Southeastern Louisiana roars past CCSU, 70-6, in home opener

HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University football team scored early and often on the way to a 70-6 victory over Central Connecticut State Saturday evening in Strawberry Stadium.

Making their debut at home after opening the season with a pair of FBS foes, the Lions (1-2) scored on their first five possessions on the way to the fifth-highest single-game scoring total in school history. Defensively, Southeastern held CCSU (0-3) to nine first downs on the way to outgaining the Blue Devils, 601-214.

The scoring output was the largest for SLU since a 76-7 win over HBU in 2014. The 64-point is the sixth-largest margin of victory in school history.

“We did a lot of good things and played fundamentally sound,” Southeastern head football coach Frank Scelfo said. “We put guys in position to make plays and we executed. We did the things well that we’ve been working on since spring ball.”

Cephus Johnson III (14-for-20, 228 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT) and Eli Sawyer (4-for-6, 68 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT) shared time under center and led the Southeastern offensive attack. Nine players caught passes with Anthony Spurlock, Maurice Massey and CJ Turner all hauling in touchdowns.

Southeastern was even more impressive on the ground, averaging 6.5 yards per carry on the way to a 305-yard rushing performance. Carlos Washington Jr. paced Southeastern with two touchdowns, while Taron Jones, Rodeo Graham Jr., Mannie Logan-Greene and Jessie Britt all rushed for scores. Saturday’s performance marked the first time since 2014 in which SLU had six rushing touchdowns in a game.

Jack Henderson highlighted the SLU defensive effort with his second pick six of his career. Rowan Briggs led the Lions with five tackles and a fumble recovery, while Gerald Henderson recorded a sack. Darius Lewis was the special teams standout for Southeastern, as his 27-yard punt return set up the team’s first touchdown.

Nasir Smith led CCSU with 51 yards on 11 carries. Three different quarterbacks combined for 105 yards, one touchdown and one interception on 10-for-19 passing.

Southeastern will continue its four-game home stand next Saturday, hosting UIW in the Southland Conference opener at 6 p.m. in Strawberry Stadium. The game will be televised live on ESPN+ and can be heard live on Kajun 107.1 FM, The Highway 104.7 FM, The Boss 103.7 FM/1400 AM.

CCSU – 0 0 6 0 – 6 (0-3)
SLU – 14 34 10 12 – 70 (1-2)

Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
SLU – Washington Jr. 8 run (Rengifo kick), 12:27
SLU – Spurlock 70 pass from Johnson (Rengifo kick), 6:42
2nd Quarter
SLU – Washington Jr. 2 run (Rengifo kick), 14:14
SLU – Massey 39 pass from Sawyer (Rengifo kick blocked), 10:37
SLU – Graham Jr. 7 run (Rengifo kick), 6:33
SLU – J. Henderson 14 interception return (Rengifo kick), 1:51
SLU – Turner 6 pass from Johnson III (Rengifo kick), 0:05
3rd Quarter
SLU – Rengifo 23 FG, 6:57
CCSU – Wormley 30 pass from Mitchell (Fonseca kick blocked), 3:33
SLU – Logan-Greene 26 run (Rengifo kick), 1:36
4th Quarter
SLU – Britt 5 run (Rengifo kick missed), 9:50
SLU – Jones 8 run (Rengifo kick), 6:10

FINAL STATISTICS CCSU SLU
FIRST DOWNS 9 32
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 31-109 47-305
PASSING YDS (NET) 105 296
Passes Att-Comp-Int 19-10-1 26-18-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 50-214 73-601
Fumble Returns-Yards 0-0 0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards 5-92 1-23
Punt Returns-Yards 0-0 5-46
Interception Returns-Yards 0-0 1-14
Punts (Number-Avg) 8-33.0 1-31.0
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-Yards 6-66 2-15
Possession Time. 25:44 34:16
Third-Down Conversions 1-10 7-11
Fourth-Down Conversions 0-1 1-2
Red Zone Scores-Chances 0-0 7-8

RUSHING: CCSU – Smith 11-51, Thomas 8-35, Williams 7-17, Mitchell 3-11, Hawkom 1-2, Team 1-(-1). Totals 31-109. SLU – Jones 8-96, Graham Jr. 11-74, Johnson III 9-60, Washington Jr. 6-34, Logan-Greene 1-26, Britt 6-18, Johnson 1-4, Sawyer 1-1, Team 4-(-8). Totals 47-305.

PASSING: CCSU – Williams 8-14-1-58-0, Mitchell 2-4-0-47-1, Hawkom 0-1-0-0-0. Totals 10-19-1-105-1. SLU – Johnson III 14-20-0-228-2, Sawyer 4-6-0-68-1. Totals 18-26-0-296-3.

RECEIVING: CCSU – Surratt 3-32, Smith 3-18, Wormley 2-34, Dolegala 1-11, Johnson 1-10. Totals 10-105. SLU – Lewis 3-35, Spurlock 2-79, Massey 2-51, Larvadain 2-40, Logan-Greene 2-20, Turner 2-16, Sharp 2-15, Carter 2-4, Britt 1-36. Totals 18-296.

A – 5,217.

TICKETS
For ticket information, contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.LionSports.net. Southeastern will continue offering mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets for the 2022-23 season. All tickets will be available via e-mail or text message in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.

SOCIAL MEDIA
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