HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana senior running back Kody Sutton bulled in from one yard out on fourth-and-goal to give the No. 19/22 Lions a thrilling 30-27 victory over Lamar in Southland Conference football action Thursday night at Strawberry Stadium.
 
Sutton's score capped a methodical 17-play, 79-yard game winning drive for SLU (3-1, 2-0 Southland), which remained unbeaten in Southland Conference play and extended its regular season home winning streak to 14 games. The Lions were able to limit Lamar (2-2, 1-1 Southland) to one first down on the final drive before turning the Cardinals over on downs to clinch the win.
 
"This was a huge win for us," Southeastern head coach Ron Roberts said. "We obviously shot ourselves in the foot with some penalties, turnovers and other miscues, but I think we answered some questions. For sure, we introduced everyone to what (junior quarterback) D'Shaie Landor can do on a football field.
 
"That last drive was huge," Roberts added. "We put it in D'Shaie's hands and that's what we wanted – a chance to win in the end. I'm just proud of the way this group fought tonight. Can we play better? Yes, we can be a lot better, but the important thing was that we got a 'W' against a good conference team."
 
Landor, who returned to the lineup after missing the majority of the previous two games, engineered a Lion offense that had nearly 40 minutes of time of possession and racked up 539 total yards. The junior from Lafayette threw for 283 yards, a touchdown and an interception on 12-for-20 passing, while also rushing for a pair of touchdowns.
 
Landor's top target was senior wide receiver Jeff Smiley, who finished with five catches for 135 yards and touchdown. Senior running back Xavier Roberson led SLU with 19 carries for 91 yards, while Sutton (19 carries, 66 yards) also helped fuel a 256-yard rushing performance by the Lions.
 
The Southeastern defense allowed Lamar 365 total yards and 14 first downs. Senior defensive back Micah Eugene led the Lions with eight tackles and two pass breakups. Senior linebacker Herbert Harris recorded his first collegiate interception for SLU.
 
While the Lion defense was solid, Lamar's standout players still put up impressive numbers. Junior running back Kade Harrington rushed for 152 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, while senior wide receiver Reggie Begelton finished with eight receptions for 95 yards. On the defensive end, senior linebacker Ronnie Jones (15 tackles), sophomore linebacker Shawn Jones (14 tackles) and junior safety Xavier Bethany (12 tackles, 1 INT) led the Cardinals.
 
After stopping Lamar three-and-out on the first drive of the game, Southeastern jumped to a quick lead. Landor hit Smiley on a short pass and the Flower Mound, Texas native spun out of a tackle and raced 67 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 Lion lead with 12:59 in the first quarter. The touchdown pass was the first of Landor's SLU career.
 
The two teams traded empty possessions before Southeastern added to its lead. Landor found senior wide receiver Dylan Bossier for a 62-yard catch and run to highlight a nine-play, 95-yard scoring march for the Lions. Landor scampered in from five yards out to give Southeastern a 13-0 lead after a missed extra point with 1:14 left in the opening quarter.
 
Southeastern was poised to add to its lead after Harris ended Lamar's next drive with an interception that he returned 49 yards to the Lamar 21-yard line. However, the Lions couldn't muster a first down and freshman Jonathan Tatum's 31-yard field goal missed to keep the lead at 13-0.
 
Lamar finally got on the board on the ensuing drive. Junior quarterback Carson Earp found Begelton on a short crossing route and the All-Southland pass catcher took it 26 yards to cut the SLU advantage to 13-7.
 
Lamar took its first lead later in the second quarter. Harrington opened a quick three-play scoring drive with a 55-yard run. Two plays later, he powered in from three yards out to put the Cardinals up, 14-13, with 5:05 remaining in the half.
 
Southeastern seemed set to retake the lead on the final drive of the first half. Landor found Roberson and Smiley on separate 23-yard passes on a drive that stalled inside the Cardinal 10-yard line. On the final play of the half, SLU tried a fake field goal, but junior holder Cole LeBlanc's pass fell incomplete to send the Lions into the break down, 14-13.
 
On the opening drive of the second half, Landor found junior Brandon Acker for a 50-yard pass deep into Cardinal territory, but the play was called back due to penalty. On the next play, Sutton fumbled and Lamar took over at the Southeastern 26-yard line. Five plays later, sophomore Alex Ball knocked in a 20-yard field goal to put Lamar ahead, 17-13, with 11:27 left in the third quarter.
 
Southeastern answered on its ensuing drive. A 19-yard run by Roberson and a 17-yard Landor strike to junior wide receiver William French highlighted a 10-play, 52-yard scoring march. Tatum connected on a 40-yard field goal to cap the march. The Alexandria native's first collegiate field goal cut the Lamar lead to 17-16 with 5:53 left in the third quarter.
 
Lamar came up big on special teams on the ensuing kickoff. Freshman Rodney Randle took it back 87 yards to give the Cardinals up, 24-16, with 5:41 left in the third quarter.
 
Roberson answered with a big return of his own. The school's career kickoff return leader raced into Lamar territory, setting up Southeastern with a 59-yard kickoff return. Six plays later, Landor kept it and raced in from five yards out to cut the Lamar lead to 24-23 with 2:37 left in the third quarter.
 
After stopping Lamar on its next drive, Southeastern was in position to retake the lead. With the ball around midfield, Bossier got behind the Cardinal defense and Landor hit him in stride, but Bossier dropped the easy touchdown. Two plays later, Landor was picked off by Bethany to end the scoring threat.
 
Lamar finally got its offense back going, as it marched all the way down to the Lion three-yard line. On third-and-goal, senior linebacker Dereck Robinson harassed SFA junior quarterback Joe Minden into an errant throw, forcing Ball into a 20-yard field goal and keeping the Lamar lead to 27-23 with eight minutes left.
 
Southeastern answered with the game-winning drive. The first big play of the drive came with the Lions facing a third-and-11 from their own 31-yard line. Acker got a step on Randle down the right sideline and was able to haul in a 41-yard strike from Landor to give Southeastern a first down at the Lamar 28-yard line.
 
From there, Landor would not throw another pass. On fourth-and-one from the Lamar 19-yard line, Roberson pushed forward for four yards. With Southeastern facing a third-and-five, Smiley swept around left end to set up a first-and-goal at the Lamar three-yard line.
 
The Cardinals were not going to succumb easily, stopping Roberson, freshman Eugene Bethea and Landor on consecutive runs to set up a fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line with 1:25 left. Sutton lowered his shoulders and reached over the goal line for the game-winning score.
 
Lamar got the ball back with one timeout and just over a minute left. Harrington got free on a 20-yard draw to move the Cardinals to their own 37-yard line. However, Southeastern forced three straight incompletions with seniors JQ Sandolph and Jordan Batiste breaking up passes, as well as pressure by senior defensive end Aaron Price forcing another Minden misfire.
 
On the final play, Minden flipped it to Begelton near the line of scrimmage, but SLU junior defensive lineman Solomon Parker ripped him down well shy of the first down. After taking over on downs, Landor took a knee to give Southeastern a 2-0 start in Southland Conference play for the fourth straight season.
 
Southeastern will travel to No. 15/23 McNeese State for a 6 p.m. game on Saturday, Oct. 10 in Lake Charles. The contest will be televised live on Cox Sports Television. It can also be heard on KSLU-FM (90.9) and LionSports.net, as well as affiliates and Northshore Broadcasting stations Kajun 107.1 FM (WHMD) and The Highway 104.7 FM (WJSH).