Marquis Gray turned in 154 yards receiving and two touchdowns and Southeastern had a chance to tie the game late but was unable to get the ball in the endzone on its final drive in a 31-23 loss to Henderson State on Saturday afternoon in Arkadelphia, Ark.
The loss is the first time the Savage Storm has suffered consecutive losses since the 2019 season and drops SE to 2-3 overall on the season.
"Our kids bounced back," said head coach Tyler Fenwick, "And competed today and that's all you can ask for them to do. We battled and we almost got it."
Daulton Hatley turned in his third-straight 300-yard passing performance and finished the contest 36-of-54 for 316 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Braxton Kincade connected on his only pass attempt of the game, a 37-yard TD strike, the second of his career.
Hatley would bring his career passing total to 6,491 yards, passing Justin Pitrucha to move into third place on the all-time passing list and will be chasing Hall of Famer Drew Beard's total of 7,303 which is currently the second-most all-time.
Gray was easily the top Storm target on the day with 13 catches for 154 yards and two scores, with Katrell Blakely following up with six grabs for 62 yards.
Braxton Kincade finished the day with 28 yards on four catches which moved him past Anthony Foster and into fifth-place on SE's all-time receiving yards list with 2,095 yards.
Matthew Nunez finished with one reception which went for the 37-yard score.
Deundre Wheeler and Jason Ngwu each finished with 46 yards rushing on the day, with Wheeler picking his up on 15 caries while Ngwu did it on six.
For the second-straight week the Storm offense outgained its opponent in a loss, this time using 353 passing yards to hold a 447-to-432 edge in total offense.
Defensively, Ja'Lon Freeman and Ke'Shawn Somerville led the way with six tackles each, while Josh Mulumba added five.
Southeastern took the opening possession and used a pair of 10-plus yard pickups to power a six-play, 70-yard drive that was capped by a 37-yard touchdown pass from Kincade to Nunez on a trick play, taking a 7-0 lead with 11:31 to go in the first quarter.
The Storm defense would hold the Reddies to a field goal on their ensuing drive and would march the ball back into HSU territory a second time, but this drive came to an early end on a tipped interception.
Henderson State would score a play later when Andrew Edwards connected with Xavier Malone for 83 yards on the first play of the following drive, giving the Reddies a 10-7 lead which would hold up through the rest of the first quarter.
The teams would trade scoreless drives early in the second quarter, but the Storm would put together a six-play, 69-yard drive with Hatley finding Gray for a 17-yard touchdown with 7:54 to play in the half, but a blocked PAT would leave the SE lead at 13-10.
Southeastern would hold HSU to three-and-out and close the half on a 14-play drive that burned the final 6:47 off the first-half clock and covered 80 yards before a fourth-down run to close the half would get stopped just shy of the endzone to leave the Storm leading 13-10 at the break.
The Reddies would open the second half with a 12-play scoring drive that was capped by a Landon Ledbetter two-yard TD plunge to take a 17-13 lead.
Southeastern would run off the remaining 8:33 of the third quarter on its ensuing drive before capping the 15-play, 62-yard drive with a season-long 40-yard Trey Keatts field goal to close the deficit to 17-16 with 14:55 to play in the game.
HSU would answer much quicker on its next drive as a pair of long Ledbetter runs would setup the Reddies deep in SE territory before Jeremiah Davis scored from one yard out to extend the SE deficit to 24-16 with 12:47 to play.
After forcing the Storm to punt, Henderson State would use just three plays to put the ball in the endzone and take a 31-16 lead with 10:11 remaining.
Hatley would connect on six-straight passes on the ensuing drive as the Storm marched the ball down the field, with a 20-yard connection to Gray setting up a five-yard Hatley to Gray TD toss a play later, closing the gap to 31-23 with 7:00 to play.
Southeastern would catch the Reddies sleeping on the ensuing kickoff with Jackson Nalley perfectly executing the onside kick which was recovered at the SE 46 yardline by Braeden Winters.
SE would see its next drive end on downs at the HSU 22 yardline with 4:48 to play, and Henderson State would take the ball into SE territory before missing on a 26-yard field goal with 1:49 remaining.
Hatley would find Kaleb Whitley for five yards on the first play of that drive but that is all the drive would muster as the Storm would go four-and-out, turning the ball over on downs and ending the comeback bid in a 31-23 loss.
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