HAMMOND â€" Louie Runnels rushed for 205 yards and scored a third-quarter touchdown and Stephen F. Austin’s defense held Southeastern Louisiana to 63 yards total offense in the second half as it pulled away to a 35-10 victory in a regionally-televised game Saturday at Strawberry Stadium.
Danny Southall rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another as SFA (2-6, 2-1 SLC) won its second straight league contest on the road and spoiled Southeastern’s homecoming game. Southeastern fell to 2-7 overall and 1-3 in the SLC, spoiling the debut of interim coach Mike Lucas who replaced Dennis Roland who took a medical leave of absence on Tuesday as he continues battling an infection after overcoming non-Hodgkins lymphoma last year.
Runnels scored on a 1-yard run that capped a 13-play, 91-yard drive that gave SFA a 21-10 lead. Brian Ford later returned an interception 39 yards for a touchdown to extend the Lumberjack lead to 28-10 after three quarters.
Southall, who finished 11-for-17 for 94 yards, scored on a 1-yard run on SFA’s opening possession and gave the Lumberjacks a 14-10 lead with 17 seconds remaining in the first half on a 7-yard score. Southall gave SFA a 35-10 lead with 10:40 remaining with an 18-yard pass to Nick Rhodes.
Southeastern, which finished with 176 yards total offense, took a 10-7 lead when halfback Jay Lucas tossed a 3-yard touchdown to Byron Ross with 2:52 remaining the first half. The Lions added a first-quarter safety when a snap sailed over punter Ryan Gooch’s head and was kicked out of the end zone.
True freshman Bradd Schlosser completed 18 of 30 passes for 153 yards, but was sacked five times.
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
Stephen F. Austin... 7 7 14 7 - 35 Record: (2-6, 2-1)
Southeastern La..... 2 8 0 0 - 10 Record: (2-7, 1-3)
Scoring Summary:
1st Quarter
SFA â€" Southall 1 run (Long kick), 8:14
SLU â€" Safety, punt kick out of end zone, 2:36
2nd Quarter
SLU â€" Ross 3 pass from Lucas (Wilson pass from Schlosser ), 2:52
SFA â€" Southall 7 run (Long kick), :17
3rd Quarter
SFA â€" Runnels 1 run (Long kick), 3:10
SFA â€" Ford 39 interception return (Long kick), 1:01
4th Quarter
SFA â€" Rhodes 18 pass from Southall (Long kick), 10;40
A â€" 6,428
SFA SLU
FIRST DOWNS................... 22 10
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 51-308 16-20
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 94 156
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 17-11-0 31-19-1
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 68-402 47-176
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 1-27
Punt Returns-Yards............ 1-5 2-8
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 2-27 7-133
Interception Returns-Yards.... 1-39 0-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 3-36.3 6-43.8
Fumbles-Lost.................. 2-1 2-0
Penalties-Yards............... 9-90 8-81
Possession Time............... 36:34 23:26
RUSHING
SFA â€" Runnels 22-205; Southall 10-59; Brooks 15-54; Pervis 3-8; Team 1-minus 18. SLU â€" Gilbert 6-27; Lucas 5-26; Schlosser 5-minus 33.
PASSING
SFA â€" Southall 11-17-0-94. SLU â€" Schlosser 18-30-1-153; Lucas 1-1-0-3.
RECEIVING
SFA â€" Parks 6-62; A. Rhea 2-11; Rhodes 1-18; Ligons 1-8; Runnels 1-minus 5. SLU â€" Lucas 6-21; Ross 5-64; Garrett 3-35; Wilson 2-25; Gilbert 2-7; Pierce 1-4.
