Box Score HAMMOND, LOUISIANA – The University of the Incarnate Word made the long journey to Southeastern Louisiana, but they were never able to get on track in a 35-3 loss at Strawberry Stadium on Saturday night.

Despite threats from Tropical Storm Karen, the game went off without a hitch as the rain stopped about an hour prior to game time. The Lions (3-2) used a strong pass rush to slow down the Cardinals (3-3) offense for much of the game and an interception return for a touchdown right before halftime proved to be an important play in the game.

The Cardinals moved the ball much better in the second half, but were unable to hit pay dirt while the Lions put together a pair of scoring drives. After gaining only 75 yards in the first half, they picked up 210 in the second half.

The loss was not without some positives. Freshman quarterback Trent Brittain (Eastland/Eastland HS) surpassed the school single marks for passing yards and total offense. Junior wide receiver Casey Jennings (Fremont, CA/Washington HS) became the first player to have more than 100 yards receiving in a game since Jacob Love accomplished the feat on October 15, 2011.

The first quarter was all Lions as they scored on two of their four drives, including the opening drive of the game. After receiving the kickoff, they quickly moved into UIW territory and scored on a 41-yard pass from Bryan Bennett to Marquis Hayes. The second score of the quarter came on their fourth drive when Rasheed Harrell picked up a couple of long runs and eventually scored on a 5-yard run with 57 seconds left in the period.

The Southeastern defense bottled up the Cardinals offense in the first quarter as well allowing two first downs while forcing three punts.

The Cardinals were able to put some points on the board midway through the second quarter. Jake Wilcox (San Antonio/O'Connor HS) drilled a 42-yard field goal with 8:30 remaining in the first half. The score was set up by a 40-yard fumble return by Devin Haywood (San Antonio/Roosevelt HS). UIW drove inside the 15-yard line, but a sack forced the team to attempt a field goal.

Disaster struck the Cardinals late in the second quarter. UIW recovered an SLU fumble at their own 49-yard line with 29 seconds remaining in the half. On the second play from scrimmage, Brittain's pass was intercepted by Marice Sutton and returned 67 yards for a touchdown making it 21-3 at the break.

The Cardinals opened the second half with a pair of nice plays. The first was a 43-yard flea-flicker from Brittain to Jennings and the second was a 14-yard pass to Junior Sessions (Mesquite/Mesquite HS). The drive bogged down in the red zone and Wilcox's 30-yard field goal was blocked by Kevin Harmon to thwart the UIW scoring chance.

Southeastern added to their lead with 5:10 remaining in the third quarter. The drive started at the SLU 7-yard line. After picking up one first down, Bennett connected with Jeff Smiley on a big 44-yard gain to switch the field position. Five plays later, Bennett plunged into the end zone from 1-yard out to make it 28-7.

The Cardinals threatened to score two more times in the fourth quarter driving deep into Southeastern territory, but each time they were stopped on fourth down.

The Lions tacked on another touchdown midway through the fourth quarter on a 16-yard pass from Bennett to Smiley with 7:38 remaining.

Brittain led the UIW offense by going 19-of-33 for 222 yards and an interception. His favorite target was Jennings who finished the game with five catches for 108 yards. Brittain surpassed Paden Lynch's single season records of 1,102 passing yards and 1,366 yards of total offense in the game. Sessions was the leading rusher with 11 carries for 27 yards.

The Lions finished the game with 459 yards of total offense, including 319 through the air. Bennett was 19-of-30 for 267 yards and two touchdowns through the air while adding a touchdown run. Harrell led the running game with 87 yards on nine carries and a score. Smiley was the team's top receiver with 91 yards and a touchdown on seven catches.

The UIW defense had five players with at least five tackles on the night, including Kielyn Lewis (Gainesville/Gainesville HS) who led the team with six stops. Troy Lara (San Antonio/Madison HS) registered the team's lone sack while Darryl Irby (Pearland/Dawson HS) had a pair of pass breakups. Nunez averaged 43.8 yards per punt for the Cardinals and had three of his six punts end inside the 20-yard line.

The Lions finished with four sacks on the night, all in the first half. Isiah Corbett led the defense with nine tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks on the night.

The Cardinals will not play again until October 19 at 2 p.m. at Abilene Christian.
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