JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Southeastern Louisiana quarterback Martin Hankins broke two NCAA records and the Lions clinched their first winning season since 1983 in a 51-3 victory over Jacksonville University Saturday afternoon at D.B. Milne Field.
Hankins, who already holds eight Division I-AA freshman and overall records added another early in the second quarter breaking the mark for most yards gained in freshman and sophomore seasons. Hankins added his second national mark of the game finishing with 50 completions breaking the previous mark of 48 set by Cal St. Northridge's Clayton Mills against St. Mary's on Nov. 11, 1995. Following the game, Hankins has exactly 7,000 career yards surpassing the mark of 6,793 yards set by Northern Arizona's Travis Brown over the 1996-97 campaigns.
A sophomore from Hattiesburg who entered the game leading the nation in passing and total offense, Hankins exited the game early in the fourth quarter with stellar numbers. He finished with a national and school record 50 completions in 61 attempts for 484 yards and four touchdowns.
The Lions also broke the NCAA I-AA team record for highest pass completion percentage completing 59-of-72 passes for 81.9 percent. The Lions also broke the mark for most passes completed as well as tying the record for most passes attempted without an interception.
Hutch Gonzales led the receiving corps with a career-best 11 catches for 86 yards while Felton Huggins finished with seven for 77 yards and two scores. Running back Ray Perkins led the ground game with his fifth 100-yard rushing performance of the game rushing for 103 yards and a score.
The Southeastern defense was also outstanding holding Jacksonville to only three points and 221 total yards while forcing nine punts and two turnovers.
The Lions improved to 6-3 on the season behind a season-best 695 yards of total offense including 551 through the air. Jacksonville fell to 3-6 in its final home game of the season.
Southeastern returns home for its final game at Strawberry Stadium for 2004 hosting Texas College Thursday night at 7 p.m.
For the first time in several games, the Lion offense started quickly out of the gate.
Southeastern won the toss, elected to receive and it took less than a minute for the Lions to get on the board. On the first play from scrimmage, Hankins hit Jeffrey Howard for a 71-yard catch and run but settled for a 22-yard field goal by Jim Hall after a touchdown pass went through the hands of Felton Huggins in the back of the end zone on third and goal.
The Dolphins tried to answer on the following possession driving into field goal range after Anthony Salgado hit Eldin Ferguson for a 29-yard strike but after the Lions' defense held Jacksonville to only six yards on its next three plays and Ryan Feely missed a 36-yard field goal try.
Southeastern added another field goal with 3:05 to play in the first after a 50-yard hookup between Hankins and Taylor set up the Lions with 1-10 from the Jacksonville 11. But Felton Huggins dropped a wide open touchdown in the endzone forcing Hall back into action who connected on his second field goal of the game converting from 20 yards.
The Lions tacked on their first touchdown of the game early in the second quarter as Ray Perkins took a handoff up the middle bursting through the secondary for a 43-yard score making it 13-0.
After another punt by Jacksonville, Hankins marched the Lions 64 yards in three minutes completing seven of seven passes on the drive culminating in a nine-yard strike to Hutch Gonzales making the score 20-0 with 8:27 remaining in the first half.
After miscues, penalties and a pair of sacks forced Southeastern to punt on its next two possessions, Jacksonville missed another scoring opportunity as the first half wound down.
The Dolphins drove to the Southeastern 12 but a sack by Matt Joseph on first and 10 pushed the line of scrimmage back to the 22 and with time winding down, forced Feely back into action. After a pair of timeouts by Southeastern, Feely's 39-yard attempt was wide left as the half expired.
Following a three and out for Jacksonville to open the second half, Hankins drove the Lions 71 yards in eight plays culminating in Hall's third field goal of the game as he knocked through a 29-yarder with 11:37 remaining in the third to make the score 23-0.
Hankins finally found his favorite receiver in the endzone with 8:43 to go in the third capping a six play, 59-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown strike to Huggins. The touchdown was Huggins' 10th of the season setting a new single-season school record eclipsing teammate Jeffrey Howard's previous record of nine set last season.
Following a turnover by Jacksonville on downs, Huggins and Hankins would hook up again this time for a 27-yard score with 3:03 remaining in the third making the score 37-0 Southeastern.
The Lions would add another score pushing the margin to 44-0 before Jacksonville would get on the board with a 38-yard Feely field goal with 12:46 remaining in the game.
After Hankins exited the game, backup QB Trey Wille led the Lions on a 12 play, 77 yard drive hitting Jerren Pierce his first career TD grab from 11-yards out for the final margin.
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
Southeastern La......... 6 14 24 7 - 51 Record: (6-3)
Jacksonville..... 0 0 0 3 - 3 Record: (3-6)
Scoring Summary:
1st Quarter
14:13 SLU - FG Hall 22
3:05 SLU - FG Hall 20
2nd Quarter
13:30 SLU - Perkins 43 run (Hall kick)
08:27 SLU - Gonzales 9 pass from Hankins (Hall kick)
3rd Quarter
11:37 SLU - FG Hall 29
08:43 SLU - Huggins 4 pass from Hankins (Hall kick)
03:03 SLU - Huggins 27 pass from Hankins (Hall kick)
00:00 SLU - Howard 5 pass from Hankins (Hall kick)
4th Quarter
12:46 JU - FG Feely 38
3:04 SLU - Pierce 11 pass from Wille (Hall kick)
A - 2162
SLU JU
FIRST DOWNS................... 34 11
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 25-144 20-33
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 551 188
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 59-72-0 15-38-1
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 97-695 58-221
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 2-0 1-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 2-19 0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 0-0 9-168
Interception Returns-Yards.... 1-12 0-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 3-43.7 9-45.3
Fumbles-Lost.................. 2-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards............... 10-75 5-33
Possession Time............... 36:58 22:54
RUSHING: Southeastern La. - Perkins 12-103; Gilbert 4-38; Davis 3-14; Robinson 1-10; Rakocy 2-2; Hankins 2- -2. Jacksonville - Brant 10-36; Fields 3-6, Conner 1-4, Saunders 1-3; Horton 1-3; Salgado 4—19.
PASSING: Southeastern La. - Hankins 50-61-0-484; Wille 7-9-0-53, Holbrook 2-2-0-14. Jacksonville - Salgado 14-35-1-188; Horton 0-2-0-0; Knowles 1-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: Southeastern La. - Gonzales 11-86; Gilbert 9-45; Huggins 7-77; Howard 5-84; Scates 5-38; Ross 4-31; Jordan 4-30; Davis 4-16; Taylor 3-99; Wilson 2-27; Perkins 2—11; Francis 1-14; Pierce 1-11; Hnerson 1-4. Jacksonville - Ferguson 4-121; Meyer 4-27; Fields 2-5; Conner 1-16; Jenner 1-11; Santiago 1-6; Rogers 1-2; Maxime 1-0.
