Gameday blog: UT Martin at Southeast

The Southeast Missouri State football team tried to send the game into overtime with a 42-yard field goal attempt by Ryan McCrum with 53.5 seconds remaining.

McCrum's kick missed wide left and UT Martin held on to defeat the Redhawks 28-25 in the season finale.

Southeast finished the season 4-7 and 3-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Redhawks cut the UTM lead to 14-10 33 seconds into the second half on a 30-yard TD run by Tremane McCullough.

The Skyhawks scored on a 10-yard Caylon Weathers catch 2:12 later to make it 21-10 UTM and Rod Wright caught a 20-yard TD pass with 8:53 left in the third to make it 28-10.

Paul McRoberts caught a pass a step outside of the end zone and pushed past the defender for a 29-yard TD that cut it to 28-17 with 5:45 left in the third.

McRoberts caught a 6-yard TD pass with 12:03 remaining for the final score.

Complete coverage on semoball.com later.

The Southeast Missouri State football team trails visiting UT Martin 14-3 at halftime.

UTM moved the ball down to the Southeast 22 on its opening drive but a false start and a sack by John Popovich brought up fourth-and-18 from the 23 for the Skyhawks.

UTM went for it on fourth down and safety Eriq Moore intercepted a Jarod Neal pass.

The Redhawks went up 3-0 on their next drive with a 23-yard field goal by Ryan McCrum with 1 minute, 7 seconds left in the first quarter.

Southeast had three passes to the end zone fall incomplete on the drive.

UTM went up 7-3 with 9:13 left in the second quarter. Popovich sacked Neal on the first play of the Skyhawks' drive to set up second-and-17 from the UTM 36 but Neal hit Caylon Weathers for a 16-yard gain and then RB Trent Garland ran it 28 yards on fourth-and-inches. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Southeast got UTM to the 10 and Garland ran it in from 1-yard out two plays later.

Southeast punted on its next drive and UTM began on its own 10.

RB Ladevin Fair got free up the Skyhawks' sideline and ran it 52 yards on the second play of the drive to the Southeast 33.

He had another 23-yard run to the Southeast 10. WR Rod Wright caught a 7-yard touchdown pass to cap the drive and make it 14-3 UTM with 3:59 left in the half.

Both teams exchanged punts and Southeast took over for the final time with 28 seconds left on its 47.

After a 13-yard pass to Paul McRoberts, Dante Vandeven was picked off on the second play of the drive.

Neal completed passes of 16 and 12 yards to Weathers and the Skyhawks attempted a 51-yard field goal with 1.3 seconds on the clock.

Southeast blocked it and McCullough returned it to the UTM 28 to end the half.

The Skyhawks rushed for 159 yards on 23 carries and Neal completed 7 of 11 passes for 73 yards.

Vandeven completed 10 of 19 passes for 103 yards. The Redhawks had 17 yards rushing on 12 carries.

Roper Garrett surpassed 100 tackles on the season with 11 in the first half.

The Southeast Missouri State football team hosts UT Martin in its season finale today. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Twelve Southeast seniors -- Paul McRoberts, Alex Niznak, Lewis Washington, Traven Mable, Jon Slania, David Coley, Josh Freeman, Ryan Evans, Wade Wright, Lawrence Hills, Austin Black and Peter Lloyd -- will be honored prior to the start of the game.

Erin Unerstall will provide updates from Houck Stadium. You can follow along on Twitter @semoballErin for live updates throughout the game and you don't have to have a Twitter account to see the posts.

The Skyhawks enter today's contest with a 5-2 record in the Ohio Valley Conference and hopes for an at-large bid to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs still alive. A preview of the game can be found here.

The Redhawks are coming off a 56-28 loss to No. 1 Jacksonville Statelast weekend. Southeast is 4-6 overall and 3-3 in the OVC heading into its final game.

Southeast freshman quarterback Dante Vandeven received high praise from JSU coach

John Grass and UT Martin coach Jason Simpson during the OVC's weekly media teleconference on Tuesday. Read what they had to say, along with a look at what OVC teams have a chance of making the playoffs, here.

You can get caught up on all of semoball.com's Southeast football coverage here.