LAKE WALES, Fla.—Warner scored the first touchdown on its new field, but Southeastern scored the next 44 points of the contest to come away with its sixth win of the season.
The Fire offense racked up 483 yards and the defense limited the Royals to 142 yards on 69 plays in a 44-7 victory Saturday night in the first contest on the campus of Warner, scoring 31 points in the second half.
A slow start by the guests allowed the Royals to get a 15-yard touchdown pass at the 9:00 mark of the first quarter and take a 7-0 lead over the Fire.
Southeastern answered on the ensuing drive with a seven-play, 43-yard drive which tied the game on a 29-yard touchdown pass from
Kaylan Wiggins to
Shane McLaughlin. McLaughlin ended the game with three catches for 99 yards with two going for touchdowns, hauling in a 26-yard touchdown with 8:12 remaining in the game.
Wiggins finished 14-of-31 passing for 250 yards with three touchdowns, one interception, and rushed for another 73 yards on 11 carries.
An interception by
Khalid Scott just before halftime set the Fire up for a 12-play, 62-yard drive to set up a three-yard touchdown run by
Bryan Bell with just 38 seconds left in the half to send the Fire to the locker room up 13-7 at the intermission.
Ashton Garner dialed in a 25-yard field goal with 6:53 left in the third to push the lead to nine and a three-yard touchdown run by
Deshawn Brown with 1:23 left in the third made it 23-7.
"I think a big part was we just woke up," said coach
Adam Waugh. "Our coaches made a couple easy adjustments at halftime, our kids said it was a close game and we need to pick it up and play our way of football and they did."
Wiggins then found
Dominic Larry for a 36-yard touchdown pass with 13:14 to go in the fourth and
Josiah Neos finished the night with two-yard touchdown run with 1:12 left.
The defense finished with two interceptions and a fumble recovery.
Joseph Bonga and
Eddie Davis had six tackles each.
"We just tackled really well and were fundamentally sound," said Waugh. "We didn't give up many big plays and kept things in front of us."
The Fire will close out the season next Saturday at home against St. Thomas at 7 p.m.
