WALESKA, Ga.—In the first national tournament game in Fire football history, #20 Southeastern fell to undefeated #3 Reinhardt on the road by a score of 52-22.
Turnovers early in the contest cost the Fire dearly. In the first quarter alone, Southeastern turned the ball over four times, leading directly to 14 Reinhardt points. After an Eagles' field goal opened the scoring, Reinhardt capitalized on an interception with 4:46 remaining in the quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, the Fire muffed the kick and the Eagles recovered it in the endzone to stretch the lead to 17. Just over a minute later, a pick six by Tyler Martin extended the Reinhardt gap to 24-0.
The Fire then started to claw their way back into the ballgame. A 73 yard touchdown run by
Jarrell Reynolds broke the scoring drought for Southeastern with 3:05 left in the first quarter. The Fire defense held Reinhardt in the second quarter, but the offense couldn't take advantage of field position, leading to a scoreless second quarter and a 24-7 game at the half.
Just five minutes into the second half, Reynolds, who had 127 rushing yards on the day, cut the deficit to ten. Reinhardt scored midway through the third quarter, but the Fire fought back once again. An interception by
Jimiah Albritton set up the Fire in great field position.
Railond Garrett, who replaced starter,
Jonathan Pearce, at halftime, connected with
Michael Wheary for a 14 yard touchdown with 17 seconds left in the quarter. A two-point conversion pass from Garrett to Tight End,
Matthew Craig, brought Southeastern within eight.
The Fire had all of the momentum at this point in the game and the Eagles seemed shocked that it was a one possession game; however, on the next play from scrimmage, Reinhardt Quarterback, Ryan Thompson, kept the ball on an option play and took it 75 yards to the house. This play proved to be the turning point, giving new life to a Reinhardt team that seemed to be on their heels.
In the fourth quarter, the Eagles began to pull away. With about ten minutes left, Garrett was sacked in the endzone, resulting in a safety, and stretching the Reinhardt lead back to 17 points. A combination of desperation by the Fire offense and an inability to move the ball allowed the Eagles to tack on two more touchdowns late in the contest, one of which was a 97 yard run. Reinhardt finished the game with 617 yards of offense, 406 of which were on the ground.
Overall, the Fire fought valiantly, though early turnovers proved to be too much to overcome. Coach Barefield stated that he's proud of his team, but also tipped his hat to Reinhardt. "I'm proud of our guys, cutting the lead to a one-possession game after trailing by so much, but Reinhardt played like a championship team today, and that's why they're moving on and we aren't", Barefield commented.
Southeastern forced three turnovers on defense, including a vital forced fumble on their own three yard line at the end of the first half, when Reinhardt was looking to go up 31-7.
David Green, who forced the fumble, had a total of two sacks and three tackles for loss, while
Tyson Kee recorded a team-high nine tackles. On offense, Garrett finished the day 8-20, with 120 of the Fire's 137 passing yards and a touchdown. Southeastern rushed for a combined 304 yards in 41 attempts against the #1 rush defense in the country. With this loss, the Fire end their season at 6-3, but will undoubtedly be competing for the chance to play another national tournament game next season.
