Being on the road for over a month, the Southeastern Lions (3-2) finally returned home with a win over the Incarnate Word Cardinals (3-3) with 35-3 victory. This was the first time the Lions faced the Cardinals, and they closed the non-conference games with a winning record.
The Cardinals, coming off a 33-26 victory against Eastern New Mexico, holds a 3-0 win record at home, but have been defeated every away game since the 2011 season. Incarnate Word will be joining the Southland Conference next season.
“It feels great just to play in front of home fans, especially not to have to hop on a bus and go eight hours home right now,” said junior quarterback Bryan Bennett. “Just to be home right now in front of Lion Nation is a good feeling. Being on our home turf and absolutely it’s great to get a win, and I’m just ready to come back and do it again next week.”
Within the first few plays of the game, Bennett completes a 41 yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Marquis Hayes. This was Bennett’s second touchdown pass of the season and Hayes’s first with the Lions.
Sophomore running back Rasheed Harrell scores the Lions second touchdown, ending the first quarter with the Lions winning 14-0. Cardinal kicker, Jake Wilcox, puts them on the scoreboard with 14-3.
Matt McMormick, senior punter, makes the longest punt of the season with 55 yards. The first half ends with a 67 yard interception and return by junior defensive back Marice Sutton, completing his first touchdown and making the score 21-3.
“Pressure. Thanks to the pressure of the D lineman, linebackers,” said Sutton about running the ball for a touchdown. “Once I saw the ball I just tacked it and followed them. I knew they would make some holes; they would create separation for me, make it to the inzone so I just took it on from there.”
The Lions went through a full jersey change during half time from black to green jerseys due to the numbers coming off.
On the field during half time, Southeastern honored the 2013 Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame class. 2013 inductees Felton Huggins, Nate Lofton and Chris Carter were honored during half time for their contribution to the university.
Bennett earns the fourth touchdown for the Lions in the third quarter with a one yard run making the score 28-3.
Sophomore running back Xavier Roberson completes a tricky 25-yard catch in the fourth quarter, bringing the Lions up the field. Soon after, sophomore wide receiver Jeff Smiley completes a 17 yard touchdown pass, his first of the season, making the score 35-3. Jeremy Meyers, a senior defensive lineman, completes a 52 yard pass from backup junior quarterback, Jordan Barnett.
“I think there’s some things we can continue to do to get better, but we did a good job,” said Bennett about the season so far. “We came back 2 and 2, now we’re 3 and 2. Really can you go back and say we should have one another one of those games? Absolutely, but we did a good job. We made some mistakes that we’re kind of happy we got out of the way early in the season. Now we’re going into conference play. We’ve made mistakes that we don’t want to happen in conference. Now we’ve learned from them and now we’ll go in better than we have in previous games and take it from there.”
Southeastern will be facing Stephen F. Austin Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. in Strawberry Stadium for the first SLC game of the season.
The game will air on ESPN3, KSLU 90.9 FM, Kajun 107.1 FM, The Joint 104.7 and www.LionSports.net.