LAKE WALES, Fla. – No. 22 Southeastern University jumped on Warner University with back-to-back touchdowns on consecutive plays in the third quarter to top the Royals, 42-7 tonight in Sun Conference football action tonight.
After a slow start in the first half, quarterback Nate Mikell called his own number and raced 61 yards for a touchdown on the first play in the third quarter to put the Fire up 21-7. On the ensuing kick-off, the SEU's Carlos Gerardino forced the Royals returner to cough up the ball and recovered the fumble at the home 5-yard line. Jocquet Jiles ran it in on the next SEU play for the second touchdown in only nine seconds of game time. The SEU defense forced a second Warner fumble, two punts and a turnover on downs the rest of the way.
The newly-ranked Fire won their first contest since jumping into the national ranking. In the process, SEU (5-1) claimed its 10th win in a row in the series against Warner (0-5).
On only 51 offensive plays, SEU racked up 486 yards of total offense at a rate of 9.5-yard per play average. The Fire unit amassed 366 yards on the ground over 38 carries and added 120 yards through the air. Warner finished with 392 yards on 75 total plays.
Leading the SEU offense, Mikell rushed only four times, but he covered 162 yards with scoring runs of 61, 65 and 25 yards. He also completed 2-of-5 passes for 52 yards. Henry Austad completed 5-of-7 passes for 78 yards.
On the receiving end of things, Leroy Lopez, Jiles and David Pomales each pulled in two passes apiece for 61, 37 and 21 yards, respectively.
In addition to Mikell's efforts in the ground game, Ceejay Chima added 86 yards on nine totes, Jiles registered 77 yards on six attempts, and Daniel Parker ran four times for 35 yards. Curtis Kimmons rushed six times for only 13 yards, but he had the second Fire touchdown from two yards out to give the Fire a 14-7 lead they would never relinquish.
Defensively, SEU forced two fumbles, each of which they recovered, and did not allow any points after they gave up the only touchdown on Warner's first possession. In addition to the forced turnovers, the Fire made a signature goal line stand in the fourth, stopping the Royals on four straight plays after the home team set up for a first-and-goal at the three yard line.
Jomier Augustine (one tackle for loss) and Chris Sharpe (two tackles for loss and a sack) both led the defensive unit with seven tackles. Michyl Shaw was next with six stops, one for a loss, and Brady Nowlan had six tackles.
Curtis Williams stopped two of four ball carriers behind the line of scrimmage, sacked the quarterback once and swatted down a pass. Joseph Bonga had the final tackle for loss. Gerardino and Zander Altieri forced the two fumbles.
Leading the home charge, Warner's Evens Valcourt caught 10 passes for 152 yards, while Raleigh Aiken completed 14 of 20 passes for 195 yards.
Following a slow opening quarter and trailing 7-0, SEU started a string of four-straight touchdown possessions. Jiles tied the contest, 7-7, via a 44-yard scoring run to cap an 87-yard drive at 10:10 in the second. Kimmons put the Fire on top for good when he plunged into the end zone from two yards with only 1:04 before half, 14-7.
After the two quick opening third-quarter touchdowns doubled the Fire lead, Mikell raced to his other two scoring runs of 65 yards at 4:18 in the third quarter and 25 yards at 12:09 early in the final stanza.
For the second time in three weeks, the Fire will have a meeting with a top five-ranked opponent, as No. 5 St. Thomas comes to Victory Field next Saturday afternoon for Homecoming and Senior Day festivities. Kickoff is at 4 p.m., with fireworks after the game.
