SE Athletics
Matt Thomas
DURANT – Southeastern scored the first 17 points of the game and saw its offense pile up 409 total yards of offense on its way to a third-straight win by downing Southwestern Oklahoma State 32-13 on Saturday afternoon at Paul Laird Field.
Sports presented by Indian Nation Wholesale.
The victory moves the Savage Storm to 4-4 on the year heading into a second-consecutive home contest on Oct. 28 when it hosts nationally-ranked Harding at Paul Laird Field at 2 p.m.
“I wish we would have finished a little bit better,” said head coach Bo Atterberry. “It’s not easy to win football games at any level. We’ve got guys in and out of the lineup as you can see, and I was proud of the way we were able to come together and get some points on the board. Would have like to finish a little bit cleaner but we’ll get that cleaned up tomorrow.”
Kane Donovan collected a win in his first start at quarterback after completing 23-of-38 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns.
He spread his passes across eight receivers, with six of them recording two or more catches.
That group was led by Kaleb Whitley who hauled in six receptions for 69 yards, while DJ Brown grabbed five catches out of the backfield for 56 yards and a pair of scores.
Hunter Hawthorne finished with four catches for 61 yards while Marquis Gray had two for 39 yards and a touchdown.
Ryan Hirt would lead the rushing attack which finished with 150 yards on the day, turning in 82 yards on eight carries, including a 55-yard touchdown scamper.
Brown would add 54 yards on 20 carries on the ground to his total receiving and finish the night with 103 yards from scrimmage.
Dylan Cox would connect on both his field goal attempts, one from 23 yards and the other from 31 yards out.
Cameron Tate would pace the defense with eight tackles and an interception on the afternoon, with Caleb High next in line with five stops.
Kevin Simes finished with four, including 1.5 sacks and two QB Hurries, while Fred Hardy added four as well with a half sack to his credit.
Jordan Hood would pick up three tackles and a forced fumble, while Michael Hookfin would add three stops and an interception.
Southeastern would receive the opening kickoff and use over half the opening quarter to march the ball 80 yards on 16 plays with Donovan connecting with Brown on an eight-yard TD toss to take a 7-0 lead with 7:04 to go in the first quarter.
The defense would force SWOSU into a turnover on four-straight downs on the next drive and proceed to pick up 28 yards from Donovan to Hawthorne on the first play which would eventually set up the first Cox field goal which he hit from 31 yards out for a 10-0 lead which would remain the margin at the end of one quarter.
SE would force another turnover on downs and take over early in the second quarter, going 57 yards on 10 plays with Donovan again finding Brown, this time for a one-yard touchdown and a 17-0 lead with 9:43 to play in the first half.
The Bulldogs would get an answer on the second play of their ensuing drive as Dexter Brown would turn the corner and go 85 yards for a rushing touchdown at the 9:10 mark to trim the Storm lead to 17-7.
After a 39-yard Andre Williams kick return on the ensuing kickoff, SE would answer four plays later when Donovan connected with Gray on a fourth-and-two pass that went 27 yards for the score, but a missed PAT would leave the lead at 23-7 with 7:35 to play in the half. It would hold up as the halftime difference.
After a three-and-out by the Storm defense to open the second half, Southeastern would take over in Bulldogs territory using 11 plays to drive down to the SWOSU seven-yard line before Cox would connect from 21 yards out to push the lead to 26-7 with 7:48 to play in the third.
The score would remain there through three quarters, and on the first play of the fourth frame, Hookfin would snag an interception deep in Bulldogs territory.
SE would go three-and-out on offense, but on the next Southwestern drive, Tate would snag his first pick of the season and return it to the Southeastern 42-yard line.
Two plays later Hirt would bounce outside and take it 55 yards to the house, but a botched PAT would leave the score 32-7 with 12:24 to play.
SE would force a punt and later a turnover on downs, while the Bulldogs defense would force a punt and pick off a Donovan pass over the next set of drives, leaving SWOSU with the ball and 3:07 to play at the SE 12-yard line.
Southwestern Oklahoma State would score when Calvin Cloud connected with Zion Mercer for a 16-yard touchdown strike, but Jacob Geddes would block the ensuing PAT to leave the score 32-13.
Southeastern would survive the following onside kick attempt and three plays later took its final knee to preserve the 32-13 victory.