Another dominant defensive performance and record setting rushing attack were the main ingredients as Southeastern returned home to smash Southern Nazarene, 40-14, on Saturday at Paul Laird Field.
The Savage Storm yielded a measly 146 total yards (a third of which came on one play) and racked up a whopping 355 yards on the ground, which was the fifth highest total in a game since the school moved to NCAA Division II.
Coach Bo Atterberry’s squad climbed over .500 for the first time this season, improving its record to 4-3 heading to Southwestern for another Great American Conference outing this week at 2 p.m. on Saturday before a Halloween night battle at Harding, who was ranked number one in the nation this past week.
“Southern Naz does a good job offensively with misdirection and if you get your eyes in the wrong spot you’re in trouble,” Atterberry said afterward. “That one play we were in position and we had a bust on a punt return for their other score. It was a really good job by the defensive staff getting those guys in the right spot and playing hard. We were also very impressive running the football. The guys up front did a great job clearing the way and we have a lot of guys in the backfield that contributed.
“We’ve got two games on the road in a short period of time so we are going to have to get geared up and ready to go for those.”
The Savage Storm set the tone from the start, taking the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards to paydirt. Facing fourth down at the SNU 32, quarterback Luke Hohenberger connected with Matthew Nunez down the middle for a touchdown pass that put the hosts ahead to stay.
A nifty 29-yard punt return by Andre Williams set up the next Southeastern touchdown that came on a Jonathan Cobb two-yard scoring burst with 2:04 left in the first stanza.
Southern Nazarene answered with its longest possession of the game, driving deep into the red zone before the Savage Storm stiffened and held on downs at the Southeastern eight yard line.
Three straight Jason Ngwu runs netted 26 yards and D.J. Brown followed by bolting 66 yards for another touchdown and 20-0 edge midway through the second frame. Southeastern wasn’t done in the half, however, covering 83 yards on its next possession. That included a key 31-yard third down strike from Hohenberger to Nunez before the freshman signal caller connected with Kobe Jennings down the sideline for a 47-yard touchdown only two minutes before intermission.
The visitors notched its two scores on a 44-yard pass and 70yard punt return in the third period, sandwiched around a Donovan Shannon 19-yard scoring burst.
Kicker Dylan Cox then booted 31- and 39-yard field goals in the fourth stanza for the game’s final points.
Four players all tallied at least 10 carries in the spread out rushing attack, led by 131 yards on 13 totes from Brown. Ngwu rushed 15 times for 80 yards, Hohenberger tallied 63 yards on 10 attempts with Cobb contributing 43 yards on 10 carries.
Hohenberger completed six of his 12 pass attempts for 162 yards with Jennings snagging two for 84 yards and Nunez two for 63.
Braeden Winters tallied seven tackles, including one of the three sacks by Southeastern’s defense. Jalen Hughes chipped in an interception.
