Southeastern’s defense got off to a great start in holding the defending national champion Harding Bison scoreless through one quarter but four Savage Storm turnovers proved costly down the stretch in a 56-14 road loss last week.
That defeat snapped a threegame winning streak for Southeastern, which should have a chance to get back on track in the home finale on Senior Day Saturday at Paul Laird Field against Arkansas Tech. The Wonder Boys enter the game with a 4-5 record and coming off a home loss to East Central.
“We came out well,” head coach Bo Atterberry said afterward. “I was really happy at half to have four turnovers and just be down three scores to be quite honest with you, with a team like that. They are who they are, and they are a good football team, coached really well. We should have been coached better tonight and could have made some better decisions from the playing standpoint. We’re all in it together, and we’ve got to move on pretty quick because we’ve got a chance to finish really well at home and then at our rival.”
Harding turned the second stanza miscues by Southeastern into a 28-7 halftime lead with the only Savage Storm points coming on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Cergio Perez to Kobe Jennings which capped an 86-yard, eight-play march midway through the quarter.
The Bison hit paydirt twice in the third frame before Atterberry’s squad got back on the scoreboard following a huge defensive play to begin the fourth quarter.
D’Teaurean Johnson forced a Bison fumble in Southeastern territory and scooped it up before rumbling 63 yards deep into Harding territory. The Savage Storm punched it in on the very next play on a D.J. Brown two-yard scoring blast.
Offensively, Southeastern had success moving the football at times, penetrating into Bison territory four other times in which they came up with no points. The Savage Storm turned the ball over twice and were thwarted on downs the other two occasions.
The rushing attack for Southeastern had its second-best outing of the season, tallying 151 yards on 40 carries.
Brown led that charge with 21 totes for 67 yards with Donovan Shannon adding 52 yards on eight attempts and Jason Ngwu 10 carries for 32 yards. Jennings caught four passes for 67 yards with Gabe Corona contributing one grab for 45.
Tyveon Williams posted eight tackles with Johnson chipping in seven to spearhead the defensive charge.
