The Lions kicked off their conference slate of the season with a victory versus the Southland newcomer, the University of Rio Grande Valley, in Strawberry Stadium, 45-31.
Southeastern took control first in Strawberry Stadium when sophomore quarterback Kyle Lowe scored a 38-yard rushing touchdown to take the lead over UTRGV, 7-0.
SLU’s defense prevented the Vaqueros from taking the lead, while the offense found its way to the end zone three more times.
After halftime, the UTRGV offense came alive with a few scoring drives, while Southeastern’s defense grappled with missed cues and busted coverages.
However, the Lions managed to contain the Vaqueros and maintain their lead with a 66-yard rushing touchdown from junior running back Deantre Jackson, along with a 29-yard pass by junior quarterback Carson Camp to sophomore wide receiver Kentrell Prejean in the endzone.
The graduate student kicker for SLU, Guillermo Garcia Rodriguez, topped the game off with a successful field goal for 29 yards after a 69-yard drive.
During a post-game interview, Head Coach Frank Scelfo addressed that he felt the team didn’t perform well in certain areas and made mistakes that he would like the team to work on.
“It felt sloppy. I wasn’t very pleased with everything; I think we had some great moments and some things were executed well, especially on the offensive side, but overall, the penalties and turnovers, it’s just not stuff we do,” Scelfo expressed.
The Lions won the game, but they had five fumbles, including one recovered by UTRGV, and nine penalties that cost them 74 yards.
“When those things happen, I don’t care who you play, you’re either going to make it close or you’re not going to win the game and I think we made the game closer than what it should have been,” Scelfo said.
Even with some struggles on both sides of the ball, the SLU dual-threat quarterbacks threw a combined 252 yards with no interceptions.
While Lowe rushed for 96 yards with a rushing touchdown, Jackson led the offense with 130 yards on 13 carries and a late touchdown for the Lions.
He shared his emotions about scoring in Strawberry Stadium on the 66-yard touchdown.
“We really worked on the inside zone run during practice with the offensive line, so it felt amazing to score knowing the hard work paid off and we knew to cherish it but keep going since the game wasn’t over,” Jackson said.
Senior defensive back Khamron Ford finished the game with the most tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss to keep UTRGV from getting ahead of SLU.
However, given that his accomplishments overshadowed some of the night’s mistakes, Ford expressed the need to do better.
“On defense, I felt we didn’t quite play to the standard we needed to, which hurt us, but our offense really came through after we stopped them,” Ford said.
The Lions will face off against McNeese State in the second conference game of the season on Saturday, Oct. 4, at 6 p.m. in Lake Charles. Fans can watch live on ESPN+ and listen on the Southeastern Sports Radio Network on Kajun 107.1 FM.
Visit The Lions Roar for more articles and sports coverage for Southeastern.
