Lindenwood QB Cade Brister drops back to pass during an Ohio Valley Conference football matchup, Saturday afternoon at Hunter Stadium, against SEMO. (Photo: Cedric Williams)
| Teams | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southeast Missouri State (4-1) | 6 | 15 | 7 | 21 | 49 |
| Lindenwood (2-2) | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 28 |
Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
ST. CHARLES, MO — Through its first four games as an NCAA Division I FCS football team, Lindenwood University has shown an unfortunate pattern to begin each contest. The Lions have gotten off to slow starts.
The offense and defense, at times, has had trouble getting going in the early going, and that’s caused some problems for the Lions.
That happened again on Saturday at Hunter Stadium, when Lindenwood was hosting the first ever “Game Ball Brawl” against new Ohio Valley Conference rival, Southeast Missouri State. The Lions had two three-and-outs and a turnover in their first four possessions and fell behind the Redhawks, 21-0, before eventually succumbing to the visitors from Cape Girardeau, 49-28.
“They’re a good football team, and we kind of dug ourselves in a hole, with some penalties, and a turnover, and some bad tackling on defense,” Lindenwood head coach Jed Stugart said. “But most of these things have to start with me and our coaching staff. We’ve got to get our guys going a bit and emphasize these things, and figure out a way to get our team started faster.”
Southeast Missouri was just the opposite. The Redhawks, who came into Saturday’s contest ranked No. 24 in the Stats Perform national rankings, and were among those receiving votes in the national FCS Coaches Poll, drove down the field and scored points on each of their first four possessions.
That gave SEMO a 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter, before Lindenwood finally got going and responded with a scoring drive of its own. The Lions went 75 yards on 11 plays, and scored when quarterback Cade Brister hit wideout Payton Rose for 14 yard touchdown.
That got the crowd back into the game, and they became even more excited when Lindenwood stopped SEMO for the first time to get the ball back just before halftime. Unfortunately, a penalty pushed the Lions out of field goal range and forced them to have to attempt a Hail Mary pass, which was easily knocked away by the SEMO secondary.
“It’s just mistakes like that, that really cost us,” Stugart said. “Southeast is a really good team. They’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of speed over there, and we just can’t be shooting ourselves in the foot like that.”
In the third quarter, Lindenwood was able to drive the ball much better, and even pulled to within 21-14, following a 19-yard touchdown pass from Brister to Kobe Smith. But SEMO continued to dominate with its offense and went right down the field, on just six plays, to score again and put themselves back up by two touchdowns.
The key sequence in the game came just a few minutes later, when Lindenwood drove down the field and looked like it was gonna score again to pull back within seven points. But a Brister pass was intercepted by SEMO’s Bryce Norman, inside the Redhawk 10-yard line, to keep the Lions from scoring.
Then on the very next play, SEMO running back Geno Hess broke free for an 86-yard touchdown run that put the Redhawks up 35-14.
“We had the same thing happen last week,” Stugart said. “We were driving down for a score that would’ve put us right back in it. They stopped us on fourth down on the 3. And then the next play, they went 97 yards and it just took the air out of the whole team.
“And it was just poor tackling. We had guys there, and we just missed the tackles. On that play and this play today. Just poor tackling. It’s something we’ve gotta work on.”
Hess finished the day with 274 yards on 24 carries and four touchdowns. It was the second straight week that an opponent rushed for over 200 yards against the Lions.
Receiver Johnny King, who came into Saturday’s matchup leading the OVC in receiving, also had a big day. He caught eight passes for 126 yards and a touchdown.
For Lindenwood, Brister finished with 346 passing yards, three touchdown throws, and a touchdown run. Running back Andrew Martin, who started in place of 2021 GLVC Freshman of the Year Robert Giaimo, who’s out for the season with a knee injury, had 134 total yards (74 rushing, 60 receiving) and made two tackles on special teams.
The Lions, who are now 2-2 on the season, will look to get back on the winning track, when they go back on the road next week, for a game against Central Arkansas.
Lindenwood’s next home game will be Saturday, October 22, when the Lions will host their Homecoming Game against Murray State.
| 2022 Lindenwood Lions Upcoming Football Schedule |
| Sat., October 8 — at Central Arkansas — 4 pm |
| Sat., October 15 — at Eastern Illinois — 2 pm |
| Sat., October 22 — vs. Murray State — 1 pm (Homecoming) |
| Sat., October 29 — vs. William Jewell — 1 pm |
| Sat., November 5 — at Tennessee Tech — 1:30 pm |
| Sat., November 12 — vs. McKendree — 1 pm |
| All Lindenwood home games will be played at Harlen C. Hunter Stadium |