HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana football team could not overcome a 38-point first half performance by Texas State, dropping its home finale, 38-24, to its SLC rival Saturday afternoon at Strawberry Stadium.
Southeastern (4-6, 1-4 SLC) dropped its third consecutive contest despite racking up 448 total yards. Texas State (6-4, 3-2 SLC) posted 465 total yards of its own and forced the Lions into four turnovers. The loss dropped Southeastern to 0-12 all-time versus Texas State.
The Bobcats scored on the game's first play from scrimmage and never looked back, taking a 28-14 lead after the first quarter and a 38-14 advantage at the end of the first half. Southeastern outscored the Bobcats, 10-0, in the second half, but could not get all the way back.
One of the 11 Lion seniors playing in their final home game with the Lions, Southeastern senior running back Jay Lucas posted his 10th career 100-yard rushing game, carrying 12 times for 100 yards.
Junior quarterback Brian Babin completed 21 of 35 passes for 228 yards for two touchdowns, joining former Lions Martin Hankins and Trey Willie as the only quarterbacks in school history to throw for 20 touchdowns in a season. The St. Amant native has 21 touchdowns on the season, but threw a season-high three interceptions on Saturday.
Babin's favorite target was freshman Simmie Yarborough, who finished with six catches for 92 yards and a touchdown. Babin's other score was to junior Chris Wilson, who has a team-high seven touchdown receptions this season.
Texas State quarterback Bradley George completed 16 of 29 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns. Both of George's scores went to Cameron Luke, who finished with seven catches for 185 yards. Karrington Bush (18 carries for 91 yards) and Stan Zwinggi (11-82) provided a potent rushing combo, as the Bobcats rolled to 189 yards rushing.
Texas State set the tone early, as on the first play from scrimmage George and Luke connected on a 68-yard scoring strike to give the Bobcats a 7-0 lead 20 seconds in.
Southeastern quickly answered as Babin engineered a 10-play, 73-yard scoring march capped by a 15-yard scoring strike to Wilson to knot the score with 11:02 left in the opening period.
Zwinggi gave the Bobcats a 14-7 edge on its next drive, rolling around the left end on a fourth-and-2 from 20 yards out with 6:41 left in the first quarter.
Morris Crosby intercepted Babin on the Lions' next drive, allowing the Bobcats to take over at the Southeastern 26. Three plays later, Bush rumbled in from four yards out to give the Bobcats a commanding 21-7 lead with just over four minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
Another Babin interception again gave the Bobcats the ball in Southeastern territory. On the first play of their drive, George executed a perfect play action fake and hit a wide open Luke for a 28-7 lead.
Texas State forced Southeastern to punt on its next possession, but Southeastern defensive end Nathan Clophus stripped Bush on the first play of the ensuing Texas State drive and Douglas pounced on the loose ball.
A 27-yard end around by sophomore Andre Cryer highlighted Southeastern's final drive of the quarter. On the next play, junior Jasper Ducksworth scampered in from six yards out to pull the Lions within two scores, 28-14, to end the quarter.
On the first drive of the second quarter, Texas State pushed its lead back to three scores. The Bobcats marched 80 yards on 12 plays with Bush capping the drive with his second four-yard scoring run of the contest, pushing the Bobcat lead to 35-14 with 5:06 remaining.
After the two teams traded punts, Texas State took advantage of Babin's third pick of the opening half. Kenneth Hampton's interception set up a 46-yard field goal by Andrew Ireland to send Texas State into the break with a 38-14 lead. Southeastern drove the field behind sophomore quarterback Tyler Beatty, but Jeff Turner missed a 34-yard field goal late in the first half.
Both defenses stepped up their performance in the third quarter. Southeastern managed the period's only score on a 41-yard field goal by Turner with seven minutes left in the period.
Southeastern pulled to 38-24 early in the fourth quarter. A 32-yard Lucas run highlighted a seven-play, 80-yard scoring drive. Babin found Yarborough for a 16-yard scoring strike to cap the drive.
After forcing Texas State into a three and out, Southeastern marched down deep into Texas State territory, but Yarborough fumbled, giving the Bobcats the ball back at their own 20.
The Bobcats then put the game away with a 17-play, 55-yard drive that lasted 8:56. The clock-eating march did not result in a score, as Brian Reynolds blocked Ireland's 42-yard field goal attempt, giving Southeastern the ball back with 1:51 on the clock.
Texas State stopped Southeastern on downs, taking the ball back with 54 seconds left and taking a knee twice to close out the win.
Southeastern will be back in action on Saturday, facing Sam Houston State at 6 p.m. in Huntsville, Texas.
Scoring Summary
TSU – 28 10 0 0 – 38 (6-4, 3-2 SLC)
SLU – 14 0 3 7 – 24 (4-6, 1-4 SLC)
1st Quarter
TSU – Luke 68 pass from George (Ireland kick), 14:40
SLU – Wilson 5 pass from Babin (Turner kick), 11:02
TSU – Zwinggi 20 run (Ireland kick), 6:41
TSU – Bush 4 run (Ireland kick), 4:02
TSU – Luke 40 pass from George (Ireland kick), 3:29
SLU – Ducksworth 6 run (Turner kick), 1:12
2nd Quarter
TSU – Bush 4 run (Ireland kick), 10:11
TSU – Ireland 46 FG
3rd Quarter
SLU – Turner 41 FG
4th Quarter
SLU – Yarborough 16 pass from Babin (Turner kick), 14:29
A – 3,267
TSU SLU
FIRST DOWNS 25 26
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 46-189 42-210
PASSING YDS (NET) 276 238
Passes Att-Comp-Int 29-16-0 38-23-3
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 75-465 80-448
Punts (Number-Avg) 3-33.0 2-38.5
Fumbles-Lost 4-2 3-1
Penalties-Yards 7-75 8-67
Possession Time 33:18 26:42
RUSHING – TSU: Bush 18-91, Zwinggi 11-82, Rivas 4-15, Burton 4-12, Canady 1-3, Team 2-(-3), Toon 1-(-5), George 5-(-6). SLU: Lucas 12-100, Beatty 4-41, Ducksworth 13-35, Cryer 2-24, Babin 10-20.
PASSING – TSU: George 16-29-276-0, SLU: Babin 21-35-228-3, Beatty 2-3-10-0.
RECEIVING – TSU: Luke 7-185, Bush 2-20, Dillard 2-16, Griggs 1-25, Gilley 1-12, Rivas 1-11, Burton 1-4, LeBlanc 1-3. SLU: Yarborough 6-92, Theodore 4-43, Cryer 4-36, Lucas 4-16, Ducksworth 2-17, Wilson 2-15, DeLong 1-19.
