Hansen shares to break A-State record
JONESBORO — Locked in a tight battle with Southeast Missouri State for a half Saturday night, Arkansas State delivered a knockout blow to the Redhawks in the third quarter.
Red Wolves quarterback Justice Hansen threw for a school-record six touchdowns — three of them coming in a 27-point third quarter — as Arkansas State (1-0) rolled to a 48-21 victory over Southeast Missouri State (0-1) in front of 20,184 at Centennial Bank Stadium.
Leading 21-14 at the half, Arkansas State scored on its first four possessions of the second half.
“It was nothing dramatic,” said Arkansas State coach Blake Anderson, whose team outgained Southeast Missouri State, 344-99, in the second half. “Just a reality check at halftime that we were not playing real well, and we were letting them hang around and stay in the game.”
Arkansas State’s depth at wide receiver was on full display. Eleven ASU players caught passes and seven of them forged their way into the end zone as the Red Wolves won their season opener for the first time since 2014.
Hansen finished 26 of 36 passing for 423 yards and one interception. Redshirt sophomore Logan Bonner also got in on the fun, throwing for 74 yards, including a 54-yard scoring pass to Omar Bayless.
“I think, in a lot of offenses, guys tend to lock onto one receiver because that’s kind of their go-to guy,” Hansen said. “I’ve said it leading up to this season, I don’t think we just have one guy. As a quarterback, that truly allows me to go through all of my reads and put the ball wherever it needs to be.”
Hansen, who now has 62 career TD passes, said he was stunned to find out the six scoring passes were a school record.
“I think it’s a testament to the guys around me,” Hansen said. “I had a clean pocket all night. I think the line did great. Then again, all offseason we’ve talked about our receivers and ‘backs.”
Junior Kirk Merritt caught a team-high five passes for 55 yards. Freshman Marcel Murray caught two passes for a game-high 75 receiving yards
“It doesn’t surprise me with all the weapons that we have,” Anderson said of Hansen’s record-breaking effort. “I thought the O-line protected him. Honestly, it should have been more because we had several opportunities that we dropped. We have to play cleaner football.”
It was not all good news for ASU. The Red Wolves were guilty of 12 penalties for 119 yards. Receiv- er Dahu Green suffered a broken right ankle in the first half. Reserve running back Jamal Jones suffered a concussion and was carted off the field with 3:59 to play.
Tied at 14-14 late in the first half, Hansen hit senior Kendrick Edwards for a 36-yard TD pass to cap a 10play, 84-yard drive giving the Red Wolves the lead for good.
Southeast Missouri State quarterback Daniel Santacaterina was carted off the field with 2:00 left in the first half after being leveled by a late hit. Sophomore safety Demari Medley was called for targeting and ejected.
The game was delayed for 10 minutes while trainers worked to stabilize Santacaterina, who waved his arms and clapped as he was taken off the field.
Hansen threw three touchdown passes in the third quarter: a 57-yarder to sophomore tight end Isaac Javonis with 14:01 left; a six-yarder to sophomore Bubba Ogbedor at the 8:51 mark; and a 67-yard strike to Murray with 1:21 remaining that left ASU holding a 48-14 advantage.
ASU’s final two touchdowns came on one-play drives.
“I think fatigue set in a little bit on defense,” said Southeast Missouri State coach Tom Matukewicz. “They snapped the ball pretty quick. We left two guys open, and they hit them and capitalized on it. Really, that was the difference other than our injury.”
Arkansas State finished with a 30-14 advantage in first downs and outgained the Redhawks, 685-285. The Red Wolves made three sacks and had 11 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
“I feel like we did a pretty good job of putting pressure on them,” said sophomore linebacker Tajhea Chambers, who shared team honors in tackles (six) with senior Justin Clifton. “We had a few mistakes open up where we allowed big gains, but I feel like we came out aggressive. We had that mindset that we were going to be aggressive.”
The Red Wolves scored on their opening drive and never trailed. Sophomore Jonathan Adams caught a 26-yard scoring pass with 9:05 remaining in the first quarter, carrying a Southeast Missouri defender on his back for the final six yards.
Southeast Missouri hit two long-yardage plays in the second quarter to account for its two touchdowns. A 56-yard pass from Santacaterina to junior Kristian Wilkerson set the Redhawks on the ASU 3. Two plays later, Santacaterina hit junior Kobe Bryer for a 5-yard TD pass.
After Justin McInnis scored on a 15-yard pass play to give ASU a 14-7 lead with 8:47 left before halftime, Southeast Missouri used only two plays and 45 seconds to tie the game at 14. Marquis Terry, who led the Redhawks in rushing with 77 yards on nine carries, broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage and took off for a 67-yard touchdown.
The Redhawks’ lone score of the second half came on a 13-yard run by back-up quarter Anthony Cooper
with 37 seconds remaining.
Murray led the Red Wolves in rushing, going 54 yards in 10 carries.
Santacaterina, a transfer who played at Northern Illinois in 2017, completed 10 of 13 passes for 89 yards. Cooper completed 8 of 15 passes for 74 yards.
Up next for Arkansas State is a road date at No. 1 Alabama (1-0) at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The game is scheduled to be shown on ESPN2 (Resort Channel 29). The Crimson Tide opened its national championship defense Saturday night with a 51-14 defeat of the Bobby Petrino-coached Louisville Cardinals (0-1).