Savage Storm Downs UAM 34-14 on Saturday

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern's offense scored twice on the ground and twice through the air, while the defense recorded a season-high six sacks en route to a 34-14 victory over Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday afternoon at Paul Laird Field.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 7-2 on the season and sets up a huge matchup in the regular season road finale when they head to Arkadelphia, Ark., to take on a ranked Ouachita Baptist team on Nov. 6.
 
"We tried to take a shot," said head coach Tyler Fenwick of the first play turnover, "And we were a little bit late on it. It was something we hadn't done yet and thought maybe we had an opportunity to just kind of kick things off and be a little bit aggressive. If you're going to do it you might as well do it that way and put your defense in a little better position."
 
"When he's on," said Fenwick of his punter Jackson Nalley, "He's on. He put one down inside the five and put a couple down inside the 20. We've worked that down a punt, we work it all the time and it's starting to finally come together and out guys are starting to get it."
 
"We said going into it," Fenwick continued, "We talked about what the end of the season looks like, and where we are at and where we're sitting. And we've got to be on a mission to take care of each week and making sure we eliminate mistakes. We probably had too many mistakes today. Definitely to go and beat a Ouachita team. They don't make mistakes, so we've got to fix those things, but it's great to get this win and get to seven wins and feel confident about going into the next week."   
 
Daulton Hatley finished the contest 18-of-25 for 197 and two touchdowns. He was picked off on the first play from scrimmage, but proceeded to bounce back by hitting 18 of his next 24 passes for the contest.
 
Katrell Blakely was once again his top target with 10 catches for 64 yards, while Braxton Kincade added three for 59 and a touchdown.
 
CJ Shavers snagged a pair of catches for 30 yards, while Skye Lowe had a 23 yard touchdown receptions.
 
Shavers added 86 yards on the ground on 13 carries, while Ryan Taylor added 52 yards on eight carries with a touchdown. Deundre Wheeler finished the game with 23 yards on seven totes with a touchdown, giving him at least one touchdown in eight of the team's nine games this season.
 
Trey Keatts would connect on a pair of field goals, hitting from 26 and 39 yards, while Nalley averaged 36.7 yards per punt, but posted a long of 53 yards and pinned all three of his punts inside the 20 yard line.
 
Defensively, Ja'Lon Freeman and Scooter Baker each recorded 10 tackles to lead the way while Cameron Tate added seven.
 
Baker, Tate, Alexce Marshall, Rogerick Kirby, and Maalik Hall each recorded a sack, while Josh Horlick and Alex Reeder combined for another.
 
SE recorded nine tackles for loss in all, erasing 42 yards from the Boll Weevils stat sheet.
 
SE came out on defense to open the game and after a huge tackle for loss by Kevin Simes on the game's opening play and a nine-yard Baker sack the Storm would force UAM off in a three-and-out.
 
Unfortunately, Southeastern would turn the ball over to open its first drive and the Storm defense would again force a three-and-out.
 
SE would march the next possession 41 yards and burn off 8:20 before Trey Keatts connected on a 39 yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead which would hold up as the difference after one quarter.
 
UAM would move its next drive 35 yards but turn it over on downs at the SE 48 yard line where the Storm would take over and flip the field in one play as Hatley found Kincade for 43 yards to the Boll Weevil nine-yard line.
 
Two plays later Wheeler would find the endzone for his 12^th rushing TD of the season and a 10-0 lead for SE.
 
After forcing another punt, set up by a Kirby strip sack that bounded out of bounds, the Storm would set up at the Weevil 34-yard line.
 
Ryan Taylor would pick up 10 yards on the second play of the drive and two plays later broke one the rest of the way for a 20-yard TD trot and a 17-0 lead for the Storm.
 
UAM would answer with an 83-yard drive that took 13 plays and used 5:31 before a Demilon Brown to CJ Parham touchdown cut into the Storm lead and made it 17-7 with 5:30 to go in the half.
 
That was where the score would sit going to halftime.
 
SE's first drive of the second half would move across midfield before being forced to punt, b ut Nalley's punt was mishandled and Kevin McMurtrey was there to fall on it at the UAM nine yard line.
 
Three plays later Hatley connected with Kincade for an eight yard touchdown pass and the Storm stretched its lead to 24-7 with 6:28 to play in the third quarter.
 
The Storm defense would force another three and out and a shanked punt would set up SE at the UAM 29 yard line.
 
This time four plays later Hatley would find Lowe for a 23 yard strike with 1:57 to go in the third, extending the lead to 31-7.
 
The teams traded fruitless drives into the fourth quarter before the Weevils put together an eight play, 89 yard drive that was capped by a Brown two yard touchdown run to close the gap to 31-14 with 7:15 to play in the contest.
 
Southeastern would follow by taking its ensuing drive 60 yards on the strength of a pair of big Shavers runs before Keatts would connect on his second field goal of the contest, this one from 26 yards out, pushing the score to 34-14.
 
The Storm defense would keep UAM off the board and force a turnover on downs on the final drive of the contest to preserve a 34-14 victory.