Box Score LAKELAND, Fla.- In the first football game on the campus of Southeastern University, the Fire did not disappoint the sold out crowd with a 31-7 win over county rival Warner.
"This is a big night, and we didn't want to disappoint," said Coach Keith Barefield. "We knew that Southeastern Nation was anxious for us to play, they were anxious for us to play at home, and to win a ball game."
The Fire (1-1), racked up 450 yards of total offense, 250 of which came in the ground game.
The scoring started when the Fire took advantage of Warner punter Brian Abrams taking a knee on a low snap at his own 28 yard line. That set up a 27-yard field goal by junior Will May, marking the first points at the stadium.
The advantage grew to 10 when redshirt freshman quarterback Jonathan Pearce found DeVonte Mack for an 80 yard touchdown strike down the right sideline with 6:39 left in the first quarter.
The halftime lead was 17 after Jarrell Reynolds scored the first of his two touchdown runs, leaping over the pile at the goal line with 5:47 left in the period.
After the first five possessions of the third quarter resulted in turnovers, Southeastern found paydirt again with Pearce and Mack connected for a 22-yard touchdown strike to take a 24-0 advantage. Reynolds scored his second TD of the night on a 41 yard scamper to go up 31-0.
The Royals (1-2) got their only score with 8:41 to play on a one-yard QB keep by Andrew Rodriguez.
Reynolds finished the night with 143 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns. Demonta Blunt added 110 yards on 18 carries. Jonathan Pearce connected on 11-of-19 passes for 200 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and connected with six different receivers.
Defensively, the Fire limited the Royals to 235 total yards of offense, and forced three turnovers. Tyson Kee led the defense for a second straight week with nine tackles.
"I was really pleased with our defense," said Barefield. "They were really aggressive the entire game and kept them bottled up."
The Fire next take the field next Saturday when they travel to Selma, Ala. to take on Concordia University.
