Savage Storm Host ATU on Senior Day

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern closes out the home portion of its schedule on Oct. 27 when it hosts Arkansas Tech at 2 p.m. on Paul Laird Field for Senior Day.
 
The contest can be found live on the Southeastern Sports Network carried on the flagship Mix 96.1 in Durant as well as online at www.GoSoutheastern.com/SESportsNet. Jay Lindly heads is in his third season calling the action and will be joined in the box by Ed Meacham with Rob Johnson working the sidelines.
 
It is Senior Day for 20 football seniors who will be playing their final home game on Paul Laird Field, and they will be recognized prior to Saturday's contest.
 
SE comes into Saturday's matchup 5-3 on the year after a 20-17 loss a week ago at Henderson State in which the Reddies kicked a field goal with five seconds to play to make the difference in the score, snapping a four-game Savage Storm winning streak up to that point.
 
ATU enters the contest with a 2-6 record after dropping its fourth-straight contest, this one a 35-14 home matchup with Southwestern Oklahoma State.
 
Despite the loss last week the Storm defense still ranks near the top of the major team defensive categories in the conference as the GAC's top-ranked pass defense, third-ranked rushing defense, second-ranked defense in total yards allowed and third in points allowed.
 
SE is allowing 15.2 ppg on the season while only surrendering 244.4 yards of total offense.
 
The pass defense has been stifling as the Storm have given up just 126.8 yards through the air and feature the GAC's top pass defender in Daquawn Brown who leads the league in passes defended with 1.86 breakups per game.
 
Conner Swope leads the defense in tackles and is ranked fifth in the GAC with 9.5 tackles per game, while Zac Scott joins him in the league's top-20 with 6.1 stops per contest.
 
The Storm have forced 20 turnovers total on the season, including forcing and recovering four fumbles a week ago at HSU, one of which was returned by Seu Luafatasaga for the team's first defensive touchdown of the season.
 
They have also been great in key situations, leading the GAC in redzone defense with opponents only scoring on 66.7 percent of their trips inside the 20 yard line, as well as holding foes to a 24.8 percent conversion rate on third downs.
 
The Storm offense is led on the ground by the GAC's leading scorer in Kenneth Burks who has a league-best 11 rushing touchdowns and is averaging 81.5 yards per game which is good for fourth in the league in rushing yardage.
 
Rollin Kinsaul is seventh in the conference in passing yards with 142.1 per game and sixth in passing efficiency with a 129.8 rating.  He has put up 995 yards while completing 60.6 percent of his passes and connected on six touchdowns.
 
His top target has been Jaylen Sims who has hauled in 45 receptions for 669 yards and six scores, while Felton Hatcher has added 342 yards on 30 catches with a score and Braxton Kincade has 29 catches for 336 yards and two touchdowns.
 
The Wonder Boys are averaging 15.4 ppg on offense while the defense is allowing 25.9 ppg, despite the ATU offense outgaining its opponents on average 371.0-to-353.8.
 
Arkansas Tech is led on the ground by Bryan Allen who is averaging 82.6 yards per game rushing with a pair of touchdowns.
 
Manny Harris stepped in a week ago to lead the Wonder Boys passing attack and tossed for 270 yards and two scores while hitting 26-of-49 passes.
 
Terrez Hampton is the top target for ATU and has 6-03 yards on 37 catches with one touchdowns.
 
The defense is led by KJ Reid who leads the GAC in tackles with 13.2 per game while also adding 4.5 sacks, while DJ Williams is their top pass defender with four picks on the year and five pass breakups.