Savage Storm Hold On for Home Opening Win

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern came up with a set of big fourth quarter plays to pull out a 21-17 victory in its home opener on Saturday night over Oklahoma Baptist at Paul Laird Field.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 2-0 on the season and in Great American Conference play, posting the team's first 2-0 start since the 2011 season.
 
"It's difficult to win college football games," said head coach Bo Atterberry, "Period."
 
"It takes a lot of effort," he added, "And it takes a lot of skill. I think there are a couple of things that we need to clean up. I think the penalty situation, we can control some of that. It has to get taken care of and get back to work and try and get a little bit cleaner."
 
SE finished the night with 499 yards of total offense, flinging the ball around for 298 yards through the air and tacking on another 201 on the ground.
 
CB Cantwell was on fire for the second-straight week, connecting on 13-of-16 for 211 yards and a score, but saw his night come to an early end in the first half.
 
Rollin Kinsaul came on in relief and added 87 yards through the air and a touchdown on 7-of-13 passing.
 
Drake White turned in his second-straight 100-yard receiving outing, hauling in six catches for 117 yards and a touchdown.
 
Jaylen Sims was next up with three catches for 69 yards, while Codey McElroy had his first career catches, including a touchdown.
 
On the ground, Kenneth Burks turned in his first 100-yard rushing performance with 121 yards and a touchdown, while four others combined to rush for 80 yards.
 
"It's a game of momentum," said Atterberry, "And we need to get it back. It took a lot of guys and that's what it takes to win football games, a bunch of guys working together. We were out of sync at times, and it showed. You're not going to get away with wins like this if you keep that up. So, we have to go back to work and I'm proud of these guys and the way they stood up and won this game."
 
Jacob Harper, Justin Young, Troy Parker and Brickey Reed each had five tackles in the contest to lead the way for the Storm on defense.  Larry Bridges added an interception and a fumble recovery, while Luke Craddock chipped in four pass breakups.
 
Southeastern got on the board first by taking its first drive of the game and marching 80 yards in five plays with Drake White hauling in a nine yard reception for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 10:07 to go in the first.
 
After trading a pair of fruitless possessions OBU would answer to knot the game at 7-7 when Isaiah Mallory broke loose with a 69 yard score with 2:15 to go in the quarter and the teams would stay knotted at 7-7 heading to the second.
 
Neither team could cash in for much of the second quarter until the Bison put together a 12-play, 89 yard drive that was capped by a Preston Haire scramble for a score that gave OBU a 14-7 lead.
 
In the final seconds of the half SE was handed a gift as the Bisons muffed a punt inside their own five yard line and gave the Storm the ball on the one yard line, however Southeastern was unable to capitalize on its one play as Burks was stopped shy of the goal line, leaving SE down 14-7 at the break.
 
The Storm took the opening drive of the second half and faced just one third down before McElroy hauled in a nine-yard TD pass from Kinsaul to knot the score at 14-14 with 12:22 to go in the third quarter.
 
The offenses went quiet again after SE tied the game and the game remained tied at 14-14 heading to the fourth quarter.
 
The Bison would crack the scoreboard first in the fourth with a 26 yard Luke Wendl field goal with 9:12 to play to take a 17-14 lead.
 
However, Southeastern answered on its following drive after setting up shot in OBU territory following a 58 yard O.J. Walker kick return.
 
Burks got the ball six-straight times and covered 34 yards on the drive, punching it in from three yards out to go up 21-17 with 6:09 to play.
 
OBU looked to find an answer on its next drive, moving to their own 29 yard line after being pinned inside the 10 before Larry Bridges picked off a Haire pass on fourth down at the SE 43 yardline.
 
Southeastern would run the clock down to just 20 seconds remaining before a Carlos punt would pin the Bisons inside the 1 yard line with 12 second to play and SE would hold off any big plays to preserve the victory.