Football | 11/10/2016 11:22:00 PM
Box Score LAKELAND, Fla.—With a playoff bid in its sights, the Fire football team dropped its final regular season game against Valley City State 17-13.
A 13-point third quarter lead evaporated as Valley City State (6-4) found success with its short passes, which led to big plays in the second half.
"We couldn't stop their slip screen," said coache
Keith Barefield. "For them, that gave them a spark and when we were on our heels worried about that, they hit a couple passes deep."
Southeastern (7-2) led 10-0 at halftime, despite being whistled for seven penalties and committed a handful of mistakes on special teams.
Caleb Winter connected on a 36-yard field goal in the first quarter and a 43-yard field goal in the third quarter, sandwiching a
Buddy Edwards 2-yard touchdown run to put Southeastern up 13-0 with 9:38 left in the third quarter.
The Vikings bounced back, scoring 17 straight points, which included a pair of Kurtis Walls fourth quarter touchdown passes to take the lead with 8:50 left in the game.
Southeastern had three drives in the final minutes of the game with one ending on downs at the VCSU 14-yard line, and the second on a fumble at the Vikings' 15.
The Fire got the ball back for the final time with 2:05 to play, and looked to have taken the lead on a catch by Tony Ray Parnell in the back of the end zone on first down, but was called incomplete. On 3
rd-and-18 from the 34, quarterback
Jonathan Pearce was intercepted to end the game.
The Fire finished the game with 15 penalties for 142 yards, and turned the ball over three times.
"We had a chance in the first half to stretch the lead out and we weren't able to do it," said Barefield. "They did what they needed to do to win the ball game, and we just couldn't overcome ourselves."
Michael Wheary was the leading gainer, catching nine passes for 115 yards.
Chris Bryant led the ground game with 57 yards on 18 carries. Pearce was 15-of-33 passing for 177 yards.
Southeastern will find out its postseason fate on Sunday during the NAIA Football Championship Series selection show at 5 p.m. on NAIANetwork.com.
