LAKELAND, Fla.—It was the quick start the Southeastern football team was in search of.
Southeastern scored on each of its first five drives in a 54-9 victory over Warner to improve to 2-2 on the season.
The Fire jumped out to a 31-0 lead with 7:24 left in the second quarter thanks to the hot start by the offense. The defense and special teams also contributed to that success with the Fire starting four of those drives on the Warner half of the field.
After recovering a fumble on the third play of the game, the Fire went 45 yards on seven plays with
Josiah Neos running into the end zone from seven yards out.
Joel McGrath dialed in a 36-yard field goal with 4:59 left in the first quarter to push the lead to 10. After a second consecutive three-and-out by the Fire defense,
Daniel Parker capped off a three-play, 45-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown run with 2:04 left in the first.
Leroy Lopez hauled in his first touchdown of the season on a five-yard toss from
Nate Hayden with 11:40 left in the second.
James Hamilton had the first of his two interceptions on the night on Warner's first play of the next drive which started near midfield and turned into a seven-play, 43-yard drive which ended on a 15-yard touchdown reception by
Dominic Larry on third down.
Hayden finished 15-of-17 passing for 146 yards and two touchdowns and did not take a snap in the second half.
"I think we just stuck to the plan," said coach
Adam Waugh of the fast start by the offense. "I think they've come along and listened to what Coach (Mike) Canales is telling them, and working and practicing and getting better. Our preparation was really good and what he's teaching is starting to click with the guys."
Warner (3-1) got on the board with 1:55 left in the second quarter after a 10-play, 51-yard drive with a 26-yard field goal.
An hour lightning delay during halftime didn't slow Southeastern much as Larry took the third quarter kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown. Special teams came through with another touchdown with 8:45 left in the third when a mishandled snap on a punt was recovered in the end zone by
Aaron Walton to put the Fire up 44-3.
Parker picked up his second touchdown run of the game from 26 yards out with 6:32 left in the third and McGrath hit his second field goal of the game with 59 seconds left in the third from 34 yards out to go up 54-3.
The Fire rushing attack amassed 210 yards on 37 carries with
Josiah Neos leading the way with 88 yards on 15 attempts.
Curtis Kimmons rushed for 77 yards on 12 carries, and Parker finished with 50 yards on eight attempts.
Jaylin Thompson scored on a 34-yard touchdown run on 4
th-and-2 for the game's final score.
The Fire defense limited the Royals to just 209 yards on the game, less than half of their season average and came up with three takeaways.
"Our defensive line did a really good job, we didn't blitz a ton and got there with four-man pressure quite a bit," said Waugh. "It's contagious, when one guy gets in the backfield, they all kind of want a piece of the action."
Trever Dorris had eight total stops on the night.
Ja'Kobe Clinton had two for loss, and
Carlos Gerardino had five tackles, and was in on one of SEU's four sacks.
The Fire will head to Webber International next week to take on the Warriors at 1:30 p.m.
