BY JOEL SELLERS

FAULKNER SPORTS NETWORK

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – After spotting Faulkner an early 7-0 lead, the Southeastern Fire closed the first half on a 40-6 run and cruised to a 54-27 victory at Billy D. Hilyer Stadium on Saturday. The visitors tallied 560 yards of total offense, 319 of those through the air and 241 on the ground. Quarterback Cooper Jones led Southeastern, going 17-for-30 for 285 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Running back Brian Bell rushed for 130 yards on 11 carries and caught six passes for 67 yards and a score.

Antwain Adams hauled in three passes for 77 yards and a touchdown. Faulkner, meanwhile, gained 385 yards of total offense, with just 183 on the ground. Mason Blocker (SR/Covington, La.) completed 18 of his 42 pass attempts for 168 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions. Charles Blackmon (SO/Faunsdale, Ala.) was the Eagles' leading rusher, with 103 yards on 15 carries. Kavonte Younger (SR/Bolton, Miss.) caught five passes for 87 yards and a touchdown for the home team.  

Faulkner took the opening kickoff and travelled 71 yards in five plays, scoring on a 25-yard pass from Blocker to Younger. However, after an exchange of punts, Southeastern responded by going 73 yards in eight plays and tying the score on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Eugene Witherspoon with 9:42 remaining in the first quarter. Before the end of the period, Jones added two more touchdown passes. The first was to wide receiver Evan Beal from 21 yards out to punctuate a seven-play, 59-yard drive. On the second occasion, the Fire used only one play to travel 67 yards, with a scoring pass to Marquavis Myers to push the score to 21-7 with 2:26 left in the first quarter.

After a Faulkner field goal to end a 61-yard drive, Southeastern had to punt and they pinned the Eagles at their own five. On the first play of the drive, Chris Thompson intercepted a Blocker pass at Faulkner's 27-yard line. Four plays later, Lorine Parker ran for a 5-yard touchdown. With the missed extra point, the Fire held a 27-10 lead with 11:02 left until halftime. After another long drive in which the Eagles settled for a field goal, Southeastern needed just three plays to travel 65 yards, scoring on a 55-yard strike from Jones to Adams. On the fifth play of Faulkner's ensuing drive, Blocker threw an interception that Nnamdi Umeakuana who returned it 48 yards for the touchdown. With 2:25 remaining in the second quarter, the Fire held a 40-13 lead that would stand through halftime.

After receiving the second-half kickoff, it took Southeastern only four plays to cap a 71-yard drive. The Fire used some trickery to do it, as Beal got the ball on a reverse and threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Bell. As a result, the Fire led 47-13 with 13:13 left in the third quarter. After a five-yard touchdown run by Josh Gaines (SR/Birmingham, Ala.) on the next drive, neither team would score until the 4:33 mark of the fourth quarter, when backup QB Brock Snyder (FR/Goshen, Ala.) hit Isaiah Scott (FR/Linden, Ala.) for a 21-yard touchdown. Southeastern followed that score with a six-play, 94-yard drive that ended with backup QB Connor Curry scoring from six yards out to cap the scoring.

Faulkner falls to 3-5 on the season and 1-4 in the Mid-South Conference Sun Division. Southeastern, meanwhile, improves to 8-1 and 5-1 in the Sun division. The Fire's regular season is finished, while the Eagles travel to St. Thomas for their last regular season game of the year next Saturday.