Southeastern forced four turnovers and racked up a season-high 461 yards but had to hold on through a host of special team miscues for a 27-21 road win over Southern Nazarene on Saturday.
The Savage Storm, who leveled their record at 2-2, will be back on the road this week at Arkansas Tech.
“We were pretty poor in the special teams that we have to get corrected,” head coach Bo Atterberry said afterward. “It’s a lot easier to correct though after a win than after a loss. Much of this game was about adversity and overcoming things out of our control. The kids kept fighting though.
“I was proud of our offense and both our quarterbacks. They made some really good decisions. It was a great job by the defense to take away the football like they did today.”
Southeastern’s defense was exceptional from the start, yielding a total of 161 for the game and just nine first downs while taking the ball away four times.
The Savage Storm broke the scoring ice with a stellar drive midway through the opening period, marching 84 yards in 11 plays as Levay Duncan connected on a pair of key passes that covered 16 and 23 yards respectively. Donovan Shannon closed the march with an 11-yard touchdown burst.
Special teams mistakes began to show up less than a minute into the second period when the Savage Storm fumbled a Southern Nazarene punt, gifting the Crimson Storm golden field position, which they converted to tie the game.
The Southeastern offense answered with a 48-yard drive that set up a field goal try that was blocked by the hosts and returned 66 yards to paydirt and put Southern Nazarene in front 14-7.
Atterberry’s offensive unit continued to assert itself on another lengthy march that covered 75 yards and 13 plays before Duncan hit Tevin Hohenberger for a 13-yard tying scoring toss with only 54 seconds left in the half.
They weren’t done before intermission however as Andrew Grissom picked off a Crimson Storm pass and Colton Howard immediately connected with Kobe Jennings on a 44-yard strike down to the four. Two plays later Howard hooked up with Jennings again for a short scoring toss and the extra point attempt failed to make it a 20-14 Savage Storm edge at the break.
A Kole McKnight interception midway through the third quarter set up a one-play scoring drive for Southeastern with Kameron Lockhart bolting in from 15 yards out, finishing off a flurry of 20 unanswered points.
Southern Nazarene narrowed the gap with a touchdown just over one minute into the final frame but did not threaten again until blocking another Southeastern field goal try with 53 seconds remaining.
The Savage Storm wrapped it up moments later with a Kamron Fields interception to thwart the final comeback bid. Jennings ended with 102 yards receiving on five catches while Shannon tallied 80 yards on 12 rushing attempts.
