The Southeast Missouri State University football team lost to Murray State 42-35 in its final game of the season on Nov. 17.

The Redhawks ended the season with an overall record of 3-8 and 2-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

"I think our kids have maintained their energy and played hard," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said. "But you know, our number one goal every year is to win the conference and we didn't get that goal, but the one thing I'm always proud of is when they continue to play hard and practice hard."

In the team's first game of the season against Central Michigan University on Aug. 30, redshirt-freshman quarterback Scott Lathrop took over for sophomore quarterback Kyle Snyder, who tore his ACL in his right knee midway through summer football camp that resulted in a season-ending injury.

"He's progressing and he's going through rehab still at this point," Samuel said.

Lathrop completed 10-of-17 passes for 120 yards and had one touchdown in the 38-27 loss at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

"He's done a great job," Samuel said. "Sometimes experience is the best teacher. He didn't know that he was going to have to play until about halfway through fall camp, which is when we lost Kyle, but every week he's gotten better."

Lathrop finished the season with 1,025 yards passing, five interceptions and seven touchdowns.

He was named OVC Freshman of the Year and is among 20 finalists for the Jerry Rice Award, which honors the freshman of the year in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision.

"I think it helped me grow up a little bit and realize that I need to be the player my teammates need me to be," Lathrop said. "I need to work harder so I can be ready to play because I need to step in and be apart of this team right away."

The Redhawks will lose 23 seniors, including 11 starters, linebacker Blake Peiffer and running back Levi Terrell.

"He's a great leader for us, and he's one of the captains voted by the team," Samuel said about Terrell. "He's been a great leader by example. He really only had one good, real season here because he went down after the fifth game his junior year after transferring from University of Nebraska at Omaha. But he's been a great addition to this team."

Terrel surpassed 1,000 yards rushing during his final homestand against No. 23 Eastern Kentucky.The game made him the third player in the OVC to exceed over 1,000 yards at Southeast.

"It's good," Terrell said. "I've got a great line in front of me. Those guys helped me every time and there's no way I could do it without those guys. A lot of credit goes to them, but it's exciting and it's a thing a lot of running backs strive for. It's an exciting thing."

Terrell, a second-team All-OVC honoree, finished his career with 1,349 yards rushing on 231 attempts and six touchdowns.

"I play the game because I love it and I love these guys. Even after this season I'm still going to be close to these guys and after I graduate and get out of here," Terrell said. "Of course we would've liked the record to go a little better, but all in all I had a great time," Terrell said.

Peiffer was named OVC Defensive Player of the Year and is a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, which is awarded to the most outstanding defensive player in the FCS. Peiffer finished 17th in the nation in tackles with 117 on the season. He has had 100 tackles in back-to-back seasons, becoming the first Southeast player to do that since 2007. His best game was when he recorded a season-high 18 tackles against SIU Carbondale on Sept. 15.

Southeast defensive back Tylor Brock also was named first-team All-OVC and was ranked 23rd nationally with four interceptions.