It wasn’t a thing of beauty but Southeastern managed to hold on for a 27-21 triumph at Northwestern last week to even its gridiron record at 2-2 on the year.
Coach Bo Atterberry’s squad will put its current twogame winning streak on the line Saturday in a very difficult assignment when 16th rated and unbeaten Ouachita Baptist visits Paul Laird Field for Homecoming.
Southeastern managed to win despite losing the turnover battle 3-1, but was able to limit penalties for the most part while the Rangers were assessed 11 for 106 yards in the game.
“An ugly win is better than a pretty loss,” Atterberry summed up afterward. “We didn’t handle adversity very well, but it’s always tough in Alva. We gave them some momentum and they did a good job stacking the box and we didn’t capitalize. We found a way to pull out this win however, but future opponents will capitalize on every mistake and unforced error we make. We’ve got to eliminate those.”
It looked like the Savage Storm might cruise to the victory, rolling to a commanding 20-0 halftime advantage. And it was the Southeastern defense that got things going.
Michael Hookfin intercepted a Northwestern pass deep in Ranger territory and rumbled just nine yards to paydirt and a 7-0 lead with just under five minutes left in the opening quarter.
Moments later, Southeastern cashed in a miserable seven yard punt by the hosts when Dylan Cox booted a 30yard field goal to push the lead to double figures.
Cergio Perez tossed the first of two interceptions to halt the next possession, but it was a 43-yard Perez strike to Anstrike to Andre Williams when they got the ball back to set up Jonathan Cobb’s two-yard touchdown burst.
That made it a 20-0 edge at the break but Northwestern found life early in the second half, capitalizing on a long pass to get on the scoreboard. Two plays into the final quarter, Southeastern returned the earlier favor deep in its own territory when Perez’s pass was picked off and returned 20 yards for a touchdown.
With the lead down to 2014 all of a sudden, Southeastern seemingly got the wake up call with a rapid 65yard march that was highlighted by a 44-yard touchdown from Perez to Victor Taylor for their only second half score.
The Rangers closed to within a touchdown again with 7:03 left and even got the ball back in the closing minutes with a chance to win, but stalled at midfield with a chance to take the lead.
Perez finished with 199 yards through the air on 15 of 28 passing. Kobe Jennings snagged four of the passes for 62 yards while Taylor had three catches for 60.
Braeden Winters had a monster game for the Southeastern defense as he posted 14 tackles, including four for loss, a pair of sacks and a quarterback hurry.
