LAKELAND, Fla.—Southeastern made it interesting at the end of its final game of the 2022 season against No. 17 St. Thomas, having a chance to force overtime on the final possession, but ended up on the losing end of a 20-13 game.
A three-yard run by
Kaylan Wiggins with 6:31 left brought the Fire (6-4) within a touchdown and the defense came up with its second-straight three-and-out to get SEU the ball back at their own 31-yard line with 4:55 left. A 10-play drive stalled out on the St. Thomas 29 on downs with 1:41 left.
The Fire defense again came up with a three-and-out and a shanked rugby punt set the Fire up at the Bobcats' 28 with 11 seconds left. An eight-yard run by Wiggins left the Fire with two seconds to force overtime or win but on the final play, St. Thomas was able to force and recover a fumble to secure the win.
"I was really proud of our defense we had a nice first half and ran out of gas a little bit in the third quarter and gave up two scores and lost some momentum," said coach
Adam Waugh. "We were able to get some stops in the fourth and get back in there and gave us a chance to win the football game; that's all you can ask."
A scoreless first quarter was highlighted by the defense forcing St. Thomas (9-2) to settle for a field goal attempt on the opening drive which consumed 6:48 of the quarter with 18 plays and gained 62 yards. The 33-yard attempt was wide right to give the Fire some momentum.
Alejandro Prado connected on a 36-yard field goal at the 13:49 mark of the second and
Ashton Garner was good from 49 for the Fire with 2:14 left until halftime for the lone scores of the first half.
The Bobcats regained the lead with 8:00 left in the third on a 43-yard touchdown pass which was answered with a 47-yard field goal by Garner. St. Thomas responded with a nine-yard touchdown run by Rontavious Farmer who finished with 192 yards on 34 carries.
Prado added a 24-yard field goal with 13:04 to play.
Bryan Bell led the SEU offense in his final game at Victory Field, rushing for 152 yards on 18 carries. As a team, the Fire averaged nearly six yards per carry.
"The run game was good and that took a little pressure off the offensive line," said Waugh. Bell was also the leading receiver with 31 yards on two catches.
"The guys did a great job being coachable and buying into what we asked them to do," said Waugh. "The commitment level was very high and I'm pleased with how everyone responded to all the adversity we saw this year."
