DURANT, Okla. – SWOSU Football, fueled by six second-half takeaways, picked up a 35-17 victory over Southeastern Oklahoma State on Thursday evening at Paul Laird Field in Durant.
The win marks the third consecutive season-opening victory for the Bulldogs and their first win over the Savage Storm in Durant since 2013.
SWOSU's defense pitched a shutout in the first half and led 14-0 at the break after
Tyler Marr scored on a 27-yard option run before
Tristian Houston plunged in from two yards out with less than two minutes to play in the half.
The third quarter saw Southeastern finally get on the board with 45-yard field goal, but three of their next four drives ended with interceptions as
Braden Sweet,
Davotrick Dotrey and
Jacob Rodman all secured a chance to hoist the turnover belt on the visitor's sideline. While the defense was making their takeaways, SWOSU's offense added to the advantage with a 55-yard touchdown from Marr to
DJ Hicks, which made it 21-3 late in the third.
Southeastern's first drive of the fourth quarter resulted in their first touchdown of the season and the Savage Storm regained possession after a three-and-out from the SWOSU offense. Facing a third and short in SE's first set of downs, SWOSU's
Jared Young shot through the line and forced a fumble that was recovered by
Rece Wilhelm with 8:22 to play. Three plays later, Marr fired his second touchdown of the game, connecting with
Donnell Hawkins, who carried his defender into the end zone to make it 28-9 with 7:18 to play.
Southeastern answered with 13-play, 79-yard touchdown drive to get within 11 at 28-17, but the Dawgs added two more takeaways in the final minutes, with
Jonathan Harris pouncing on a muffed punt that set up the final score of the game, a 20-yard touchdown run by Houston, who finished with 37 yards and two touchdowns on five carries in his SWOSU debut. The Dawgs put the game away when
CJ Jennings forced a fumble that
Malcolm Davis jumped on right in front of the SWOSU sideline with less than a minute to play.
Tyler Marr finished 16-for-34 for 310 yards and two touchdowns, directing the Bulldogs to 409 yards of total offense. His top target was
Jared Rayburn, who caught four passes for 71 yards, while eight different receivers caught a pass in the game. Marr also finished as the Dawgs leading rusher with 45 yards and one touchdown on seven attempts.
Jalen Carr led the Bulldogs with nine tackles (seven solo, two assist) while
Derrius Franklin and
Jacob Rodman added seven apiece. Southeastern finished with 425 yards of offense, but the Dawgs held them to 4.9 yards per play and made the difference with six takeaways.
"I'm pleased with our effort tonight, coming on the road against a quality and picking up a win is never an easy task, especially in the first game of the season," Second-Year Head Coach
Chet Pobolish said. "We did some good things tonight, but we also have some things to clean up. We'll get back in the weight room tomorrow and start getting ready for East Central."
SWOSU (1-0) returns to action next Saturday, hosting East Central for the ASAP Kickoff Classic.
