Miscues Costly as SE Falls at UAM

Box Score DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern scored first and held the lead five different times, but turnovers and big plays kept the Savage Storm from holding them as Arkansas-Monticello handed SE a 42-34 loss on Saturday night in Monticello, Ark.
 
The loss drops the Storm to 1-1 on the year heading into a Sept. 21 matchup at Paul Laird Field against nationally-ranked Henderson State, while UAM improves to 1-1 on the year.  Both schools are also 1-1 in Great American Conference play.
 
While SE opened the season by turning heads thanks to a 56-50 win over preseason No. 2 in the conference Southern Arkansas, week two was the complete opposite story as the Boll Weevils were picked ninth in the league.
 
The deciding factors were turnovers and big plays.
 
"You can't turn the ball over and give up big plays," said head coach Ray Richards, "And that's what we did."
 
We beat ourselves," he continued. "We made mistakes, some physical and some mental.  We gave up some big plays, and it was big plays and turnovers that got us beat."
 
The offense had four turnovers, three interceptions and one lost fumble, turning the fumble and the first interception into a total of 14 points, while the last two interceptions essentially iced the game as both came on Storm drives looking to tie or take the lead in the final five minutes of the contest.
 
And while SE lost a bit of its big play mojo from week one, UAM turned in five plays of 50-plus yards, with a run of 79 yards as well as passes of 66, 61, 52 and 51, with the 66 yarder and the 51 yarder both going for touchdowns.
 
The Storm put up 460 total yards with 298 yards passing and 162 rushing, but the Weevils passed for 372 yards and finished with 473 total yards on the contest.
 
Individually for the Storm Devlon Wortham had another solid outing and finished with 92 yards on 16 carries, averaging 5.8 yards per carry, while Ladarius Abrams turned in 71 yards on 17 carries.
 
Kaymon Farmer scored SE's only rushing touchdown on an eight-yard end-around for the game's first TD.
 
Farmer would also add a receiving touchdown, making him the first player to score a rushing and a receiving TD in the same game since Baylen Laury achieved the feat against Eastern New Mexico on Oct. 30, 2010.
 
Farmer finished with 51 yards on seven catches.
 
Anthony Foster led the receiving corps with 11 catches for 99 yards, while Anthony Gale pitched in 78 yards on five catches with a score and Xavier Smith also added five catches for 46 yards and a TD.
 
Despite the three picks, Nick Sioson still completed 58.5 percent of his passes, going 31-for-53 on the contest for a career-high 298 yards and three touchdowns.
 
The Storm also got its first two field goals of the season as Chris Peoples started the year off strong by connecting from 23 yards out in the third quarter and then 37 yards out in the fourth.
 
Another area that was noticeably different from week one to week two was the SE defense's ability to force turnovers.  After picking off three passes and forcing a fumble in the opener, week two saw the defense force just one when Bobby Jackson forced a fumble that Trent Hannah recovered.
 
The Storm did get its first blocked punt of the season when Keon Furtch blocked a Reagan Wise punt and recovered it at the UAM eight yardline which set of SE's second TD of the game.
 
Jackson led the defense with seven tackles, while Clay Waters added six and the trio of Jacoby Sanders, Eric Walker and Simeon Stevenson each added five.
 
Greg Jackson picked up two of SE's five tackles for losses, while Bobby Jackson, Logan Russell and Derek Ogg each had a pass breakup.  Trent Hannah also chipped in a pair of quarterback hurries and Coby Ragsdale added one.
 
The aforementioned Farmer touchdown run capped SE's first drive of the game, which came after the defense held the Weevils to a three-and-out to open the contest.  That Storm drive went 73 yards in 12 plays and took 4:00 off the clock.
 
However, UAM would answer two plays into their next drive with a 51 yard pass from Colton Morrison to Jamal Nixon.
 
Morrison would finish the night 25-of-36 for 345 yards and four touchdowns, while Nixon racked up 151 yards on seven catches with two touchdowns.
 
The Storm would bounce back and take a 14-7 lead with 31 seconds to play in the first quarter when Sioson found Smith for a 12 yard TD toss.
 
UAM would score on its next possession early in the second quarter, but would miss the PAT and SE held onto a 14-13 lead.
 
After holding the Storm offense, the Weevils would take their first lead on a Rod Smith run from four yards out on second and goal with 7:41 to play in the half. The two-point try would fail and UAM led 19-14.
 
SE recovered on its own next possession, marching 71 yards in 10 plays and culminating with a Sioson to Farmer 24 yard TD toss to put Southeastern back out in front 21-19 with 4:32 to go in the half.
 
UAM, however would have the last word in the quarter, running the clock down to the 39 second mark when Jamie McGee connected on a 33 yard field goal and the Weevils would lead 22-21 at halftime.
 
The first possession of the second half was just as efficient as the first one of the first half as SE regained the lead by taking the ball 74 yards on eight plays with Sioson finding Gale for a 29 yard touchdown strike and a 28-22 lead.
 
After stopping UAM on the next drive, the Storm offense would turn around and on the first play Sioson's pass intended for Farmer was picked off by Mike Early who returned it 46 yards and following a personal foul penalty on SE the Weevils would start the drive at the SE 17 yardline.
 
Four plays later Morrison would find Skylar Scott for a four-yard connection and UAM jumped ahead 29-28.
 
Scott finished the day as UAM's leading receiver after hauling in eight catches for 165 yards and three touchdowns.  It is the second-straight week that SE has allowed an individual receiver to score three times in a game.
 
Southeastern responded by going 57 yards on 14 plays before Peoples connected on his first field goal of the day, this one from 23 yards out to take a 31-29 lead which it would take into the fourth quarter.


However, on UAM's first possession of the fourth quarter Morrison would hit Scott for a 66 yard TD strike and after another missed two-point conversion the Storm would trail 35-31 with 13:59 to play.
 
SE would then put together another 14 play drive that would again end in a Peoples field goal, this one from 37 yards out with 9:21 to play to cut the deficit to 35-34.
 
The Storm defense caught one of its few breaks on the night when the next UAM possession ended on fourth down when the snap to the punter was mishandled and Hannah recovered for SE at the UAM 20 yardline with 7:36 to play.
 
Two plays later the Storm was first and goal from the six when Abrams had the ball stripped at the five yardline going in by Alex Black and UAM's Anthony Hughes would fall on it at the three yardline to end SE's scoring opportunity.
 
They would then take the ball 97 yards on five plays, thanks to a 61 yard completion to Scott and a 30 yard TD toss to Nixon and the Weevils would take a 42-34 lead with 4:51 to play.
 
The Storm would still have its chances in the final minutes, with the next drive ending two plays in when Sioson's pass was picked off by Early for the second time on the night.
 
SE would force a three-and-out and regain the ball with 2:41 to play and still trailing by eight.
 
The Storm would run four plays and cross midfield to the UAM 35 yardline, but on the fifth play Sioson would throw his third pick of the day with 1:09 to play in the game.
 
SE would burn its timeouts during the ensuing UAM possession and nearly got its miracle play as the snap sailed over the punter's head deep into the Weevil's own territory, however the punter Wise would corral the ball and get off a punt that would only go in the books as a 25 yarder, but put the ball at the SE 36 yardline with 22 seconds to play.
 
Sioson would find Foster for a 22 yard connection to the UAM 42 yardline, but a pair of Hail Mary passes would fall incomplete in the endzone and the Storm would fall 42-34.