SE Drops Homecoming Matchup vs. No. 14 OBU

DURANT, Okla.– Southeastern posted a season-best 393 yards of offense while the defense held Ouachita Baptist to its fewest yards of the season but fell victim to a handful of big plays as the Savage Storm fell to the 14^th-ranked Tigers 25-9 on Homecoming at Paul Laird Field on Saturday.
 
The loss drops SE to 2-3 overall on the season heading into an Oct.12 road matchup with Arkansas-Monticello in Monticello, Ark., at 2 p.m.
 
"Other than the two long strikes I though they did pretty well," said head coach Bo Atterberry of his defense. "I told those guys I was proud of them because it was a great team effort. Obviously, we fell short in a couple areas and its a game of inches. One of the explosives we were in good position and one of them we didn't execute the way we were supposed to execute. Even the guys who might not have gotten into the game, they were with their teammates and we performed as a team today and we gave ourselves a chance versus a quality football team."
 
The Southeastern offense piled up 393 yards of total offense and collected 8 first downs, throwing for 250 and adding 143 on the ground.
 
Luke Hohenberger made his return to the lineup for the first time since game one and finished the contest 11-of-26 for 162 yards and a touchdown.
 
Cergio Perez would come in late and add a 7-of-18 effort for 88 yards.
 
Kobe Jennings led the receiving corps. With 55 yards and a touchdown on four catches, while DJ Brown added four catches and picked up 29 yards.
 
Victor Taylor finished with a team-best 56 yards receiving on three grabs, while Gabe Corona had 51 on two catches.
 
Brown would lead the ground game with 69 yards on 20 carries, while Hohenberger checked in with 43 on seven carries.
 
Jonathon Cobb chipped in 20 yards on six totes, while Donovan Shannon had 14 on three.
 
The defense held Ouachita to its worst offensive effort of the season in both passing and rushing, limiting the Tigers to 119 yards on the ground and 121 through the air to finish with 240 yards of total offense.
 
William Wallis paced the Storm defense with nine tackles on the game, including one for a loss and a half sack.
 
Jordan Hood followed with six tackles, including a sack, while Braeden Winters finished with five stops.
 
Dylan Cox would connect on a 28 yard field goal, while Jackson Nalley averaged 48.7 yard s per punt, placing three of his seven punts inside the opponents 20 yard line.
 
Both defenses were stout out of the gate, with each squad forcing a three-and-out on the first possession and the team would reach the end of the first quarter scoreless.
 
It was Southeastern would break through first on offense, mounting a 10-play, 80-yard drive, twice converting on third down before Hohenberger connected with Kobe Jennings who hauled in a 22-yard touchdown strike to take a 6-0 lead with 6:48 to go in the first half. A missed PAT would leave the lead at 6-0.
 
Ouachita would take advantage of a huge 79-yard run by Eli Livingston for a score with 2:48 to play in the second quarter, and a two-point conversion would leave SE trailing 8-6.
 
SE was forced to punt on its ensuing drive and the Tigers would get another big play, this one a 55-yard touchdown pass from Livingston to Carter McElhany, pushing its lead to 15-6 with 1:11 to go in the half and that would hold up as the halftime margin.
 
Midway through the third the Tigers would get a 38-yard punt return from Conner Flannigan, down to the SE 11 yardline and two plays later would score on a Nate TenBarge 10-yard run to push its lead to 22-6.
 
The Savage Sorm would take the ensuing drive and use 14 plays, cover 64 yards and burn 8:02 off the clock before settling for a 28-yard Cox field goal to close the gap to 22-9 with 26 seconds to play in the third quarter.
 
Southeastern would get the ball back early in the fourth quarter at its own seven and drive 10 yards into OBU territory before ending its drive on a fourth down interception at the Tiger 33-yard line.
 
Neither team was able to move the ball, and Ouachita would collect the final points of the contest when it took advantage of a short field following a Storm turnover on downs which allowed Dax Jaggers to hit a 32-yard field goal with 2:18 to play, making the final score 25-9.