Story by Keith Jaco
Staff Writer
After trailing the Redhawks of Southeast Missouri State by 31 mid-way through the first half on Saturday afternoon, the Murray State Racers rallied in resilient effort with help from the defense and a near perfect second half performance by senior quarterback Drew Anderson in route to a 40-38 victory.
The Racers put up 34 unanswered points – 27 in the second half – to take a late-game lead and set up a wild finish.
Murray State elected to receive the first-half kickoff, and the trouble began early on. Following a missed 30-yard field goal by senior kicker Gabriel Vicente, SEMO got on the board with a two-yard touchdown run from senior running back Marquis Terry.
The Redhawks defense made its presence known early, forcing Anderson to fumble and throw an interception on back-to-back drives, giving them a commanding 17-0 lead heading into the second quarter. On the Racers’ first drive of the second quarter, Anderson threw his third interception of the day to junior linebacker Justin Swift, who took it to the house for a 76-yard touchdown return.
Swift had a decent afternoon for the Redhawks, amassing 8 total tackles and one fumble recovery to go along with his interception.
Murray State and SEMO would trade touchdowns at the end of the quarter to give the Redhawks a 31-7 lead at the half.
The Murray State defense came out of the locker room and forced back-to-back three and outs, leading to a 38-yard field goal by Vicente as the Racers started to chisel away at its deficit drive-by-drive.
Following a nine-yard touchdown pass from Anderson to junior wide receiver Malik Honeycutt, the Racer defense came up huge with an interception by junior linebacker Kendrick Catis, giving the Racers favorable field position.
Catis recalled there was no change in game plan going into the second half.
“We did everything the same as we did in the first half,” Catis said. “The coaches called the right plays and it just came to a matter of time where each player had to do their jobs.”
Murray State continued to take advantage of the Redhawks mistakes by punching in another touchdown, this time on a four-yard pass from Anderson to junior wide receiver Tyre Gray. 17 unanswered points from the Racer offense left Murray State trailing by just one touchdown heading into the fourth quarter.
Vicente knocked home a 23-yard field goal to bring the Racers within four with 11 minutes remaining, as the Racers continued to knock on the Redhawk’s door. Consecutive defensive stands from each team’s defense paved the way for 10 minutes of scoreless play in the fourth.
Anderson and the Racer offense dug deep and delivered a five play 82-yard drive to take their first lead of the day on a seven-yard pass from Anderson to freshman wide receiver LaMartez Brooks, with just under two minutes remaining in the game. A minute and a half drive led by junior quarterback Daniel Santacaterina resulted in SEMO taking a 38-34 lead with 20 seconds left to play.
In the most unlikeliest of heroes, Honeycutt was back deep to receive the Redhawk kickoff. After finding a hole and bursting through the gap, Honeycutt turned on the jets and made his way 79 yards into the end zone, giving the Racers the lead and ultimately the win.
With 5 seconds left, no one could stop him from finding the end zone ?
(? @Carhartt) pic.twitter.com/uZ0pHIM7Z2
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 10, 2018
Honeycutt knew his job was to make a big play in this do-or-die situation.
“The only thing going through my head was ‘don’t go down,’” Honeycutt said. “I just kept running and seeing open space so I kept cutting back, cutting back and kept running.”
Head Coach Mitch Stewart was nearly speechless following the win over SEMO.
“I’m just incredibly proud for these kids,” Stewart said. “There was never any doubt, they just believed. We didn’t even stretch or warm up in the second half, we just came out to the sideline ready to play ball.”
Murray State will be on the road to close out its season next weekend. The Racers will take on Austin Peay at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17, at Fortera Stadium.
