SE Drops Rivalry Matchup at ECU

ADA, Okla. – Southeastern suffered its worst offense outing of the season at the worst time as it never found its momentums en route to a 20-13 loss to rival East Central in the season-finale on Saturday afternoon in Ada, Okla.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 5-6 to end the season.
 
"I appreciate the way they battled back," said head coach Bo Atterberry. "There were some moments there when we didn't handle some situations well. Good on East Central, good win for them. But we'll bounce back."
 
SE gained most of its yardage on the ground where Donovan Shannon finished with 64 yards on 15 carries, while DJ Brown was right behind with 53 yards on 14 totes.
 
Jason Ngwu would round out the primary rushing trio with 43 yards on eight carries, while Joshua Horlick would carry the ball twice and provide the lone rushing touchdown.
 
Cergio Perez would throw for a touchdown, finding Brown on a screen pass, but would finish the contest 8-for-30 with a touchdown and a pair of interceptions.
 
Colton Simpson was the team's leading receiver with three grabs for 33 yards.
 
The Storm defense was paced by Kole McKnight who had seven tackles, one for a loss, and a pass breakup.
 
Keith Wright was next in line with five stops.
 
Jalen Hughes would force and recover a fumble, while Tyveon Williams added a forced fumble that was recovered by Caleb Jackson.
 
Neither teams could find any offensive traction in the first quarter, playing to a scoreless tie after the first 15 minutes of action.
 
The Tigers would find the scoreboard first, taking its first drive of the second quarter down inside the five-yard-line before the Storm defense put together a goal line stand to force a 21-yard field goal by Brandon Perez to make the score 3-0 at the 11:10 mark of the second quarter.
 
The teams traded fruitless drives before the Storm would get its offense moving in the right direction, going 41 yards on eight plays before Perez found Brown on a screen pass and Brown found the pylon to score, but a missed PAT would leave the SE lead at 6-3, which is where it would stand at the half.
 
ECU would score on its first offensive play of the third quarter and would then cap its second drive with a touchdown to push its lead to 17-6 by the 12:36 mark of the third quarter.
 
The Tigers would tack on a 48-yard Perez field goal with 5:10 to play in the third, leaving the storm in a 20-6 hole.
 
Southeastern would force a fourth-quarter fumble with 11:00 to play and would capitalize six plays later when Horlick would score from a yard out to close the deficit to 20-13.
 
The Defense would get the ball back twice over the final 7:49 of the contest, but the offense was unable to capitalize, leaving the final score at 20-13.