Even if Southeastern head coach Bo Atterberry could have scripted a perfect start to the 2025 football season, even he couldn’t have envisioned how things played out in the Savage Storm’s opening 44-13 victory over University of Arkansas-Monticello at Paul Laird Field.
Southeastern rushed for more than 200 yards, passed for more than 200 yards, forced four Boll Weevil turnovers and blocked a pair of kicks in special teams to dominate their way to the convincing triumph.
“I thought it was really good complementary football,” Atterberry said. “We played really well in all three phases. The thing I was impressed with was how we responded after they hit us a couple of times with big plays. We just moved right along to the next play and never lost our focus.
“I was proud of how the guys performed. We are excited about getting that first win under our belts and have to just move on to the next one with the same focus.”
The Savage Storm scored at least 10 points in each quarter, including points on their opening two possessions of the contest.
Jonathan Cobb capped a 10-play, 56-yard drive on the first series with a three-yard scoring burst and Southeastern followed that up with a 41-yard field goal on the following possession. A 17-yard Luke Hohenberger pass to Colton Simpson on third down set up the first score and a Donovan Shannon 16yard run kick started the second.
Monticello marched inside the Southeastern red zone early in quarter two but was turned away scoreless when Dylan Sebock blocked a 30yard field goal attempt.
Atterberry’s squad countered with another Cox field goal for a 13-0 lead before the visitors’ first big play on a 44yard touchdown pass. Christian Brumley blocked the extra point to leave the Savage Storm in front by seven.
Southeastern’s offense immediately answered on the final possession of the half, driving 88 yards in nine plays as Matthew Nunez made a spectacular one-handed eight-yard touchdown grab from Hohenberger on the final offensive play before intermission.
The momentum continued into the third period when Kameron Lockhart returned the second half kickoff 66 yards to set up a short scoring march that was capped by a D.J. Brown 10-yard run to help push the edge to 27-6.
Trevion Butler covered a Monticello fumble moments later and Southeastern converted with Levay Duncan’s five-yard touchdown run.
A 75-yard scoring toss by the Boll Weevils on the very next play narrowed the gap to 34-13 but also proved to be the final visitor points of the night.
Southeastern wrapped up the scoring in the fourth frame when Victor Taylor snagged a 37-yard touchdown pass from Duncan and Dane Casselberry tacked on a 25yard field goal.
Hohenberger completed eight of 12 passes for 156 yards while seven rushers all toted the ball at least five times to key the 207-yard running attack. Andrew Grissom led the Savage Storm defense with eight tackles. D’Angelo Shanks contributed four stops and a sack as they held Monticello to 281 total yards.
The Savage Storm will be on the road this week for the first time with a big challenge at nationally ranked Ouachita Baptist Saturday night.
