SE Earns 38-24 Road Win Over Muleriders

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southeastern's forced three turnovers while the offense piled up 469 yards en route to a 38-24 win over Southern Arkansas on Saturday afternoon in Magnolia, Ark.
 
The Savage Storm win lifts their record to 5-1 on the season as they are set to return home for Homecoming on Oct. 16 against Northwestern Oklahoma State at 2 p.m. at Paul Laird Field.
 
SE picks up its first win at SAU since the 2011 season, spoiling the Mulerider homecoming in the process, snapping a 12-game homecoming winning streak, while bringing the overall Storm record in the series to 19-23-3.
 
"That was a great game," said head coach Tyler Fenwick. "We would take a lead and they would just keep battling back and we kept answering. And at the end of the game, just getting that stop was huge down in the red zone. It's a good feeling. It's great to have five wins. It's a great feeling."
 
When they got down in the red zone we held them to field goals," Fenwick continued, "Their touchdowns were all big plays over the top. They've got good players. That No. 4 [Micah Small] is good and their quarterback [Hayden Mallory] is good, which we knew that. Our defense, it's bend but don't break and that's the way they're playing right now. It's like here we go and then they make a stop, or they make a turnover. We got some turnovers today and we needed it. I'm happy for them and I'm proud of them that they were able to accomplish that right there."
 
Daulton Hatley put together his third 300-yard passing game of the season, finishing the contest with 316 yards on 19-of-30 passing with a pair of touchdowns.
 
Marquis Gray was his top target on the afternoon, hauling in five receptions for 136 yards and a score, while CJ Shavers snagged four catches out of the backfield for 51 yards and a TD.
 
Shavers also led the team in rushing with 66 yards n 14 carries, while Deundre Wheeler added two more rushing scores to his season total while rushing for 56 yards on 13 carries.
 
Maalik Hall led the defense with eight tackles and added a half tackle for a loss, while Josh Mulumba added seven stops and grabbed his first interception of the season.
 
Kevin Simes and Ryan Taylor would each add a fumble recovery to account for the other two SE turnovers forced.
 
SE's first drive came up empty and the Muleriders answered with a five-play 69-yard drive before the Storm defense firmed up and held SAU to a 25-yard field goal.
 
On the ensuing drive, Southeastern converted third down plays on a 13-yard Wheeler run and a 29 yard hookup from Hatley to Hawthorne, setting up a three-yard Hatley TD run to take a 7-3 lead with 3:29 to play in the first quarter.
 
The Muleriders would take their next drive 67 yards before grinding to a halt early in the second quarter and setting up a second 25-yard Austin Wilkerson field goal, cutting the SE lead to 7-6 with 14:45 to play in the first half.
 
The Storm would convert a pair of third downs on their following drive and move the ball 65 yards thanks in large part to a 16-yard Hatley to Gray hookup on third down followed by a 29-yard pickup by Blakely on a reverse to set the Storm up at the nine-yard line before ultimately settling for a 21-yard Trey Keatts field goal and a 10-6 lead with 9:58 to go in the second quarter.
 
The defense would force a three-and-out and were pinned at their own 10-yard line, but the ensuing drive would belong to Gray who hauled in a first-down catch of 18 yards to get out of the shadow of their own goal post.  Three plays later it was Gray over the top as Hatley lofted the deep ball to Gray who finished off the 59-yard TD strike to give the Storm a 17-6 lead with 7:26 to play in the half.
 
SAU would tack on a third Wilkerson field goal with 3:33 to go in the second, this one from 37 yards out, but Southeastern would take a 17-9 lead to the locker room at halftime.
 
That SE lead was trimmed to 17-16 just five plays into he second half as Hayden Mallory would find Micah Small for a 37-yard TD connection with 12:50 to play in the third quarter.
 
Southeastern would strike back quickly as Hatley would hit back-to-back 20-plus yard passes to Gray before finding Shavers on a 32-yard strike up the right seam to cap the drive and take a 24-16 lead with 12:02 to play in the third.
 
Neither team would score over the remainder of the third quarter, but not without SAU threatening in the red zone with 5:00 to play in the quarter when Mulumba picked off a Mallory pass in the endzone.
 
SE was forced to punt on its ensuing drive, but SAU's return man muffed the kick and the Storm would take over at the Mulerider 25-yard line after Ryan Taylor fell on the loose ball.
 
Four plays later Wheeler would punch it in from a yard out, opening the fourth quarter by pushing the score out to a 31-16 advantage.
 
SAU would answer with a nine-play, 75-yard drive with Mallory hitting Small for 39 yards and a score before Mallory tacked on a two-point conversion, closing the Storm lead to 31-24 with 10:27 to play.
 
Southeastern would answer with a 6:16 drive, marching the ball 69 yards on 14 plays with the final play being Wheeler scoring his second touchdown of the game, this one from a yard out, giving SE the 38-24 lead with 4:11 to play.
 
 The Muleriders would drive the ball inside the 10 yard line on their ensuing drive due in large part to SE penalties, but a mishandled handoff between Mallory and Jariq Scales would find its way to the turf where Simes would fall on it at the