A pair of second and fourth quarter
touchdowns and two field goals by Jeff Turner led host Southeastern
Louisiana to a 41-7 win over Texas A&M University-Commerce on
Saturday night at Strawberry Stadium in Hammond, Louisiana.
SLU (1-0) quarterback Brian Babin
completed 37-of-55 passes for 379 yards and three touchdowns in the
win for the home team; in addition, they outgained A&M-Commerce
by a 470-to-198 margin in total offense; plus, they recorded 28
first downs to the six for A&M-Commerce.
A&M-Commerce (0-2) quarterback
Adam Farkes came off the bench to complete 10 of 24 passes for 99
yards and ran for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. For the
second-straight week, A&M-C punter Juan Velasco was busy as he
punted the ball eight times and the leading tackler was senior Cory
Whitfield, who made a game-high 15 stops.
SLU took the opening drive down the
field for an 11 play, 38-yard drive and the host Lions came away
with a 3-0 advantage on a 47-yard field goal by Turner. Following
three-straight punts by the A&M-Commerce offense, SLU added to
its lead in the second quarter when Babin completed seven-straight
passes that culminated in a 17-yard touchdown pass to Simmie
Yarbrough.
Babin and Yarbrough connected on
their second touchdown of the contest, later in the quarter, from
four yards out to extend the margin to 17-0. Late in the third
quarter, Turner connected on a 22-yard field goal, a two-yard
touchdown run by Zeke Jones and a one-yard touchdown run by Jasper
Ducksworth extended the margin to 34-0 with 11:08 left in the
contest.
A&M-Commerce got on the board
late when Farkes engineered a five play, 78-yard touchdown drive to
cut the deficit to 34-7. The big gain for A&M-Commerce was when
redshirt sophomore running back Marcus Graham broke through the
line for a 55-yard run that took the ball down to the SLU 1. After
losing two yards on first and goal, Farkes called his own number
for the touchdown.
SLU scored its final touchdown of
the contest when Babin completed his third touchdown of the contest
to Chris Wilson to culminate an 11 play, 74-yard drive late in the
fourth quarter.
Next up for A&M-Commerce is the
Harvey Martin Classic at the Cotton Bowl at 5 pm against No. 3
Abilene Christian.
