Tennessee State Tigers Edge SEMO on Senior Day, 23-20

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- In the final home game of the season, Tennessee State earned a 23-20 victory over Southeast Missouri on Saturday afternoon in Hale Stadium.

Vincent Sellers blocked a punt with under five minutes to play to set up the game winning scoring drive. Lane Clark connected on his third field goal of the day, a 44 yarder, with just over two minutes on the clock to propel the Tigers to their sixth win of the season.

Sellers secured the win as he broke up a pass on a fourth down attempt, giving TSU the ball back with a minute left in the contest.

Michael Hughes went for 196 passing yards, hitting Steven Newbold for five passes totalling 153 yards on the day. Mahlon Medley caught a 28-yard touchdown pass, while senior fullback Terence Harris had the first touch of his career, resulting in a nine-yard Tiger touchdown.

TSU's nationally-ranked defense allowed only 83 passing yards from the Redhawks, improving upon its 156.0 season average. LaQuarius Cook and Chris Collins tied for a team-high nine tackles.

Game 10: Tennessee State 23, Southeast Missouri 20
Records: TSU (6-4, 2-4), SEMO (2-8, 2-5)
Venue: William J. Hale Stadium
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 58
Attendance: 8,693

BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY

TOTALS

• TSU held Southeast Missouri to three first downs in the first half; nine in the contest
• The Tigers outgained the Redhawks, 343-231
• The defense held their opponents to 29 yards under its average
• TSU came in ranked sixth in the nation in Total defense (259.9 yards/game)
• The Big Blue allowed 83 yards through the air
• The offense averaged 21.8 yards per completion
• TSU won the Time of Possession battle, 35:27-24:33

INDIVIDUAL

• Steven Newbold led all receivers with 153 yards on five receptions
• The sophomore wide out caught four passes of over 30 yards (36, 33, 38, 35)
• Michael Hughes finished 9-of-14 for 196 yards and two touchdowns with one interception
• Mahlon Medley caught his third touchdown against Southeast Missouri (caught two in 2016)
• Lane Clark connected on field goals of 37, 44 and 45 yards
• Clark had a 42-yard attempt blocked in the third quarter
• The senior kicker recorded 11 points versus SEMO, which ties for seventh most in a game by a Tiger kicker
• Clark scored 12 points a week ago (sixth best in TSI history) against Virginia University Lynchburg
• Jason Morrow blocked an extra point in the first quarter, the third of the season for the senior
• Morrow came in ranked sixth in the country in blocked kicks
• Sabree Curtis led TSU with 72 yards on nine carries, averaging 8.0 yards/carry
• Chris Rowland averaged 7.8 yards per carry with six rushes for 47 yards
• LaQuarius Cook and Chris Collins led the team with nine tackles
• Collins and Justin North each recorded 2.0 tackles for loss
• North recorded a sack and forced a fumble, which Blair Edwards would recover
• Edwards later forced a fumble
• Vincent Sellers finished with five tackles and two pass breakups, including one on the final defensive play of the game
• Terrell Bonds notched the ninth interception of his career, moving him into the TSU Top 10 list
• Bonds is tied for eighth with Deon Giddens (2002-03), Roger Holmes (1985-87) and Steven Godbolt III (2011-13)
• Collins moved to eighth all-time at TSU in tackles (254), past Simon Shanks (1989-90) with 246
• With four punts today, Austin Rowley now has 134 in his career
• The junior moves past Thomas Headen (1979-82) who finished his career with 131 stops

FIRST QUARTER

• The Tigers opened their first drive of the game with a 36 yard pass play from Michael Hughes to Steven Newbold
• TSU settled for a Lane Clark 37 yard field goal
• The defense would force a fumble on the next play, as Justin North sacked Jesse Hosket allowing Blair Edwards to recover the ball
• The offensive drive stalled forcing a 45 yard field goal by Clark
• The Tigers took a 6-0 advantage with 3:57 remaining in the first quarter
• After a defensive stop by the Tigers, the SEMO defense stepped up with a 21 yard interception for a touchdown by Devin Alexander
• Jason Morrow blocked his third kick of the year to keep the score at 6-6
• TSU outgained the Redhawks in the first stanza, 69-34

SECOND QUARTER

• SEMO threatened to begin the second with consecutive runs by Marquis Terry of 26 and 12 yards, respectively
• The Big Blue stepped up to force a turnover on downs to end the threat at the TSU 40
• The defense came through with their second turnover of the game as Terrell Bonds record his ninth career interception
• Starting at their own eight, the offense responded with Chris Rowland gaining 25 yards on two carries
• Hughes teamed with Newbold again, this time for 33 yards to move to the SEMO 29
• Two plays later, Hughes found Mahlon Medley all alone for a 28 yard touchdown pass for a 13-6 lead
• The Tigers outgained the Redhawks, 98-74, and held a 167-108 yard advantage at the break

THIRD QUARTER

• The Tigers opened the second half with a drive lasting over six minutes which reached the Redhawks seven
• Hughes used his legs to get the drive started with an 18 yard run
• Four consecutive runs moved the Tigers into SEMO territory
• Newbold caught a Hughes pass and avoided his defender and sprinted down the right sideline before being brought down at the seven
• Penalties hindered the Tigers drive forcing a 42 yard field goal attempt by Clark
• Justin Swift blocked the attempt for the Redhawks
• SEMO took over at the Tigers 37 and needed just nine plays to even the score at 13-13 with 2:46 to play in the third
• Hosket found Kristian Wilkerson for the nine yard scoring play
• The Tigers outgained SEMO 121-42 in the third

FOURTH QUARTER

• Sabree Curtis put together runs of 19 and 14 yards to move into SEMO territory heading into the final period
• Newbold recorded his third reception for over 30 yards, a 35 yard pass from Hughes, to enter the red zone
• Two plays later, Hughes rolled right and found Terence Harris for a nine yards touchdown to take a 20-13 lead
• SEMO responded with a kickoff return to midfield
• The Redhawks used the Hosket to Wilkerson connection to even the score seven plays later to even the score at 20-20
• Freshman safety Vincent Sellers continued his stellar season by blocking a SEMO punt and recovering the ball at the Redhawks 31 with 4:28 to play
• Clark converted his third field goal of the day with a 44-yarder with 2:07 on the clock
• The defense stopped the Redhawks on a fourth down attempt as Sellers broke up a Hosket pass

GAME NOTES

• TSU won the coin toss and chose to defer to the second half
• Captains for TSU Lane Clark, Ebo Ogundeko, Chris Collins and Patrick Smith
• Seven seniors served as secondary captains
• Weather at kickoff was 58 degrees and Mostly Cloudy
• The Tigers lead the series with the Redhawks 14-11
• TSU is 9-2 versus SEMO in Nashville
• Tennessee State is 6-0 this season when scoring first
• The Tigers forced two turnovers on the day
• The Big Blue entered the game ranked 34th in the nation
• Senior kicker Lane Clark surpassed Charles Anthony to place fifth in all-time career points with 254 after kicking for 11 today
• Terence Harris scored his first touchdown of his career during his final game at home
• The pass play was the first reception for the senior fullback in his four year career; Harris also has no rush attempts during his career

WHAT’S NEXT: Tennessee State will travel to Jacksonville, Ala. for the final game of the season. The Ohio Valley Conference contest versus Jacksonville State will be played on Thursday, Nov. 16.

QUOTES
Head Coach Rod Reed-On the game
“We talked in pre-game about the things we needed to do to be successful, and the main thing was to protect the football, dominate on our kicking game and dominate on both sides of the lines of scrimmage – win at the offense line, win at the defensive line and win at the line of scrimmage. Out guys came out and did that. We played hard. With the exception of a few big plays we gave up defensively, we did extremely well. Newbold gave us a shot when we needed it, giving us a good field position to make plays. L. Cook makes the checks in the secondary. SEMO does a lot in the secondary with motions and shifts and we did a good job defensively. Coach Fisher had a great game plan for this team, as did Coach Parker.”

Senior Kick Lane Clark-On the game
“It was intense. It came all the way down to the end. Both sides of the ball played hard and special teams was a big part of the game today.”

-On moving into No. 5 in all-time career points
“Points don’t mean that much. It feels good, but when it comes down to it, I’m going to be ready regardless.”

-On short week preparation
“Same thing as every week – I’m starting to feel stronger. Protection has been doing really well. Each day we’re going to work special teams like we always do, hopefully I’ll be kicking a lot of PATs instead of field goals.”

Sophomore Quarterback Michael Hughes
-On the offense
“It started off a little rough. I threw a pick six, but eventually we bounced back and put up some more points on the scoreboard. We came out the win.”

-On pass options
“Today was actually Steven Newbold. I think they were trying to double-team Pat because of what he’s produced in the past, but they left Steve 1-on-1 on the backside a lot, so I went to him and made big plays.”

Senior Linebacker Chris Collins -On how he wants to finish out the season
“I think Jacksonville State is top five in the nation, so a ‘W’ there… I would be satisfied. It’ll be a huge win for us.”

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