Southeastern Louisiana To Battle Savannah State In Home Opener

HAMMOND, LA – The Southeastern Louisiana University football team officially opens its 2011 home schedule on Saturday when it faces Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference member Savannah State at Strawberry Stadium.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net. The game is also being televised on a tape-delayed basis by the Southeastern Channel (Charter Cable Channel 18 in Tangipahoa, St. Tammany, Livingston, and St. Helena Parishes; Charter Cable Channel 17 in Washington Parish). A live video steam, courtesy of the Southeastern Channel, is available at www.LionSports.net.

Southeastern (0-1), which is 8-0 in home openers since re-instating the program in 2003, returns to action after a 47-33 setback at Tulane in its season-opener last week in the Superdome. The Lions amassed 419 yards total offense and 26 first downs against the Green Wave.

Brian Young threw for 249 yards in a starting role for Southeastern with Brandon Collins catching a game-high nine passes for 94 yards. Carl Pearson caught four passes in his collegiate debut for the Lions while seniors Simmie Yarborough and Kory Theodore also grabbed four passes.

Yarborough, Southeastern's all-time leader in receptions (172) and touchdowns (27), gained 58 yards for the Lions and moved to within 286 yards of Felton Huggins' school-record of 2,345 yards from 2003-05.

Zeke Jones paced the Lions' rushing attack with 65 yards and a pair of touchdowns – increasing his career total to 15 TD runs and tying him with Ellis Johnson (1961-64) and Ray Perkins (2003-04) for fifth in school history.

Defensively, Tay Alford and freshman Marice Sutton led the Lions with seven tackles each with Robert Alford and Ricky Irvin recording six each.

Southeastern kicker Seth Sebastian booted a pair of field goals (30 and 38 yards) to extend his streak to 11 consecutive field goals made dating back to last season while redshirt freshman Jordan Wells returned eight kicks for 224 yards – the second-best single-game total in both categories in school history.

The meeting with Savannah State (0-1) is the first on the gridiron between the two schools and Southeastern's first against a current member of the MEAC.

SSU fell to Division II Albany State, 37-34, last week in the Music City Classic in Macon, Ga. The Tigers trailed 19-3 at halftime before a furious second-half rally fell short as ASU scored the game-winning touchdown with 19 seconds remaining.

Quarterback A.J. Defilippis completed 15-of-34 passes for 315 yards and three TDs for SSU with Brian Lackey catching three passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. Dylan Cook and Simon Heyward each caught three passes for the Tigers, who gained 382 yards total offense.

Tickets are available from the Southeastern Athletic Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or on-line at www.LionSports.net.

By Southeastern Louisiana University Media Relations

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