

"We needed to take some shots, and we needed receivers to step up and be able to run those routes," Matukewicz said. "Jesse hit them, and that was great to see."

On the offense's next possession, a pass intended for Tyler McLemore was bobbled and intercepted by linebacker David Leisring, who finished with a game-high 13 tackles. However, Dayton was unable to convert the turnover into points, as Sandler missed wide left from 40 yards out.

Southeast Missouri State running back Cameron Sanders is tackled by Dayton defensive end Nick Surges during a game on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, at Welcome Stadium in Dayton, Ohio. The host Flyers won 25-23.

Jillian Francois Hocker

Southeast carried its lead into the final quarter, but it didn't take long for the Flyers to regain the advantage. Kaparos connected with Ryan Skibinski from 9 yards out to cap a nine-play, 51-yard scoring drive and, after a failed two-point try, Dayton led 22-17 with 12:27 remaining.

The junior Terry led the Redhawks on the ground, finishing with 25 rushes for 111 yards, while Cameron Sanders chipped in 32 yards on five carries.

Chad Meredith paced SEMO's defense with 11 tackles, while Kendall Donnerson added seven stops, including three for loss.

In total yardage, Southeast out-gained Dayton 390-292. But in the end, it still wasn't enough to overcome a bevy of self-inflicted mistakes.

"I told the kids, 'We lost this football game because Coach Tuke didn't do his job,'" Matukewicz said. "That's on me, so I've got to do a better job. It's up to them to play better. We can put all our energy back into today, or we can put all our energy back into getting better Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday."

Southeast returns to action at 6 p.m. Saturday against Southern Illinois at Houck Field, and Matukewicz expects a renewed focus in his team's home opener.

"I think we've got to just be able to get our legs back," Matukewicz said. "We've got to breathe and get rested up, and this will be a challenge. Obviously SIU's a good football team, and this is a rivalry. There'll be a lot of energy. I know there'll be a great crowd.

"The biggest thing is I'm not going to make it about SIU. It's going to be SEMO versus SEMO. Are we going to be able to execute better than we have or not? That's what it's going to come down to."