SE Athletics
Matt Thomas, Sports Information Director
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Southeastern scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, but it was not enough to overcome four turnovers in a 38-20 loss to Arkansas Tech on Saturday afternoon in Russellville, Ark.
Sports presented by Indian Nation Wholesale
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 1-8 overall on the year heading into back-to-back home games to end the season, the first of which is slated for 2 p.m. on Nov. 9 at Paul Laird field against Harding.
The Storm offense finished with over 400 yards for the second-straight game, but two interceptions and two fumbles were turned into 21 Arkansas Tech points to offset the SE offensive effort.
SE did nearly all of its damage through the air as Daulton Hatley hit 22-of-32 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns but was also picked off twice.
Rollin Kinsaul came on late and completed 9-of-15 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.
The two QBs combined for 370 yards passing, posting the most team passing yards in a game since a 398-yard effort Oct. 17, 2015 against Harding.
Braxton Kincade hauled in career-highs with 11 catches and 163 yards to lead the Storm receivers and added a touchdown.
Felton Hatcher followed with a pair of touchdowns to go with his seven catches for 91 yards.
Katrell Blakely added six grabs for 45 yards, while Hunter Hawthorne hauled in three catches for 36 yards.
Ryan Taylor led the SE rushing attack with 27 yards on five carries, but the rushing effort was hampered by seven sacks for a loss of 35 yards.
In all, the Storm finished with 409 yards of total offense.
Connor Swope continued to be a force on defense, finishing the day with 11 tackles to lead all defenders and adding 1.5 tackles for loss, while Scooter Baker followed with nine stops and Josh Mulumba added six.
The defenses opened strong, as each team had fruitless drives to open the game, but it was ATU that would get on the board first capping its second drive with a 39-yard Jesus Zizumbo field goal.
The score would remain 3-0 into the second quarter until the Wonder Boys connected on an 80-yard touchdown pass from Carter Burcham to Drew Wade with 8:03 to go in the half, stretching its lead to 10-0.
Southeastern would put together a scoring drive late in the second quarter as Hatley connected with Kincade for 25 yards to open the drive and would cap it three plays later with a 32-yard connection to Kincade to trim the deficit to 10-7 with 1:33 to play in the half.
SE’s defense would force a punt but was pinned on its own two-yard line, and on the second play of the drive Hatley would mishandle the snap in the endzone which was recovered by ATU’s Donald Joshua for a touchdown and a 17-7 with 19 seconds to play in the half.
Both teams traded fruitless drives to open the second half as well, but the Storm was unable to handle the ATU punt which was recovered by Luke Curtis and two plays later Burcham hit Caleb Batie for a 10-yard score to push its lead to 24-7 with 10:35 to play in the third quarter.
The Wonder Boys added a 72 yards TD pass from Burcham to Wallace Foote later in the third quarter and tacked on a four-yard TD run by Tanner Gaines to open the fourth quarter, stretching their lead to 38-7.
Southeastern would get back on the board when Hatley capped a five play, 65-yard drive by hitting Hatcher for 22 yards to close the gap to 38-14 with 12:30 to play.
The Storm would add on another fourth-quarter score as Kinsaul connected with Hatcher for a 23-yard touchdown with 3:01 to play in the contest.
Kincade would recover the ensuing onside kick and SE would drive to the ATU 16 yard line but would run out of time in a 38-20 loss.