DURANT, Okla. – The Southeastern defense held Oklahoma Baptist to negative rushing yards while the offense exploded for 34 second-half points en route to a 40-16 Homecoming victory Saturday afternoon on Paul Laird Field at Spend Life Wisely Stadium.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 6-2 on the season, securing a winning season heading into an Oct. 31 road matchup with Henderson State at 1 p.m. in Arkadelphia, Ark.
 
For the second-straight week the SE defense held its opponent to negative rushing yards, it's the first time since joining Division II that the Storm have done that in consecutive weeks.
 
Southeastern logged nine tackles for loss, including three sacks, holding the Bison to minus-20 yards rushing and allowing 205 yards of total offense.
 
Prince Dweh paced the defense with eight tackles on the afternoon, including ga tackle for loss, while Wiliam Wallis had six stops and a TFL.
 
Jacob Geddes and Josh Johnson each had 1.5 tackles for loss, while Johnson and Brandon Green logged a sack each while Will Billings and Grayson Stewart had a half sack apiece.
 
Kole McKnight recorded an interception in his fourth-straight game, and was joined in the pick party by Kamron Fields and Isaiah Murphy, while Ashton Bennett and Jeremiah Harper each forced a fumble.
 
Luke Hohenberger came off the bench to hit 11-of-16 passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns, while Levay Duncan added 29 yards on 2-of-8 passing with an interception.
 
Jax Sternberger led the receiving corps with six catches for 64 yards and a touchdown.
 
Dy'curian Douglas added two catches for 77 yards and TD, while Sean Steens recorded a pair of grabs for 28 yards and a score.
 
Kameron Lockhart led the way on the ground with 14 carries for 61 yards, while Isaiah Nelson had his best outing of the year with 49 yards on 11 carries with two touchdowns.
 
Duncan added 17 yards on the ground and a TD.
 
OBU got on the board first, taking advantage of a Storm turnover with a 47-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead at the 12:00 mark of the first quarter.
 
Southeastern closed out the first quarter with a 10-play, 55-yard drive that saw Hohenberger connect with Sternberger for a 19-yard touchdown pass, but the PAT would hit the upright, leaving the Storm lead at 9-3.
 
The Bison were the only team to find the end zone in the second quarter as Jason Ceniti hit Jacob Trimble for a 74-yard touchdown to put OBU in front 10-6.
 
McKnight would end the first Bison drive of the second half with an interception, returning it to the OBU 23 yard line.
 
Three-plays later Nelson took the ball around the left side for a 13 yard touchdown run, putting the Storm in front 13-10.
 
Later in the third Nelson would add his second score of the day, capping a 57 yard drive with a 24 yard TD run, taking a 20-10 lead with 2:28 to go in the third quarter.
 
After forcing a three-and-out the Storm would need just two plays to score, doing on a crazy pass play as Hohenberger connected with Douglas who made the catch and then lost control of the ball, rolling nearly 30 yards into the endzone where Douglas recovered his own fumble for a touchdown, taking a 26-10 lead with nine seconds to play in the third.
 
OBU opened the third quarter with a touchdown, but the Storm stopped the two-point try to maintain a 26-16 lead.
 
That lead would grow on the ensuing drive as SE marched 60 yards on 10 plays with Hohenberger connecting with Steens for an 11 yard touchdown, stretching the lead to 33-26.
 
Murphy would end the ensuing OBU drive with his first pick of the season, returning it 43 yards to the Bison five yard line setting up a Duncan one-yard touchdown run, stretching the lead to 40-16 with 2:24 to play.
 
Field would bring the following drive to an end and seal the contest with an interception and a 31 yard return to the OBU six yard line.
 
SE would line up and kneel out the clock to close out the 40-16 victory.