SE Drops Thursday Night Matchup vs Ranked Bisons

SEARCY, Ark. – Southeastern fell victim to the turnover bug as four giveaways marred its attempt at pulling off the upset in a 56-14 loss to No. 6/7 Harding on Thursday night in Searcy, Ark.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 5-4 overall on the year as it set its sight on a return to Paul Laird Field for the final home contest of the season on Nov. 9 when it hosts Arkansas Tech at 2 p.m.
 
"We came out well," said head coach Bo Atterberry. "I was really happy at half to have four turnovers and just be down three scores to be quite honest with you, with a team like that. They are who they are, and they are a good football team, coached really well. We should have been coached better tonight and could have made some better decisions from the playing stand point. We're all in it together, and we've got to move on pretty quick because we've got a chance to finish really well at home and then at our rival."
 
Despite the four turnovers, the Storm offense did post the second-best offensive yardage outing against the Bisons on the year, finishing with 275 yards of total offense, including a 155-yard rushing effort which is just the third time an HU opponent has crossed the 100-yard mark.
 
DJ Brown would finish the contest with 67 yards on 21 carries with a touchdown, while Donovan Shannon added 52 on eight carries. Jason Ngwu also chipped in 32 yards on 10 totes.
 
Cergio Perez would finish with 124 yards through the air with a touchdown, but three interceptions would hamper the passing game's effectiveness.
 
Kobe Jennings finished the contest with 67 yards receiving on four catches with a touchdown, while Jax Sternberger had two catches for 12 yards and Gabe Corona turned in the longest offensive play of the night for the Storm with a 45-yard reception, his only one of the contest.
 
The defense was led by Tyveon Williams who had eight tackles and added a pass breakup, while D'Teaurean Johnson made seven tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and provided the defenses biggest highlight of the evening, a forced fumble and a recovery followed by a 63-yard return.
 
Prince Dweh, William Wallis, and Bryant Watts each chipped in six tackles, while Michael Hookfin added four and forced a fumble.
 
The Storm defense came out ready to play in the first quarter, forcing the first three Bisons possession to end in punts, but SE was not able to capitalize and would see the game sitting in a scoreless tie at the end of one.
 
HU would take its fourth possession and go 76 yards on eight plays to score the game's first points at the 10:55 mark.
 
SE's nest possession would end in a fumble and the Bisons would score four plays later to take a 14-0 lead.
 
The Storm offense bounced back, taking the ball 86 yards on eight plays, flipping the field on a 45-yard Perez to Corona connection down to the Harding 34 yardline.
 
Six plays later Perez would convert on third and 11 from the 24 yardline by hitting Jennings in the endzone to cut the deficit to 14-7 at the 4:35 mark.
 
Harding would score on its ensuing drive, going 75 yards on four plays to take a 21-7 lead.
 
SE would see it final two drives of the first half end in interceptions, with the Bisons taking advantage of the first of those with a one-play drive to stretch the lead to 28-7 which is where the game would set at the half.
 
Harding would tack on a pair of scores in the third quarter, pushing its lead out to 42-7 which would be the tally heading to the fourth quarter.
 
Johnson would open the fourth quarter by swatting a toss out of the air and recovering the loose ball and returning it 63 yards down to the Bisons two-yard line.
 
One play later Brown would punch it in to cut the deficit to 42-14.
 
HU would tack on a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to push the final score to 56-14.