Oct. 6, 2001

Final Stats

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Southeast Missouri State football team used a career-day from running back Curtis Cooper and 21 unanswered fourth quarter points to squash the upset bid of Tennessee-Martin, 45-30 on Saturday night.

Cooper, a senior running back, rushed for a career high 217 yards on 31 carries for an average of seven yards a rush. Cooper also scored two fourth quarter touchdowns, his first two rushing touchdowns on the season.

UT-Martin (1-4 overall, 0-2 Ohio Valley) was poised for the upset bid in the third quarter. The Skyhawks took a 30-24 lead over Southeast (3-3, 1-1) with 4:46 to play in the third on a Damien Harris 23-yard touchdown run. UT-Martin had lost 30 consecutive conference games entering this game. The last team they had beaten was Southeast Missouri, 7-6 back in the 1996 season.

UTM got on the board first when Skyhawk running back Justin Wall took a handoff on the game's first play and rumbled 67-yards to paydirt to put UTM up 7-0.

Southeast would respond later in the first quarter thanks to tough defense by the Indians. A bad snap on offense led to an Indian turnover and gave UTM the ball at midfield. But the Southeast defense hung strong and stopped the Skyhawks on downs and the Southeast offense took over again at midfield. Then Freshman quarterback Jeromy McDowell found Adrian Sanders on a 32-yard pass up even the score.

McDowell would leave the game after re-injuring his knee and backup Bobby Brune came in and led Southeast on a 16-play, 92 yard drive that was capped by Brune's 15-yard rush. On Southeast's next possession, Brune hit running back Iven Brown on a 26-yard strike to put Southeast up 21-7.

The team's traded field goals before UTM wide receiver Travis Parker pulled in a pass from sophomore quarterback Robert Hines with seven seconds remaining in the half. On the drive, the Skyhawks went three plays and 65 yards without a timeout to pull within 24-17 at the break.

Harris would score the first two touchdowns of the second half as Martin took its second lead of the ballgame at 30-24. The second touchdown drive of the quarter was a seven-play, 99 yard drive that started on the UTM 1-yard line. Hines hit his tight end Preston Pease on a 20-yard pass to move UTM out of the shadow of the endzone and give UTM life. Following a 15-yard rush by Hines, Southeast was charged two penalties for 20 yards that put UTM deep within Southeast territory. For the game Southeast was 14 penalties for a total of 159 yards.

After starting the third quarter with three consecutive three-and-outs, the fourth quarter belonged to Southeast and Cooper. Cooper scored on touchdown's of three and six yards to push Southeast into a 38-30 lead.

Cooper's second touchdown got a big assist from defensive back Mike Gross. On fourth down deep in their own territory, Gross took a handoff on a fake punt and ran 51 yards to set up the Southeast score.

Freshman Corey Kinsey would add his first collegiate touchdown with 20 seconds remaining to make the final score 45-30.

Cooper's 217-yard game was the first 200-plus yard game for a Southeast running back since Dion Tyler in 1995.

For the game, Southeast outgained the Skyhawks 464-445. The game was almost dead even according to the statistics, with UTM gaining four more passing yards, Southeast gaining seven more rushing yards and the time of possession separated by only 38 seconds.

"Curtis can do everything," Coach Tim Billings said when discussing his star back. "He had another great game. We were patient and just kept giving the ball to Curtis and it payed off."