SE Athletics
Matt Thomas
DURANT – Southeastern suffered five turnovers and was unable to get its offense moving on Saturday as the Savage Storm dropped its matchup against No. 4/5 Harding, 55-0, at Paul Laird Field.
Sports presented by Indian Nation Wholesale.
The loss drops SE to 4-5 on the season heading in the final road trip of the season when the Storm take on Arkansas Tech at 4 p.m. in Russellville, Ark., on Nov. 4.
“You always wonder when you face a top opponent,” said head coach Bo Atterberry, “You don’t want to let them beat you twice. So, you’ve just got to flush that as quick as you possibly can. And we didn’t prepare them well enough and gave them the ball too many times. They earned their ranking. They earned a lot today and we gave up a little as well, but they’re a really good football team and we’ve got to just let this one go and move on to next week.”
Southeastern saw one of its longest streaks come to an end as it had been 239 games since the Storm last suffered shutout, that coming on Sept. 23, 200 in a 41-0 loss to Tarleton State.
It had also been 70 games since a team had scored more than 50 points against an SE defense.
DJ Brown led Southeastern on the ground with 42 yards on the afternoon on nine carries, while Ryan Hirt finished with 11 on four totes. The Storm finished with 45 yards of rushing as a team.
SE did not find much more success through the air as Weston Conaway came off the bench to complete 23-of-22 passes for 71 yards but was picked off three times and sacked twice.
Kane Donovan got the start and went 3-for-9 for 13 yards with an interception, while Jackson Nalley completed his lone pass of the contest for 12 yards on a fake punt converted for a first down.
Hunter Hawthorne finished with three catches for 23 yards to lead the way, while Matthew Nunez added three catches for eight yards, while Duce Pittman had 23 yards on two grabs.
Tyveon Williams paced the SE defense with 13 tackles and added a pass breakup, while Cameron Tate turned in 10 stops and a tackle for loss.
Josh Horlick followed with eight tackles and one for a loss, while Michael Hookfin added seven.
Caleb High would record six tackles and recover a fumble.
Harding would score 21 points in the first quarter and ultimately score points on seven of its first eight drives, with SE forcing a turnover on downs in the second quarter for the lone stop on six first-half drives, making the score 31-0 at the half.
The Bisons would score touchdowns on their first two drives of the second half to continue the run, but the Storm would recover a fumble midway though the third and force a punt on the next HU drive, with the score 45-0 after three quarters.
HU would kick a field goal to open the fourth and add a touchdown on its next drive to make the final 55-0.
