Southeastern yielded just 219 yards of total offense to East Central in the season finale but couldn’t muster enough offense to overcome two turnovers and a pair of Tiger big plays in a 20-13 road defeat.
The Savage Storm closed out the season with a 5-6 record, the same as the Tigers.
Carrying a 6-3 lead into the halftime locker room, Southeastern watched the hosts reel off 17 third quarter points to take control.
“I appreciate the way we battled back,” said head coach Bo Atterberry. “There were some moments when we didn’t handle situations well. Good for East Central. It was a good win for them, but we’ll bounce back.”
Offensive struggles continued for the Savage Storm with starting quarterback Luke Hohenberger sidelined with an injury. They finished with 180 total yards from scrimmage.
Southeastern’s first half scoring drive was set up by a 30-yard Andre Williams punt return as they marched 41 yards in seven plays to erase a 3-0 deficit. Cergio Perez’s four-yard touchdown toss to D.J. Brown on third and goal capped the possession with 2:34 left before halftime.
The squad’s next scoring opportunity came in the fourth quarter when Jalen Hughes forced and recovered an East Central fumble at the Tiger 20.
Josh Horlick plowed across from the one for the touchdown with 7:49 remaining but that proved to be the final Southeastern points.
The Savage Storm got the ball back at the ECU 35 with 1:25 left and a chance to tie the game but four straight passes went incomplete to end the game.
Donovan Shannon led the rushing attack for Southeastern with 64 yards on 15 carries while Brown tallied 53 on 14 rushes and Jason Ngwu carried eight times for 43 yards.
Colton Simpson snagged three passes for 33 yards.
Kole McKnight fueled the defensive charge with seven tackles with Keith Wright adding five stops.
