HAMMOND - The Southeastern Louisiana football team opened up its home schedule with a dominating and record-breaking 79-7 victory over Division II Kentucky Wesleyan Saturday night at Strawberry Stadium.

After traveling to FBS schools in the first two weeks of the 2007 season, it was the Lions' turn to flex its muscle against a lower-division opponent. The 79 points by the Lions (1-2) was a single-game school record, besting a 75-year mark that the Lions had set with a 75-0 win over Jones County Junior College in 1932. Southeastern out-gained KWC (0-4) 498-188 and scored on its first seven possessions.

"It's great to get a win in front of our home crowd. Our guys have worked very hard and deserved this. We wanted to continue to get better each snap and work on the minute details of the game," Southeastern head coach Mike Lucas said. "Having Merrick Lanaux back helped gave us better rhythm offensively. We have to continue to get better as we prepare for Southland Conference play."

Southeastern sophomore quarterback Brian Babin completed his first nine passes and finished 16-for-18 for 200 yards and the first five touchdowns of his career. In a little over a quarter in a half of work, sophomore running back Jay Lucas amassed 212 total yards of offense and a career-high four touchdowns. Junior wide receiver Merrick Lanaux caught a team-high five passes for 66 yards and two touchdowns.

The Lions took the opening kickoff and marched 53 yards on five plays, capped by a 1-yard reverse by senior Byron Ross. After holding KWC without a first down, senior Eric Jackson ripped off a 54-yard return to the Panthers 14-yard line. On the following play, Babin hit Lanaux for a score and a 14-0 Lion lead. The touchdown pass was Babin's first of his career and was Lanaux's first reception of 2007.

Another three and out for the Panthers gave the ball back to the Lions. Southeastern marched 79 yards on six plays, as Lucas took a Babin screen pass the final 36 yards to give Southeastern a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Lucas' three-yard scoring run put the Lions up, 28-0 early in the second quarter. KWC would answer, however, as quarterback Nathan Kimbro fired a 54-yard bomb to Vance Woods to pull KWC within 28-7. Any thoughts of a Panther comeback were squashed in the next three plays.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, Lucas ripped off a career-high 80-yard scoring romp to put the Lions back up by four scores. On the ensuing kickoff, Southeastern freshman linebacker Mark Newbill drilled KWC returner DaMarcus Ganaway, forcing a fumble that Lion freshman Ryan Godare recovered at the Panther 18. On the next play, Lucas scored on an 18-yard pass from Babin to put the Lions up, 42-7. A three-yard Babin to Johnny Owen touchdown pass sent Southeastern into halftime with a 49-7 lead.

Southeastern wasted no time padding its lead in the third quarter. Sophomore Chris DiCarlo intercepted a Kimbro pass and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown to put the Lions ahead, 56-7.

Babin and Lanaux, who was ill and missed the Lions first two contests, connected again in the third quarter on a 19-yard strike to extend the Southeastern advantage to 63-7.

Both teams were stagnant for the rest of the third quarter. Southeastern got back on board early in the fourth quarter. Devin Cannon intercepted Kimbro to give the Lions the ball in KWC territory. Sophomore reserve quarterback Bradd Schlosser then lead the Lions on a 36-yard drive that culminated with Luis Sobalvarro hauling in his first pass of his career - a 14-yard scoring strike from Schlosser.

A Jeff Turner field goal with 3:48 remaining put Southeastern on top, 73-7, but it appeared Southeastern would fall short of its single-game school record point total.
After a KWC drive stalled, freshman Andre Cryer exploded for a 67-yard punt return to give the Lions the new school mark.

On defense, freshman Jared Byers led Southeastern with 11 tackles and an interception. Newbill was next with nine tackles, while sophomore Tommy Connors and senior Antonio Richardson each had two tackles for loss.

Southeastern will return to action next Saturday, facing Tulane at 7 p.m. in the Louisiana Superdome. Next Saturday's game will be broadcast live in the Hammond area on KAJUN 107.1 FM and on the internet at www.LionSports.net.

KWC 0 7 0 0 - 7 (0-4)
SLU 21 28 14 16 - 79 (1-2)

Scoring Summary:
1st Quarter
10:15 SLU - Ross 1 run (Turner kick)
8:51 SLU - Lanaux 14 pass from Babin (Turner kick)
2:05 SLU - Lucas 36 pass from Babin (Turner kick)

2nd Quarter
13:15 SLU - Lucas 3 run (Turner kick)
10:03 KWC - Woods 54 yd pass from Kimbro (Hodnett kick)
9:51 SLU - Lucas 80 yd run (Turner kick)
9:38 SLU - Lucas 18 pass from Babin (Turner kick)
6:03 SLU - Owen 3 pass from Babin (Turner kick)

3rd Quarter
13:58 SLU - DiCarlo 36 interception return (Turner kick)
8:55 SLU - Lanaux 19 pass from Babin (Turner kick)

4th Quarter
14:30 SLU - Sobalvarro 14 pass from Schlosser (Turner kick)
3:48 SLU - Turner 21 FG
1:12 SLU - Cryer 67 punt return (Turner rush fumbled)

KWC SLU
FIRST DOWNS................... 13 19
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 31-97 31-245
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 91 253
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 26-13-4 24-21-1
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 57-188 55-498
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 0-0 2-121
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 11-148 1-18
Interception Returns-Yards.... 1-0 4-64
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 6-30.5 1-37.0
Fumbles-Lost.................. 1-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards............... 7-83 13-139
Possession Time............... 31:05 27:43
Third-Down Conversions........ 1 of 10 9 of 11
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 1 0 of 0
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 0-1 8-8
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-10 3-18

RUSHING: KWC-Jones 10-42; Williams 7-32; Evans 2-21; Kimbro 3-12; Davis 2-11; Herriford 2-1; Team 1-(-4); Wimsatt 4-(-18). SLU-Lucas 9-138; M. Neville 8-75; Owen 7-33; Cryer 2-6; Babin 3-5; Ross 1-1; Davis 1-(-13).

PASSING: KWC-Kimbro 11-20-3-93; Wimsatt 2-4-0-(- 2; Owen 0-2-1-0. SLU-Babin 16-18-0-200; Schlosser 5-6-1-53.

RECEIVING: KWC-Mooney 6-46; Smith 3-(-3); Woods 1-54; Jones 1-0; Sewell 1-(-2); Lalonde 1-(-4). SLU-Lanaux 5-66; Lucas 4-74; Garrett 3-44; DeLong 3-13; Sobalvarro 2-22; Davis 1-15;M. Neville 1-11; Cryer 1-5; Owen 1-3.

Attendance: 5395