HAMMOND - Sam Houston State quarterback Dustin Long threw for 397 yards and tied a school record with five touchdown passes as the 24th-ranked Bearkats handed Southeastern Louisiana a 45-17 setback Saturday evening at Strawberry Stadium.
Sam Houston State (3-1), which defeated then top-ranked Montana last week, generated 575 yards total offense and turned a 17-10 halftime lead into a 38-10 advantage. Long, a transfer from Texas A&M, led his squad to touchdowns on three straight possessions to start the second half. Two of his scoring strikes went for 50 and 51 yards as the Bearkats built a 38-10 lead early into the fourth quarter.
Long finished 22-for-30 for the game, including completing 11-of-12 passes for 220 yards in the second half. Backup Noah Allen came on late and led the Bearkats to a score hitting Cory Crawford on a 57-yard strike that put SHSU ahead, 45-10, with 4:47 remaining in the contest.
Southeastern (2-2), which dropped its second straight game to a Southland Conference opponent, took a 7-3 lead in the first quarter on Ray Perkins' 13-yard touchdown run and extended its lead to 10-3 on a 36-yard field goal by Jim Hall.
Martin Hankins finished 32-of-44 for 205 yards to lead the Lions with Perkins catching a career-high 12 passes. Backup quarterback Trey Willie engineered an 8-play, 59-yard drive in the fourth quarter, throwing a 12-yard touchdown strike to Josh Taylor with 2:29 left.
Damien Huren, Marvin Jones and Derrick Mincey led Southeastern with nine tackles each while Marcus Mikulec led SHSU with eight.
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
Sam Houston State... 3 14 14 14 - 45 Record: (3-1)
Southeastern La..... 7 3 0 7 - 17 Record: (2-2)
Scoring Summary
SHSU - FG Garner 26
SLU - Ray Perkins 13 run (Hall kick)
SLU - FG Hall 36
SHSU - Fuller 25 pass from Long (Garner kick)
SHSU - Cartwright 6 pass from Long (Garner kick)
SHSU - Mathenia 50 pass from Long (Garner kick)
SHSU - Roberts 7 pass from Long (Garner kick)
SHSU - Zeno 51 pass from Long (Garner kick)
SHSU - Crawford 57 pass from Allen (Garner kick)
SLU - Taylor 12 pass from Willie (Hall kick)
A - 9,408
SHSU SLU>
FIRST DOWNS................... 25 21
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 37-121 21-93
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 454 257
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 31-23-0 49-36-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 68-575 70-350
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 0-0 0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 2-56 7-89
Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 0-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 0-0.0 3-38.0
Fumbles-Lost.................. 2-0 2-0
Penalties-Yards............... 9-83 8-75
Possession Time............... 30:50 29:10
RUSHING
Sam Houston State - Smith 12-63; Garmon 13-42; Long 5-7; Fuller 4-5; Allen 3-4. Southeastern La. - Perkins 10-60; Gilbert 3-23; Willie 1-8; Hankins 6-2; Davis 1-0.
PASSING
Sam Houston State - Long 22-30-0-397; Allen 1-1-0-57. Southeastern La. - Hankins 32-44-0-205; Willie 4-5-0-52.
RECEIVING
Sam Houston State - Fuller 6-109; Roberts 3-36; Cartwright 3-31; Garmon 3-29; Zeno 2-90; Smith 2-28; Campbell 2-24; Crawford 1-57; Mathenia 1-50. Southeastern La. - Perkins 12-51; Huggins 5-17; Howard 3-51; Gilbert 3-20; Jordan 3-14; Davis 2-20; Gonzales 2-20; Ross 1-24; Taylor 1-12; Scates 1-9; Robinson 1-7; Henderson 1-6; Francis 1-6.
