LAKELAND, Fla.—It was a tale of two halves in the first game at Victory Field this season as Southeastern got off to a quick start and held on for a 20-14 win over Thomas More.
The Fire defense set the tone from the start, forcing six consecutive three-and-outs to start the game. That helped Southeastern (2-1) build a 17-0 lead thanks to a pair of
Cooper Jones touchdown passes to Wendell Harris with 1:25 left in the first and
Kenneth Djaha with 8:11 to go in the second.
"Our defense played like a bunch of savages," said coach Cesar Rivas. "The only time we got in trouble is when we made a couple of mental mistakes, but outside of that they played lights out."
Jones finished the day 17-of-42 for 219 yards.
Tristan Connell connected on a 36-yard field goal with 2:51 left in the second, but Thomas More answered on its next play from scrimmage with a 92-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 10. Connell hit a 29-yard field goal on the final play of the half after the Fire went 70 yards over the last 2:15 of the second quarter.
The Saints (1-2) found some success on the ground in the second half with Maleek Jarrett scoring from 12 yards out with 4:20 left in the third to cap off a drive that was kept alive by a defensive holding penalty.
TMU's defense stymied the Fire offense in the second half, limiting SEU to 117 yards and no points. The best chance the Saints had to take the lead was their drive that started with 6:13 left in the fourth and resulted in a turnover on downs when
Khalid Scott blew up an option play on fourth-and-two at the Southeastern 17-yard line.
After the Fire went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, the Saints took over at their own 37 with 37 seconds left. On first down,
Greg Pressley intercepted the pass in front of the TMU bench to seal the game.
"I give all the credit to our coaches for keeping our kids level-headed," said Rivas. "It's really easy to go up and down with emotion when you are or aren't playing well. We missed some plays but we knew we could get those back and our defense was playing well enough to keep us in the game."
Lorine Parker paced the Fire offense with a career-high 25 carries for a career-best 204 yards which included a 62-yard scamper.
Myles Henderson was the top SEU receiver with six catches for 60 yards.
On defense,
Curtis Williams led the front with five tackles, a sack, and 2.5 for loss. Scott,
Marc Viechec,
Aaron Walton, and
Frank Williams all had five tackles each.
Jonah Paulsgrove made an impact on field position, averaging 39.6 yards per punt with five inside the 20-yard line.
The Fire return to action next Saturday at the University of the Cumberlands.
