WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—Southeastern came back from a 14-point deficit to win its first game against a Top 10 opponent in program history with a 20-17 win over No. 6 Keiser.
"We talked all week how this was going to be a battle and we needed to deconstruct each play one at a time and forget about the last play and forget about the score and go out and continue to play football and our kids did an amazing job," said coach
Cesar Rivas-Sandoval. "They played their hearts out. It wasn't perfect football but it didn't need to be; we just needed one more point at the end."
Keiser (4-2, 1-1 MSC Sun) got out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter with two short touchdown runs on the heels of a 12-play, 66-yard drive and a nine-play, 65-yard drive.
"Our defense did a great job playing through adverse moments," said Coach Rivas. "Their offense has big play ability, and we said they are going to get plays, we just need to keep them out of the end zone."
Following Southeastern's (4-3, 2-1 MSC Sun) third punt of the game,
Joseph Bonga came up with an interception to stop a Keiser drive near midfield. It turned into a nine-play, 82-yard drive that ended with a 22-yard touchdown pass from
Cooper Jones to
Myles Henderson to cut the deficit in half.
On their next possession, the Fire came away with a 35-yard field goal from
Tristan Connell with 55 seconds left in the second quarter. Keiser drove into Southeastern territory in the final seconds of the half, but the period ended with a
Joey Chatman interception.
The second half turned into a defensive struggle with teams trading punts. With 35 seconds left in the third, Keiser got a 33-yard field goal to cap off a 14-play, 59-yard drive to take a 17-10 lead.
Southeastern answered on the ensuing drive with a 38-yard field goal with 12:56 remaining to get within four.
Then, with 2:06 left in the contest, Jones connected with
Wendell Harris Jr. from 11 yards out on a third-and-7 to give the Fire the lead for the first time. The defense again did its part, forcing the Seahawks to turn the ball over on downs with a pair of incomplete passes.
Lorine Parker paced the Fire offense with a career-high 30 carries for 177 yards and was only tackled behind the line of scrimmage once. Jones finished the game 12-of-18 for 94 yards with a pair of touchdowns.
"The kept stacking the box, but we went with a smashmouth approach," said Parker. "Everybody bought in; this was the game we needed. We had been down before, but maybe the interception was the spark we needed."
On defense,
Marc Viechec led the way with 15 tackles, including a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss.
"We all came together, were determined, and kept our composure," said Viechec. "We are always together and hold our composure because the game is always in the balance."
The Fire return to action next Saturday against Warner for its annual Homecoming game against Warner at 7 p.m.
