Southeast Missouri Downs Southern Illinois, 21-14

Saturday, September 7

Carbondale, Ill.

7:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

1-1

Southeast Missouri

2-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
SEMO	0	14	0	7	21
Southern Illinois	0	0	0	14	14

09/07/2002 | 12:00:00 | Football

Box Score

Sept. 7, 2002

Box Score?|? Photo Gallery

CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) - Corey Kinsey ran for 133 yards and Southeast Missouri quarterback Jack Tomco threw a 38-yard touchdown pass with 49 seconds left in a 21-14 win over Southern Illinois on Saturday.

Southeast Missouri (2-0) led 14-0 heading into the final quarter, but gave up back-to-back scores by Salukis (1-1) running back Tom Koutsos to tie it up. Koutsos, who scored on runs of 3 and 1 yards, had 154 yards rushing on 26 carries.

"We came back and did a great job in the second half," Koutsos said. "You have to give it up to SEMO, they played a great game. But people should be excited about what's going on with SIU football. We played hard, but just couldn't come out on top. Last year we got blown out by this team."

With the score tied, Tomco drove the Indians down the field before hitting Willie Ponder for the winning score. Tomco was 15-of-23 for 129 yards and two touchdowns.

The Salukis gained more yards that Southeast Missouri, 337-295, but nearly all of it came on the ground. Southern Illinois attempted just 10 passes, completing five for 80 yards. The Indians also sacked quarterback Joel Sambursky three times.

With the two touchdowns, Koutsos became the school's all-time leader in that category with 38.

Postgame Quotes

CB Derrick Corker: "We came a little too late. We played a good team. We lost on the scoreboard, but we had victories in other aspects of the game."

QB Joel Sambursky: "I've seen film and I know I've made mistakes. Coach says its because I'm young, but I've got to correct them. I owe it to the seniors."

"I don't think last year we would have fought for four quarters. We can take some positives out of this game. We are going to be a good team."

S Alexis Moreland: "We learned that we can come back from a deficit. We gave ourselves a chance but just came up short."

Head Coach Jerry Kill: "I saw a lot of good things tonight that I haven't seen since I've been here. The youngsters we are playing really stepped up, Tommy Koutsos really impressed me with his leadership in the locker room."

"I've always said that the team that makes the most mistakes is going to lose the football game. We just have to work on not making those mistakes."

"The biggest thing that we have had in the last two games is the great support from the crowd. I don't think we would have come back in this game without the crowd support."

"You have to give SEMO some credit. They've got some good athletes over there."

"I had somebody ask me 'why don't we throw more,' but I say 'why throw it when you know he (Koutsos) is going to get 6-7 yards on every pop.'"