Box Score ABILENE – Lorenzo Nunez ran for three touchdowns and threw for another Saturday afternoon as Southeastern Louisiana University rolled over Abilene Christian University, 56-21, at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium.
Playing its first Homecoming game on campus since 1942, ACU fell to 2-6 overall and 2-4 in the Southland, unable to slow the Lions' nationally ranked ground game. Southeastern (5-3 overall and 5-1 in the league), the top rushing offense in the league and fourth in FCS, ran for 443 on the afternoon.
The Lions broke up a tight game on the scoreboard – 21-13 at the half – with 35 straight second-half points on their way to 623 yards of offense. SLU had four players with 70 or more rushing yards, led by Elvin Bethea's 108 and 105 from Darren Johnson. ACU managed just 293 yards of offense, led by Tracey James' 99 yards of rushing and 105 passing yards from
Dallas Sealey.
Nunez, a sophomore transfer from the University of South Carolina, had TD runs of 39, 3 and 11 yards, and threw a 2-yard scoring pass to Juwan Dickey. A fourth potential scoring run by Nunez was interrupted by a fumble, but Dickey landed on the loose ball in the end zone.
PLAYS THAT MATTERED
• 1Q – At the end of a 9-yard run, Southeastern quarterback Lorenzo Nunez was hit by ACU cornerback
Adonis Davis and fumbled into the end zone with 10:26 left in the quarter, but the ball was recovered by Juwan Dickey for a Lions touchdown and a 7-0 lead. SLU's opening drive was an impressive one: 10 plays and 75 yards, most of it on the ground.
• 1Q –
Nik Grau's 46-yard field goal at the end of ACU's first drive of the game made the score 7-3 with 7:33 remaining in the quarter.
• 1Q – A potential turnover was negated when a fumble forced by
Royce Moore and recovered by defensive tackle
Cole Burgess instead became a first down for the Lions when a personal foul on the Wildcats gave SLU new life on its third drive of the game.
• 2Q – The Wildcats dodged a bullet when a 53-yard field goal attempt by Dillon Burkhard sailed wide right.
• 2Q – After a 10-yard punt by ACU gave the Lions the ball at midfield, SLU's Nunez ran 39 yards for a TD at the 13:04 mark.
• 2Q – A fumble by Nunez was recovered by Wildcat defensive end Temesian Kuyatsemi at the SLU 25-yard-line. Two plays later, Tracey James ran 19 yards around right end for a Wildcat touchdown that narrowed the Lion lead to 14-10 with 9:19 left in the half.
• 2Q – Nunez wrapped up a nine-play, 58-yard drive for the Lions with a 3-yard plunge up the middle for a TD at the 5:43 mark, moving SLU to a 21-10 lead.
• 2Q – On the last play of the second quarter,
Nik Grau's 31-yard field goal was good, making the halftime score 21-13 in favor of SLU.
• 3Q – Nunez threw a 2-yard TD pass over the middle to Dickey on the Lions' first drive of the second half.
• 3Q – Eugene Bethea ran 65 yards for a TD with 3:42 left in the third quarter to pad the Lions' lead to 35-13.
• 4Q – Nunez sprinted 11 yards for his third scoring run of the day. Burkhard's successful PAT made the new score 42-13 less than a minute into the final quarter.
• 4Q – Byron Walker's first pass of the game as backup quarterback went 54 yards to Marcus Cooper, giving the Lions a 49-13 advantage with 9:05 left.
• 4Q –Walker's second pass of the game went for 41 yards to Austin Mitchell with 6:41 on the clock. Lions 56, ACU 13.
• 4Q – Two plays after the Lions' TD, Wildcat back
Aaron Bunting ran 61 yards on his first carry of the game.
• 4Q –
Luke Anthony's 3-yard scoring pass to
Troy Grant with 4:50 left cut the Lion lead to 56-21. Anthony ran in the 2-point conversion.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
• Southeastern Louisiana fumbled four times in the first half, losing one of them, which led to the Wildcats' first touchdown of the afternoon.
• The Wildcats suffered no fumbles or interceptions but turned the ball over on downs three times in the game: at the Lions' 36-, 46- and 22-yard lines.
• Tracey James led ACU in rushing with 99 yards on 16 carries and one touchdown, while
Dallas Sealey completed 12 of 29 throws and
Luke Anthony was 3-of-5 in passing for 14 yards and one TD.
STAT CORNER
• SLU running back Darrren Johnson averaged 11.6 yards per carry in the first half, totaling 93 of his team's 166 yards on the ground. The Wildcats held him to just 12 yards in the second half but three of his teammates – Eugene Bethea, Delmonte Hall and Lorenzo Nunez – more than made up for it.
• ACU converted just 2 of 14 third downs in the game, and none in the second half.
• The visitors dominated ACU in the second half, outgaining the Wildcats 424-118 and scoring five unanswered touchdowns. The game ended with the Lions taking a knee on the ACU 10-yard line.
•
Bolu Onifade and
Royce Moore led ACU with 11 tackles each.
• The Wildcats played before a another sellout crowd (12,000) for the third time in four home games in 2017.
QUOTABLE
ACU head coach Adam Dorrel …
... on the play of his team
"Pretty disappointed in the way we played. We didn't do a good job executing on either side of the ball. Southeastern has a good team and they did a great job offensively. They're very physical in the run game and got us out of our lanes today with the option."
NOTABLE
• The last time ACU played on campus at Homecoming was Nov. 20, 1942, when the Wildcats beat Austin College 53-0 at A.B. Morris Stadium. ACU is now 53-35-1 in its 89 games played before a Homecoming crowd in Abilene.
• The 1977 NAIA Division I national championship team had its 40
th reunion earlier today on campus. The Wildcats, with Dewitt Jones as head coach, finished 11-1-1, wrapping up their historic season with a win in the Apple Bowl over Southwestern Oklahoma State. The game was played in the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington, home at the time to the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.
• Southeastern entered the game leading the Southland in rushing offense with 303.6 yards per game, the fourth best mark in FCS. Marcus Cooper was averaging 91.8 per game and five others averaged at least 25 per contest.
• Over the last four games, the Lions had scored 49 points and racked up up at least 500 yards of offense in each. They were among FCS leaders in scoring offense (eighth at 40 points per game) and total offense (11
th at 469.4 yards per game).
• ACU entered the game as the league's third-ranked team in total defense (358.9 yard per game) and scoring defense (23 points per game), and second in pass defense (196 yards per game).
• ACU quarterback
Dallas Sealeynwas ranked first in the Southland in completions (177) and attempts (277), second in completion percentage (63.9), third in passing yards (1,615) and third in yards per game (230.7).
NEXT UP
The Wildcats are idle next week, resuming their schedule Nov. 4 with Northwestern State University. SLU hosts Sam Houston State at 7 p.m. next Saturday in Hammond.
