PORTALES, N. M. -- Southeastern fell behind early and was unable to recover as Eastern New Mexico handed the Savage Storm a 55-20 loss on Saturday afternoon in Portales, N. M.
The loss drops the Storm to 3-6 on the year as SE heads into its final home contest of the season when it hosts Angelo State at 2 p.m. on Nov. 6 at Paul Laird Field for Senior Day.
Southeastern wraps up division play with a 2-4 record in Lone Star Conference North play, the worst finish in division play since a 2-3 LSC-N record in 2001.
The lone bright spot offensively for SE was Baylen Laury who turned in his third-straight 100-plus yard rushing performance, finishing with 118 yards on 26 carries with a pair of rushing TD's. He also added a third score on a 26 yard reception, accounting for 18 of SE's 20 points on the day.
Laury's yardage total moved him to 999 yard on the season, one yard shy of turning in SE's seventh 1,000 yard rushing season and first since Scott Martin turned in back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 200 and 2001.
The Storm offense took a lot of snaps, breaking its two-week old school record for plays in a game with 96, totaling 432 yards of offense, with 245 through the air and 187 on the ground. SE had 95 plays in its 56-55 overtime win at Central Oklahoma.
ENMU, however, turned in 507 yards of offense, picking 360 through the air, but surprising the Storm with 147 yards on the ground.
Logan Turner had a rough outing, finishing the day 18-for-38 with a touchdown, however he was sacked five times and his lone interception was returned 76 yards for a touchdown.
Four different receivers each had four catches, with Aaron Stringfellow turning in the biggest day yardage-wise with 72 yards, while Le'Derian Cockrane added 66 yards. Laury caught the only TD pass of the day, going for 26 yards.
Brad Chesshir led the defense with seven tackles, while Mathew Leatherwood and Vincent McDaniel each added an interception, with McDaniel netting 21 yards on a return.
Lionel Gillespie, Josh Morris and Alex Moore each tallied a sack on the day.
Wesley Wood led ENMU in rushing and passing, completing 26-of-38 for 360 yards with three TDs, while rushing for 69 yards on eight carries with a score.
Jessie Poku was his favorite target with seven catches, while Carl Bouldin turned in 138 yards on five catches with a TD and Darian Dale had a pair of TD's with five catches for 95 yards.
The Storm found itself in an early hole, giving up a 27 yard TD toss from Wood to Darian Dale on ENMU's opening drive, followed by a 76 yard interception return with 4:50 to play in the first quarter that put the Greyhounds up 14-0.
The Storm answered with a one yard Laury TD run, but a blocked PAT left the Storm trailing 14-6.
That deficit would move to 20-6 after Valenzuela found the endzone from 16 yards out on the ground, but ENMU would miss the PAT.
Valenzuela would score again early in the second quarter, this one from five yards out, to put ENMU up 27-6, and that would be extended to 34-6 just over three minutes later when Wood hit Carl Bouldin for a 60 yard touchdown.
Laury scored his second TD of the day to cut into the deficit, this one from four yards out, but Wood would hit Dale again, this one going for 41 yards through the air, giving ENMU a 41-13 lead at halftime.
SE would find the only points of the third quarter when Turner hit Laury for a 26 yard TD toss that trimmed the deficit to 41-20 with 12:08 to play in the quarter.
ENMU would open fourth quarter scoring when Stefan Mills ran in from three yards out with 13:42 to play to put the Hounds up 48-20.
They would extend that lead to 55-20 when Wood scrambled 38 yards for the touchdown with 6:49 to play in the contest.