Box Score AVE MARIA, Fla.—Southeastern shrugged off some early struggles and a slow start in its 2020 football season finale with a 24-13 victory to finish the season 5-1.
The Fire outscored the Gyrenes 14-0 in the second half of play and limited AMU to 105 yards in the half.
"I think we were a little rusty, our timing was off a bit in all phases," said coach
Cesar Rivas-Sandoval. "When you are trying to get to the finish line and keep guys healthy, you don't get as much contact as you would like during the week, so it took us a little while to get in a rhythm but when we started making plays, it was nice to see."
Southeastern also chewed up a lot of the game clock in the second half, totaling nearly 36 minutes in time of possession. This was accomplished with a steady dose of the run game which averaged 5.6 yards per touch. Junior
Bryan Bell led the way with a season-best 132 yards on 18 carries and had a 2-yard touchdown run with 13:29 left in the fourth.
Ave Maria held a 10-0 lead one play into the second quarter, getting a 15-yard touchdown run from quarterback Will Tate and an 18-yard Derek McCormick field goal. The Fire drove 84 yards on 11 plays and ate up 5:11 of the game clock and got on the board at the 4:38 mark of the second with an 18-yard
Drew Holder field goal.
The Fire executed a 2-minute drill to cover 74 yards on just five plays in 46 seconds to tie the game with a 56-yard pace from
Cooper Jones to
Connor Curry, who broke a tackle and sprinted down the home sideline to tie the game.
Ave Maria answered with a 39-yard field goal at the buzzer to take a 13-10 lead to the break.
Jones found
Eugene Witherspoon for a 26-yard touchdown with 3:13 left in the third to cap an eight-play, 74-yard drive that consumed another 4:33. Jones finished 13-of-23 passing for 197 yards. Wendell Harris had a team-best four catches for 62 yards.
The defense got a strong effort from
Curtis Williams, who had eight tackles along with a sack to lead the way.
Joseph Bonga and
Cory Rahman each had six in the secondary.
"We talked about the next man up and having to be ready when your number is called," said Rivas-Sandoval. "I'm super proud of our guys, we talked about finishing and we were able to finish tonight."
