Hatley's Big Outing Lifts SE to High-Scoring Win at SWOSU

WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Daulton Hatley put together a career day with 423 yards and five touchdowns while Southeastern forced four turnovers and scored a touchdown on special teams as Southeastern outlasted Southwestern Oklahoma State 58-48 in a marathon Saturday night contest in Weatherford, Okla.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 2-1 on the season with the team returning to the friendly confines of Paul Laird Field to host Southern Nazarene at 6 p.m. on Sept. 24.
 
"Sloppy," said head coach Tyler Fenwick when describing the contest, "Long, too many penalties and too many mistakes.  They're a fast football team and their QB is elusive, but we've got some things to clean up."
 
The 58 points sets a high water mark in the Fenwick era and is the most points SE has scored in a game since a 58-0 win over Southern Nazarene in 2017.
 
Hatley became the first player in 150 games to throw for over 400 yards, finishing the contest 26-of-45 for 423 yards and five touchdowns. The last time an SE quarterback went over 400 yards was in 2007 when Kolby Williams set the current school record of 462 yards in a game.
 
That was not the only record book re-writing that Hatley did on the night, coming into the contest with his sights set on the fifth-place spot on the SE career passing list that was held by Ryan Polite. He would pass that mark in the first half and ultimately surpass Troy Taylor's mark of 5,773, ending the night with 5,786 career yards. That leaves him 473 yards behind Justin Pitrucha's third-place career mark of 6,259 yards.
 
Hatley connected with six different receivers, with Kaleb Whitley having a breakout game with six grabs for a game-high 152 yards and a touchdown. Meanwhile, Marquis Gray hauled in a game-high eight catches for 139 yards and a score.
 
Matthew Nunez threw his hat in the ring for a breakout game as well, snagging his first three catches of the season and finishing with 73 yards, including a game long of 54-yards, while scoring a pair of touchdowns.  Katrell Blakely picked up the teams remaining TD while finishing the night with five catches for 31 yards.
 
On the ground, Deundre Wheeler turned in his second 100-yard rushing outing of the season and finished the contest with 128 yards on 21 carries with a pair of touchdowns. Jason Ngwu turned in 52 yards as well on 13 totes.
 
The Storm offense finished the contest with 590 yards of total offense, 423 of which came through the air.
 
The defense was led by a trio of tacklers as Maalik Hall, Ja'Lon Freeman and Josh Mulumba each had six tackles, with Hall adding two tackles for loss which included a sack.
 
Freeman added an interception to his tackle total, while Keelan Chilton and Conner Swope each icked off a pass as well, with Ke'Shawn Somerville posting three pass breakups.
 
Special teams produced an array of ups and downs for the Storm as Jalen Hughes would block a punt which was scooped up and returned for a score by Colton Humphrey. SE also recovered a muffed punt and would see Trey Keatts connect on a 31-yard field goal in the contest.  However, the Storm also gave up a safety on a bad snap over the punter's head and saw a blocked PAT returned for a defensive PAT.
 
Southeastern would take the opening kickoff and proceed to drive the ball 75 yards on seven plays with Wheeler capping the drive withy a four-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead.
 
The Storm would get a big special teams play on the ensuing SWOSU drive as Hughes would block a Jaren Van Winkle punt and Humphrey would scoop up the ball and return it 35 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
 
After Chilton's would pick off a Tylan Morton pass near midfield, the SE would move the ball to the 13-yard line before Keatts connected on a 31-yard field goal to open up a 17-0 lead with 5:56 to play in the first quarter.
 
The Storm would get a stop on the next SWOSU drive as well, but a muffed punt would give the Bulldogs possession at the Southeastern 21 yardline and two plays later Morton would hit Israel Watson for a nine-yard TD pass to close the gap to 17-7.
 
SE would be held to a three-and-out on its ensuing drive and after a snap sailed over punter Jackson Nalley's head and rolled through the endzone, SWOSU had closed the gap to 17-9.
 
After the free kick, the Bulldogs would take the ball 51 yards on four plays with a Troy Henderson 43 yards TD run. SE would stop the two=point try and keep the score 17-15 with 2:27 to play in the first quarter.
 
Southeastern would get the offense moving again on its next drive, going 73 yards in seven plays with Wheeler capping the drive with a three-yard run. However, the PAT was blocked and returned for two points, leaving the Storm up 23-17 with 13:39 to play in the half.
 
That would shrink to 23-20 on a Van Winkle 30-yard field goal with 9:40 remaining in the second quarter, but the Storm would strike back in quick fashion as a 57-yard Hatley to Whitley touchdown pass cashed in a three-play drive that covered 72 yards and pushed the lead to 30-20 with 8:10 to go in the quarter.
 
Freeman would pick off a Morton pass on the first play of the ensuing Bulldog drive and set up the Storm at the SWOSU 14 yardline, and Hatley Would find Gray three plays later for a 13 yard TD strike to push the edge to 37-20 with 7:00 to go in the first half.
 
The following Bulldog drive would end prematurely as well with Swope picking off a Morton pass and returning it to the SWOSU 32 yardline.
 
SE was unable to cash in on that drive, and the Bulldogs would answer with a 70-yard drive that lasted five plays with Morton hitting Jacob Karskak for a four-yard TD to bring the score to 37-27 with 2:20 to play in the half.
 
The Storm had one last offensive push left in the half as they marched 69 yards on 10 plays and used 1:58 before Hatley found Blakely for a five-yard touchdown pass, making the lead 44-27 at the half.
 
The 44 points was a high-mark for points in a half in the division II era.
 
Southeastern was the first team to get on the board in the second half, after the teams traded fruitless possessions, the Storm would finally put together an 86-yard drive that used 2:20 over five plays with Nunez capping the drive on a 54-yard touchdown catch and run, pushing the lead to 51-27.
 
SWOSU would score on a 58-yard Morton to Deshon Moreaux pass near the end of the third quarter, making the score 51-34 at the final break.
 
SE would take its next drive 75 yards on seven plays with Hatley connecting with Nunez for a second time, this one a 15-yard strike with 13:20 to play in the contest, extending the lead to 58-34.
 
SWOSU would score on its next drive on a Morton to Henderson seven yard pass, and looked to have SE stopped on the ensuing drive, but the Storm would recover a muffed punt to regain possession in Bulldog territory with 10:02 to play.
 
While the Storm did not score, the drive took 5:28 off the clock before it ended in Hatley's only pick of the day which would ultimately give SWPSU the ball at its own 20 yard line.
 
Southwestern would take its next drive 80 yards on six plays with Morton hitting Watson for a touchdown with 2:26 remaining, closing the score to 58-48 which would hold up as the final score.