Zion Custis caught the ball three yards from his own goal line with one thought in his mind: "make a play."
He did just that. Seconds later, the Southeast Missouri State football freshman was raising his arms and strolling into the opposing end zone for a 97-yard kickoff return touchdown.
A week after SEMO suffered a heartbreaking loss on a last-second kickoff return touchdown, the Redhawks turned the tables as Custis helped seal the win in the regular-season finale Saturday.
With that 38-32 victory over Eastern Illinois on Senior Day at Houck Field, No. 23 Southeast
improved to 8-3 overall and 6-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. All that's left is to be wait and see if the Redhawks will earn one of the 14 at-large bids to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
The selection show starts at 11:30 a.m. CT Sunday and will be broadcasted on ESPNU. It would be SEMO's second playoff appearance in program history and first in eight years.
"I feel that we're a playoff team, simple as that," quarterback Daniel Santacaterina said. "It's in someone else's hands now, but we feel like we're a playoff team without a doubt."
EIU scored a touchdown and got a two-point conversion with 34 seconds left to make it interesting, but backup tight end Eric Williams recovered the onside kick and SEMO ran out the clock.
Minutes earlier, SEMO had put together a goal line stand to keep the lead at two possessions following Custis' touchdown. EIU (3-8, 3-5 OVC) drove down to the SEMO 2-yard line but couldn't punch the ball into the end zone. The Redhawks caught a break when Alexander Hollins dropped a pass in the end zone on second down. Justin Swift then batted down the next pass at the line of scrimmage and pressured quarterback Harry Woodberry on fourth to force a turnover on downs.
"Don't break," Swift said. "Bend but don't break. Whatever you do, just don't let them get in the end zone."
That SEMO earned the win with its senior playmaker, running back Marquis Terry, sidelined for more than three quarters made the triumph even more impressive.
Terry was blocking on a Santacaterina scramble late in the first quarter when a pile of bodies took his feet out from under him and he fell awkwardly. He stayed down for several seconds before limping off the field. He never returned.
Terry struggled with an ankle injury earlier in the season. Coach Tom Matukewicz said he didn't know if Terry re-aggravated that prior injury. Before his ext, Terry did have an 11-yard TD run.
Without Terry, who entered the game eighth in FCS with 1,141 rushing yards, Custis led the way with 77 yards on 11 carries and finished with 254 all-purpose yards. Mark Robinson also chipped in 54 yards on 16 carries.
"Obviously, Quis is probably our top player, one of our top players," Santacaterina said. "The thing is we know we have two really good 'backs behind him and we don't flinch really."
With Terry out, SEMO's emphasis Saturday on the short passing game with numerous wide receiver screens and shovel passes on end-arounds became even more crucial. Santacaterina finished 30-of-38 passing for 211 yards and a touchdown, and likely would have had another touchdown pass if not for a Jerrick Orr drop late in the first quarter.
It was a relatively low-scoring first half between two of the top three scoring offenses in the OVC. SEMO took a 17-7 lead into the break thanks to a 1-yard Robinson TD run on fourth down with five seconds left.
After a one-handed TD catch by Kristian Wilkerson and a Kendrick Tiller field goal, SEMO led 30-17 with 10 minutes, 14 seconds remaining. EIU wouldn't go away, though.
A 7-yard TD catch by Hollins, who had five receptions for 99 yards and two scores, cut SEMO's lead to one possession with less than seven minutes left.
A defensive stop, and the Panthers suddenly had a chance to take the lead and put a dent in SEMO's playoff hopes. Custis made sure that didn't happen.
"When I caught the ball, I seen a little opening," Custis said. "I took it and just ran with it."
SEMO got a two-point conversion to push the lead to 38-24. That proved to be enough. A week after Murray State dashed SEMO's hopes of winning the OVC championship with a kickoff return with three seconds left, SEMO was suddenly the beneficiary of a big return.
"Everybody was just going crazy," Custis said. "We just needed that. That was just a big play right there."
The defense then put together the goal line stand on EIU's next drive, and the Redhawks held on for the win in potentially final game at Houck Field for 15 seniors.
That group helped turn around a program that hadn't had a winning season since 2008. The Redhawks hope their careers aren't over, but Saturday, they simply wanted to celebrate the season's accomplishments.
The selection show can wait.
"They got us over the hump, and we haven't arrived," Matukewicz said. "We need to put multiple seasons together, but they got this team over that close-game hump and it's because they got our culture. Our culture is as good as anywhere I've ever been. They truly care more about the person next to them in the mirror."