SE Falls Short in Upset bid of HSU

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DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern had upset on its mind when it took a four-point lead into the fourth quarter against No. 9 Henderson State, but some bad breaks in the fourth quarter saw thee Savage Storm outscored 20-7 and the upset bid fell short in a 44-35 loss on Saturday night at Paul Laird Field.
 
The loss drops the Storm to 1-2 overall and 1-2 in Great American Conference play, while HSU improves to 3-0 and 2-0 in league play.
 
Despite the loss, the game was not devoid of Southeastern highlights, with possible none bigger than Logan Russell picking off Kevin Rodgers and returning it 100 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter which gave the Storm a 28-24 lead.  It is just the second time that an interception has been returned 100 yards, with the first coming on the hands and feet of Calvin Beams in a 19-0 win over East Central in 1927.  It is also the best return in the GAC record book, beating he previous mark of 88 yards set in 2012.

Hey #SCtop10 Catch Southeastern's Logan Russell return an INT 100 yards: http://t.co/uq4VnV58kM #D2football #theGAC #GoSoutheastern

— GoSoutheastern (@GoSoutheastern) September 22, 2013

 
That TD put the Storm in front and ended an impressive run for the Reddies at the same time by handing HSU its first second-half deficit in a regular season game since a loss to Division I South Alabama on Oct. 29, 2011.
 
Despite giving up 513 yards and 44 points, the Storm defense held the Reddies to nearly half their scoring average coming into the game and 250 yards under their average yardage mark.
 
Meanwhile the SE offense was by far the most high-powered to have faced HSU thus far, doubling their average total yards allowed with 416 total yards, while nearly tripling their points allowed per game with 35.
 
Southeastern had its share of memorable performances as Nick Sioson out-dueled HSU's All-American Kevin Rogers in the head-to-head comparison as Sioson completed 34-of-58 passes (58.6%) for a career-high 377 yards and four touchdowns, while Rodgers was 27-of-50 (54.0%) for 384 but just one touchdown after throwing 11 over his first two games.
 
Sioson's 377 yards puts him in SE's all-time single game performances list, taking the No. 6 spot.
 
He also spread the ball around rather generously, hitting nine different receiver on the contest, with Kaymon Farmer being the leading target as he hauled in a game-high nine catches for 82 yards and a pair of touchdowns.  He is the first receiver to have two TD grabs in one game this season and now leads the team with three trips to the endzone on receptions, while adding a fourth on the ground.
 
Anthony Foster continues to be a hot target for Sioson as he hauled in eight catches on the night for a team-high 127 yards.  He is the first receiver since Shawn Lawrence in 2006 to post three-straight 100-yard receiving performances.
 
Xavier Smith and Chard Laury each made their way into the end zone on the only passes each would catch, Smith's going for 20 yards and Laury's for 55, which was the longest of the night.
 
If there was an offensive drawback it was the running game where Ladarius Abrams led the way with 46 yards on 11 carries and Sioson rushed eight times for 19 yards, but the Storm was unable to get the ball in the endzone on the ground for the first time this season and was held to 39 yards rushing as a team thanks to a large loss on a bad long snap on a punt.
 
As mentioned, the defense was solid despite the relatively high yardage output and the 44 points on the board for HSU.
 
Jacobi Crowley led SE with eight tackles, while Russell Hurst, Ladarice Sanders and Mark Idell each added seven and Chad Tucker pitched in six.  The team added four tackles for loss, while Idell and Khalil Abdulkarim split a sack of Rodgers.  Chad Tucker forced a fumble that was recovered by Josh Morrison, while Russell's 100-yard pick-six was the only interception SE had, while Jacoby Sanders broke up three passes and Raheem Wilson stopped two.
 
The game got off to a rocky start for the Storm as SE committed a pass interference penalty, and gave up big plays on a third down and a fourth down to allow the Reddiues to get on the board first with a 7-0 lead.
 
The teams traded possessions twice and with 5:38 to play in the opening quarter HSU led 14-0.
 
On the ensuing Storm drive it would take the combined effort of three players over three plays to get in the endzone.  SE took over on its own 40 yardline after an out-of-bounds kickoff, when Farmer picked up eight yards on the end around rush.  Sioson would find Foster otn eh next play for 43 yards down to the nine yardline, setting up the third play of the drive where Sioson would return to Farmer and connect on a nine-yard TD toss and SE trailed just 14-7.
 
HSU, however, would add another field goal with 2:04 to play in the first quarter and take a 17-7 lead after the first 15 minutes.
 
The teams would trade possessions twice again before Sioson would orchestrate an 11 play, 77 yard drive, completing a perfect 5-of-5 passing on the drive, including a pair of 30-plus connections before finally hitting Farmer again for a seven yard TD strike and SE trailed just 17-14, which is where it would stand at halftime.
 
The Storm could not capitalize on opening the second half with possession, and HSU did find paydirt on its ensuing drive when Keaton Stigger, normally a linebacker for the Reddies, scored from two yards out and 11:17 left to play and take a 24-14 lead.
 
Southeastern bounced back from that drive and got back on the scoreboard on the next drive by going 15 plays and covering 70 yards, including a key fourth-down pickup on a Sioson to Anthony Gale pass, and culminating with a Sioson to Xavier Smith with 7:05 to go third quarter and SE trailed 21-24.
 
That would change after the teams traded possessions, HSU had the ball at the SE four-yardline after nearly giving up a special teams touchdown following the bad snap that Jared Heim could not handle, and after stuffing a run attempt and breaking up a pass into the endzone on second down, Russell would step in front of a third-down try at a slant pattern, snagging it just inside the paint of his own endzone and weaving his way 100 yards for a touchdown that would give the Storm a 28-24 lead with 2:48 to play in the third quarter.
 
HSU would close the gap to 28-27 on a Charles Gonsalves 26 yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.  It was his second of the day and her would finish with three which ties the GAC record for field goals in a game.
 
SE's next drive would end with an interception and HSU would take advantage taking the ball 54 yards in eight plays before Rodgers hit Darius Davis for his only TD of the day, however it put the Reddies back in front 34-28 with 12:58 to play.
 
With SE needing to make something happen on the next drive, the breaks they needed did not fall their way as a pair of sketchy calls by the officials nullified back-to-back plays that should have been first downs to keep the drive alive.  The first was a blatant pass interference penalty that was missed as SE's Farmer was nearly tackled before the ball reached him on a pattern that would have easily converted on third-and-five.  They waited just one play to blow a second controversial call as the Storm sent Daryn Alves to punt with SE on its own 27 yardline, and he took the snap and rounded the left end to wide open space for 26 yards for a first down across midfield, only to have it returned on a holding call that was not flagged until action had well passed the line.
 
SE would then be forced to punt with 12 minutes left to play and HSU would take the next drive 34 yards on eight plays and score on Stigger's fourth rushing TD of the day and lead 41-28 with 10:49 to play.
 
After trading possessions, SE would finally get back into the endzone when Sioson hit Laury for a 55 yard TD toss to cap a six-play 65 yard drive and trim the deficit to 41-35 with 6:22 to play.
 
However, the Reddies put together their longest scoring drive in terms of possession time on the next drive by taking 4:15 to move the ball 30 yards using 12 plays before Gonsalves connected from 25 yards out to make the score 44-35 which would hold to be the final score.
 
Southeastern will be back in action on Sept. 28 when it travels to Arkadelphia, Ark., to face Ouachita Baptist at 6 p.m.  The Tigers were 24-17 winners on the road against East Central on Saturday night.