LAS CRUCES – SEMO and New Mexico State was billed as a defensive slugfest and those two units delivered on Saturday night at Aggie Memorial Stadium in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

But after leading the entire game, a late gamble gutted the Redhawks’ chances of knocking off their FBS foe and the Aggies capitalized off the misfortunes to sneak away with a 23-16 victory.

“It was one of the most exciting things I've been a part of,” head coach Tom Matukewicz said. “It’s a shame because we could have won it. Give them credit, they made one more play than we did.”

Leading 16-15 with 4:27 remaining in the game, SEMO decided to go for it on fourth-and-one from their own 35-yard-line to keep the offensive drive alive. That’s before true freshman running back Payton Brown was stuffed at the line of scrimmage and New Mexico State responded with a go-ahead rushing touchdown moments later.

“At the end of the day, if you're going to go in and beat an FBS team on the road, you got to go beat them,” Matukewicz said on the decision to go for it on fourth down. “You can't just hope for the best. Peyton Brown is 215 pounds and the o-line played pretty good, and I just felt like we could do it.”

The drama continued on the ensuing possession when SEMO marched down to the Aggie 20-yard-line with less than 40 seconds to go and quarterback Paxton DeLaurent threw a game-ending interception to put the game on ice.

Entering the game as a 9.5-point underdog, few outside of Cape Girardeau believed that SEMO could march into Las Cruces and pull off the upset. After all, the victory would have been the program’s first against an FBS opponent since 2002.

Matukewicz still saluted his players for giving it their all against the Aggies, saying that there were “lots of positives.

“Just talent wise, we fit,” he said. “They weren't that much more talented than us and we held up in a lot of positions. The secondary played really well. Obviously, our passing stats were good. We got after the quarterback and they ran a little bit, which we knew they could their o-line was the strength of the whole team. I thought Paxton had a great night too.”

Feeding off last week’s FCS Kickoff win, the Redhawks defense flexed its muscle and was sharp all night. The unit yielded just 270 total yards of offense and notched three sacks and an interception.

While SEMO sputtered on offense at times, the passing game was on cue for most of the night. After exiting the game with a non-throwing shoulder injury last weekend, senior quarterback Paxton DeLaurent returned to the field and looked as good as new. The signal caller threw for 295 yards and a touchdown on 27-of-45 passing.

In the ground game, the rushing attack was modest as Brown and the Redhawks only tallied 57 yards in the game.

“We just never got it running,” Matukewicz said. “We tried early in the game, but they shut the run down basically.”

THE TAKEAWAYS

Offense: DeLaurent seemed poised in the pocket all night and gave the offense a huge lift with his arm. The pass protection was solid, but, again, the running game struggled to get going.

Defense: SEMO’s defense did as advertised, shutting down New Mexico State’s aerial attack (only 60 passing yards allowed) and doing a good job getting after the quarterback. The Aggies did rush for 210 yards, but they also boast one of the top offensive lines in the Conference-USA.

Overall: Coach Matukewicz and the Redhawks faced long odds but played well enough to challenge a team that is coming off a 10-win season at the FBS level. It's a very encouraging start to the season for the program.

UP NEXT

SEMO will look to bounce back next Saturday, Sept. 7 when the team takes on perhaps their toughest test of the season in UT Martin at Houck Field. Kickoff is schedule to take place at 6 pm.

“There’s lots to be excited about,” Matukewicz said. “We're going to get a couple players healthy. We get to open up the season at Houck against the preseason favorite and three-time conference champion UT Martin. So, it's going to be great weather and a fun night of football.”