LAKELAND, Fla. – After playing even for the first three quarters, Southeastern University could not answer No. 1 Keiser University's early fourth quarter touchdown and fell to the Seahawks, 17-10.
Tied at 10-10 taking over in the final minute of the third quarter, the Seahawks put together an 8-play, 77-yard drive running into the first 2:21 of the fourth quarter. On the ensuing possession, the Fire crossed midfield on three plays but lost the football on a fumble on fourth snap. SEU forced a punt and saw the offense go back to work with a 58-yard drive to the visitor 30-yard line. Quarterback Henry Austad's pass on 4th-and-7 fell incomplete. The Fire got the ball back but did not have enough time to muster a shot at the end zone.
No. 1 Keiser (5-0/2-0 The Sun Conference) grabbed its third win in a row over the Fire. SEU took its first loss of the year, but it is still 4-1 overall and an even 1-1 in The Sun.
In what was an close contest the entire night, the Seahawks edged the Fire in total yards, 352-308. SEU out-gained its foe on the ground, 206-144, but Keiser doubled up in passing yards, 208-102. The Fire held the ball for almost nine more minutes (34:26 to 25:34), but they had the game's lone turnover.
Austad led the SEU offense by completing 10 of 20 pass attempts for 95 yards and one touchdown, while he rushed 13 times for 52 yards. Alex Reyes grabbed three of those passes for 40 yards, including his team's first points on a 31-yard scoring strike. Leroy Lopez added two catches for 35 yards and Desi Lester covered 21 yards on four passes.
On the ground, Josiah Neos gained 68 yards on 10 carries. Curtis Kimmons toted the ball 10 times for 35 yards, while Jocquet Jiles had 33 yards on three rushes.
Defensively, Ian Jolly and Brady Nowlan garnered top stoppers with nine and eight tackles, respectively. Jalen Christian contributed seven tackles, one for a loss, and Jamil Jones broke up one pass to go along with five tackles.
Omarion Jones registered two tackles for loss and a sack in his five tackles, while John Goree chipped in five tackles, 1.5 for loss and two pass breakups. Carlos Gerardino had the other tackle for loss and Cole Highsmith had a blocked kick.
For Keiser, quarterback Shea Spencer threw for 208 yards on 20 of 30 attempts with one score. Andrew Burnette rumbled 94 yards on 21 carries for a score.
After no points were scored in the first quarter, the two opponents scored twice apiece on four-straight drives. Keiser opened the scoring with a 24-yard field goal after driving 63 yards on 15 plays for a 3-0 lead at 12:24 in the second.
Taking over on their own 25-yard line, the Fire put together a quick answer. After crossing midfield, Austad hit Lopez for 20 yards, before he found Reyes on a 31-yard strike for what would be the Fire's lone lead of the night, 7-3, at 9:09 in the second quarter.
The Seahawks edged back ahead, 10-7, with a 5-yard TD pass less than three minutes later.
Kimmons led the Fire offense in the game-tying drive, as he ran for 13, 10, five and then three yards to the Keiser six yard line. The SEU third down was stopped and the home team settled for a Joel McGrath 21-yard field goal with 38 seconds before intermission to cap the 64-yard drive and knot the score at 10.
SEU makes the short trip to Lake Wales next Saturday for a 6 p.m. kick-off at Warner University.
