Some may call it the miracle in Weatherford for a while, but the end result was a key 27-21 Southeastern road victory at Southwestern on Saturday night to improve the Savage Storm to 2-1 on the season.
The Savage Storm looked to have the game comfortably in hand with a 17-0 edge going into the halftime break before the Bulldogs stormed back with 21 unanswered points to claim the lead early in the fourth quarter.
Southwestern blocked a Savage Storm field goal try moments later thwarting that scoring threat before the Southeastern special teams came through with a big play of their own. Forcing a punt, Southeastern’s Banner Nitcholas broke through to block the kick resulting in a safety that cut the lead in half at 2119 with only six minutes remaining.
Taking the ensuing free kick, the Savage Storm maneuvered to the hosts’ 23 but had to settle for another Dylan Cox field goal attempt that was blocked as well to virtually seal the deal with 2:18 left. Coach Bo Atterberry’s defense had other ideas by forcing a quick three-and-out for one final chance 80 yards from paydirt with 1:35 to play.
With time running down at the Bulldog 41, quarterback Levay Duncan heaved a desperation pass downfield that Colby Short snagged for a first down at the 15. A penalty moved the ball to the Southwestern two-yard line and Duncan found Short again for a quick dart in the end zone for the game winner with nine seconds remaining.
In the first half the Savage Storm took an early 3-0 lead on a Cox 33-yard first period field goal and added a Duncan rushing score in the second frame to cap a 54-yard, nine-play drive.
The defense also got in on the scoring when Javon Towns scooped up a Bulldog fumble and returned it 18 yards to paydirt as the Savage Storm yielded only 33 total yards before intermission.
Duncan finished the contest with 166 yards passing on 16 of 40 attempts while the Savage Storm also recorded 136 yards on the ground topped by Kameron Lockhart’s 12 carried for 67 yards. Short contributed five receptions for 70 yards with Sean Steens posting four catches for 54 yards.
Dylan Sebock racked up a team-high eight tackles for the defense, which tallied 10 tackles for loss. Jacob Geddes had seven tackles with William Wallis and Prince Dweh both adding six.
Southeastern returns Saturday for a 2 p.m. kickoff with winless Southern Nazarene at Spend Life Wisely Stadium to begin a two-game homestand.
