OGDEN, Utah -- All season long, the Southeast Missouri State football team thrived by following a simple formula: generate more turnovers than the opposition.
The Redhawks entered Saturday's second-round Football Championship Subdivision playoff game first in the nation in turnover margin.
Weber State flipped the script and picked off Daniel Santacaterina four times, turning those takeaways into 20 points, including a 48-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Thanks to that opportunistic defense and five touchdowns from quarterback Jake Constantine, the second-seeded Wildcats defeated Southeast 48-23 on Saturday at Stewart Stadium.
"They did a nice job, and obviously, they scored a touchdown on one of them," Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz said. "It's hard to win, especially when you're playing No. 2 on the road, when you turn it over."
Weber State's seventh consecutive win means Southeast (9-4) will have to wait at least another year for its first-ever quarterfinal appearance.
For the second consecutive week, the Redhawks trailed by double digits at halftime. In the first round, Southeast overcame a 14-0 halftime deficit by reeling off 28 third-quarter points for a 28-14 home win over Stony Brook.
Down 27-7 at halftime to the Wildcats (10-2), Southeast got as close as 11 in the fourth quarter, but couldn't complete another second-half comeback.
Fittingly, it was Jordan Preator's 48-yard interception return for a touchdown that sealed the season-ending defeat.
Santacaterina entered Saturday with seven interceptions all season. He threw four against Weber State, his second four-interception game of the season. Both resulted in losses.
"The margins get tighter, the windows get tighter, the pass rush gets better," Matukewicz said. "It happens. They've done a good job of creating takeaways all year long."
Santacaterina was under pressure throughout the afternoon and finished 12-of-30 passing for 110 yards. He was SEMO's second-leading rusher with 44 yards and a score on 15 carries.
"It was a huge opportunity to get to play this D-line," Southeast senior left tackle Drew Forbes said. "I know we're going to lose a lot of the O-lineman that we have due to being seniors, but there's so much experience, so much we can learn as a program from playing such a physical defensive line."
It didn't help that Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year Marquis Terry was unable to play through a knee injury he suffered prior to Saturday. He had one rush for three yards and did not return after the opening series.
The game remained scoreless until the final minute of the opening quarter when Santacaterina scored on a 2-yard touchdown run.
Weber State responded with a touchdown drive. With Southeast stacking the box to stop running back Josh Davis, the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year, quarterback Jake Constantine competed 7 of 10 passes on the driveand capped it with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Rashid Shaheed.
Constantine was 18-of-30 passing for 199 yards and four touchdowns and had a rushing touchdown, as well.
The Wildcats took the lead for good on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Constantine to Devon Cooley. The drive started at the SEMO 27-yard line following a Santacaterina interception.
It remained that way until the last minute of the half when Isaiah Jackson reeled in two touchdown passes.
First, Constantine found a wide-open Jackson for a 16-yard touchdown pass after Weber State extended the drive with a fake punt on fourth-and-10.
Weber State took advantage of another interception with a 40-yard Jackson TD catch.
Suddenly, a one-possession deficit had turned into three-possession halftime hole for Southeast.
Weber State's offense continued to click on the first drive of the second half with Constantine finding the end zone on a 10-yard run.
"Really the key to the game was how we finished that second [quarter] on just that high note," Weber State coach Jay Hill said. "Went in the locker room, came out and offense went right down the field and scored a touchdown. That was the game."
Down 34-7, Southeast cut the deficit to 34-23 with 12:41 left in the game thanks to a 4-yard Zion Custis touchdown run, a 45-yard Kendrick Tiller field goal and a 33-yard Demarcus Rogers fumble return for a touchdown.
Another piece of trickery pushed the lead back to three possessions though. On fourth-and-goal, holder Doug Lloyd scored a 4-yard touchdown run on a fake field goal.
On the following Southeast possession, Preator picked off Santacaterina and ran untouched down the left sideline to seal the final score.
Southeast made history last week by winning its first-ever FCS playoff game. A second proved just out its reach.
"I've always liked this team's fight," Matukewicz said. "Unfortunately, the 2018 team will die when we land back in Cape, but I hope they understand how much we appreciate them. We love them."