HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University football team earned a 21-9 victory over Texas A&M-Commerce in the Southland Conference opener for both teams Saturday night at Strawberry Stadium.
Southeastern (2-4, 1-0 SLC) held the visiting Lions (0-5, 0-1 SLC) to 277 total yards in the win. Khamron Ford led SLU with 10 tackles, while Donte’ Daniels added nine stops.
Coryell Pierce paced Southeastern with 2.5 tackles for loss, while Kaleb Proctor and Joshua Randall chipped in with 1.5 sacks apiece. Shemar Pearl and Justin Dumas each recovered fumbles, while Carter Hanberry was credited with a forced fumble.
Antonio Martin Jr., the reigning SLC Offensive Player of the Week, paced the SLU offense again, finishing with 185 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries. Through the first six games of his Southeastern career, the Atlanta native has 737 yards and six touchdowns on the ground.
Eli Sawyer went the distance at quarterback for the host Lions, finishing 17-for-31 for 194 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Darius Lewis led SLU with eight catches for a season-high 111 yards, while Cade Collier hauled in his first career touchdown catch.
Ron Peace handled the majority of the quarterbacking duties for Texas A&M-Commerce, finishing 18-for-25 for 161 yards and a score. Christian Jourdain was his top target, hauling in eight passes for 96 yards. Brandon Tucker Jr. led the visiting Lion defense with 14 tackles and a pair of sacks.
The defenses carried the day for the majority of the first half. Martin Jr. finally broke the scoreless tie midway through the second quarter. The bruising Lion running back broke through the line and raced home untouched for a 58-yard score and a 7-0 lead with 7:17 left in the second quarter.
Southeastern drove into the A&M-Commerce red zone on its final possession of the second quarter, but Braydon Nelson’s 43-yard field goal missed wide right to keep the SLU lead at 7-0 at halftime.
The visiting Lions drove all the way inside the SLU five-yard line on their first drive of the third quarter. The Southeastern defense held firm and A&M-Commerce had to settle for a 21-yard Luke Jackson field goal to cut the lead to 7-3 with 9:25 remaining in the third quarter.
Southeastern drove into Lion territory on the ensuing drive, but Martin Jr. was stopped on a fourth-and-short at the A&M-Commerce 25-yard line.
After SLU forced a three-and-out, the Lions added to their lead. Sawyer found Collier from nine yards out to cap an eight-play, 51-yard scoring drive and to give Southeastern a 14-3 lead in the final minute of the third quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Hanberry stripped Jourdain and Dumas fell on the loose ball for Southeastern at the AMC 30-yard line. Southeastern turned the ball over on downs, however, and could not add to its lead.
The visiting Lions took the ensuing drive 64 yards on eight plays, as Peace found Tyler Daniels for a seven-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion failed to keep the Southeastern lead at 14-9 with 10:49 remaining.
On the ensuing drive, Southeastern went for it on fourth-and-short from its own 44-yard line and Martin Jr. was again stopped short, giving Texas A&M-Commerce the ball on the SLU 42-yard line.
The Southeastern defense held strong and forced a Texas A&M-Commerce punt. SLU put the ball in the hands of Martin Jr. and clinched the game with a 10-play, 84-yard scoring march. Martin Jr. cruised in from a yard out to give SLU a 21-9 lead with 2:47 left.
Texas A&M-Commerce could not get any closer on its final possession, as Southeastern collected three sacks on the final drive to close out the win.
SLU’s next action will see it open the road portion of its league schedule. Southeastern will be at HCU next Saturday for a 2 p.m. contest that will be seen on ESPN+ and can be heard on Kajun 107.1 FM, The Highway 104.7 FM and The Boss 103.7 FM/1400 AM.
AMC – 0 0 3 6 – 9 (0-5, 0-1 SLC)
SLU – 0 7 7 7 – 21 (2-4, 1-0 SLC)
1st Quarter
No Scoring
2nd Quarter
SLU – Martin Jr. 58 run (Nelson kick), 7:17
3rd Quarter
AMC – Jackson 21 FG, 9:25
SLU – Collier 9 pass from Sawyer (Nelson kick), 0:35
4th Quarter
AMC – Daniels 8 pass from Peace (Jourdain run failed), 10:49
SLU – Martin Jr. 1 run (Nelson kick), 2:47
AMC SLU
FIRST DOWNS 15 21 RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 28-62 38-170 PASSING YDS (NET) 215 194
Passes Att-Comp-Int 38-25-0 31-17-1 TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 66-277 69-364 Fumble Returns-Yards 0-0 0-0 Kickoff Returns-Yards 1-28 1-26 Punt Returns-Yards 2-1 2-22
Interception Returns-Yards 1-0 0-0 Punts (Number-Avg) 9-39.7 6-41.3 Fumbles-Lost 3-2 0-0 Penalties-Yards 11-106 6-43
Possession Time. 30:21 29:39 Third-Down Conversions 5-17 4-16 Fourth-Down Conversions 1-2 0-3 Red Zone Scores-Chances 2-2 2-3
RUSHING: AMC – Jackson 10-40, McMillan 8-18, Rodriguez 2-5, Peace 6-3, Garmon 1-1, Jourdain 1-(-5). Totals – 28-62. SLU – Martin Jr. 27-185, Dixon 6-15, Graham Jr. 1-1, Sawyer 4-(-31). Totals – 38-170.
PASSING: AMC – Peace 18-25-0-161-1, Rodriguez 7-13-0-54-0. Totals – 25-38-0-215-1. SLU – Sawyer 17-31-1-194-1. Totals – 17-31-1-194-1.
RECEIVING: AMC – Jourdain 8-96, Wilson 3-33, Bilbo 3-8, Sallis 3-6, Proctor 2-25, Daniels 2-16, Rigney 1-23, Sweeting 1-11, Shaw 1-7, Jackson 1-2. Totals – 25-215. SLU – Lewis 8-111, Domingeaux 2-55, Collier 2-13, Martin Jr. 2-5, Rogers Jr. 1-7, Lorio 1-3, Dixon 1-0. Totals – 17-194.
A – 3,758.
