LAKELAND, Fla. (October 3, 2020) – The second road game of the 2020 season for the Webber International University football team was also the second road game against an opponent ranked in the top-15 in the NAIA for the Warriors, and unfortunately Southeastern University proved to be just a little bit too strong for a banged up Webber football team in a 21-7 win for the Fire on rainy Saturday night at Victory Field.

Playing without a number of its regular starters, Webber made it interesting thanks in large part to a great defensive effort, but in the end the Warriors fell to 1-3 overall and suffered their first Mid-South Conference Sun Division loss of the season at 1-1. Southeastern, meanwhile, remained undefeated at 3-0 overall and won what was its first Sun Division game of the season.

"With the adversity we faced this week, I thought our team really pulled together and gave a great effort tonight," spoke Webber's Head Coach Kelly Scott.

The first quarter was the definition of a defensive struggle with the two teams combining to punt it away on each of the first five drives of the game.

Senior punter Joe Ebel did his job, booting his three punts in the first quarter for an average of over 35 yards per kick.

To start the second quarter, the opportunistic Warrior defense stood its ground on second and goal for the Southeastern offense and came away with a fumble recovery by Colton Cormier after the Fire receiver had the ball knocked out by Trent Peacock while stretching for the end zone.

Then on Southeastern's very next drive, the Webber defense again stepped up with a big stop on fourth-down-and-one to get the ball back to the Warrior offense.

Unfortunately, a three-and-out for the Warriors' offense gave the ball back to the Fire, who finally scored the first points of the game with a two-yard touchdown pass with only 2:16 left before halftime.

In the final 30 seconds of the first half, Alondre Smith made his presence felt on defense as he came up with an interception at Webber's own seven-yard line to prevent the Fire from adding to their lead just before the break.

At the half, Webber only had three first downs, was 0-for-6 on third down, had 35 rushing yards and negative three passing yards, but it was the Warriors' defense that helped keep the score low and keep Webber in the ballgame.

After Southeastern started the second half in Webber territory after a big kickoff return, Jamon Jones came up with another Warrior interception and returned it 70-yards for the game-tying score. After a roughing the snapper penalty on the extra point try by the Southeastern defense, Austin Smith converted on his second extra point try to give Webber the one-point lead at 7-6.

Unfortunately, the Fire answered right back on their next drive, going 51 yards in only six plays and taking advantage of great field position after the Warriors had to kick off from their own 10-yard line. The three-yard touchdown pass and ensuring two-point conversion made it 14-7 Southeastern only three minutes after the Warriors took their only lead of the game.

While the Webber defense did its best to keep the Southeastern offense from adding to its lead on its next drive and forced a three-and-out, the Webber offense failed to convert on third down for the eighth time to open the game, and then right after that, a low snap by the Warriors' on a punt from their own end zone resulted in a fumble recovery in the end zone and seven more points for Southeastern.

In all, Webber started the game 0-for-10 on third down until a five-yard run by Tremon Bright gave the Warriors their first third-down conversion with less than eight minutes remaining in the contest.

By the end of the game, Webber had five first downs, was 1-for-12 on third down, and had 37 rushing yards and 37 passing yards for a total of 74 yards of offense.

Bright led with 19 rushing yards on four attempts for the Webber offense while Javon Pride had two catches for 20 yards and Ethan Blanchard had two catches for 15 yards. Quarterback Elijah Stimmell was 7-for-19 for 37 yards.

The Warriors' defense finished the game holding Southeastern to a 5-for-12 conversion rate on third down and only 164 passing yards. The Fire entered the game ranking third in the NAIA in scoring (47 ppg), second in passing (365.5), and third in total yards per game (536), but all of those numbers took a hit against Webber on Saturday.

Individually on defense, Jaren Muse finished with 10 tackles while Cormier had eight and Devonte Harris and Smith both had seven. Muse also added 1.5 tackles for loss while David Lamey had two tackles for loss and an eight-yard sack.

Ebel, meanwhile, might have had the best statistical night for the Warriors, punting 10 times for a great average of 41.1 yards per punt. He also finished with a long punt of 49 yards and put one punt within the Southeastern 20-yard line.

The Warriors will return home next weekend on Saturday, October 10, to host Ave Maria University at 1:30 p.m. as a part of Webber's Homecoming Weekend.