LAKELAND, Fla.—Southeastern got a record-breaking night on offense and a great effort on defense to come away with a 34-0 win over Ave Maria in the first game of the 2020 season, and first game under coach
Cesar Rivas-Sandoval.
"I'm so proud of our guys and the way our coaches led these young men," said Rivas. "The players did everything asked of them all week and it showed tonight."
On offense, the Fire racked up 567 total yards, led by junior quarterback
Cooper Jones throwing for 356 yards and five touchdowns completing 20-of-27.
His favorite target was
Eugene Witherspoon, who had nine grabs for 155 yards and the first two touchdowns of the season to put the Fire up 14-0 with 7:16 left in the second quarter. Jones then found Wendell Harris, who was stumbling backwards into the end zone as he was being interfered with for a 24-yard touchdown to give SEU a 21-0 halftime advantage.
"We owe it all to the coaches, the offensive line, and the receivers we have," said Jones. "We played exceptionally well for a first game. I think what has helped us is having a number of guys that have played together and the chemistry that we have. Even though we have a new system, we still have the base of having played together before."
With 7:49 left in the third quarter, Jones found
Lorine Parker on a screen pass and the senior running back scampered 44 yards through multiple would-be tacklers to give his team a 27-0 advantage.
"Today, the offense really trusted the process and kept going down the field inch by inch, and then the big plays started to pop," said Rivas. "We can kind of be our own worst enemy at times, but we'll learn from that and move on."
What set up that drive was an interception in the end zone by
Cory Rahman, which put him alone at the top of the program record book with 10 career picks.
The Gyrenes came away with an interception of their own with 2:33 left, and then took advantage of an SEU special teams miscue on a punt to keep the drive alive. AMU set up for a 47-yard field goal on the last play of the game, which hit the left upright.
I'm not sure people understand how hard it is to get a shutout," said Rivas. "It's hard to win, and it's really hard to get a shutout and I'm really proud of those coaches and those kids for their effort tonight."
The Fire defense held the Gyrenes to a total of 184 yards on 59 plays, and recorded five sacks, and two takeaways.
Tyland Simpson,
Marc Viechec, Aaron Alton, and
Tony Williams all had four tackles each.
Southeastern returns to action next Saturday at St. Thomas for a noon start.
