SLU rolls in season opener

Southeastern Louisiana University looked impressive last night in the season opener and sent the
Lions' Strawberry Stadium enthusiastic crowd of 5,820 home with a convincing 45-7
victory over the Southeast Missouri Redhawks.
Lions' starting quarterback Bryan Bennett showed his dual threat skills as he recorded three
rushing touchdowns finding the end zone from 3, 30 and 7 yards, while clicking on 9-of-15 passes
for 169 yards.
The Lions' offense gained 494 total yards, averaging 7.3 yards per play, rushing for 309,
averaging 6.2 yards per carry, while passing for 185 yards.
Bennett became the Lions' first quarterback to rush for 100 yards since Dean Waguespack gained
122 yards back in 1977.
Bennett, showing off his running and passing ability, was relieved early in the fourth quarter by Jordan
Barnett, who finished 3-of-3 for 16 yards and scored on a one-yard keeper.
Bennett, the former Oregon quarterback, said he enjoyed going into battle with his teammates.
"Competing is just a great thing. I am looking forward to coming back this week and seeing how
much we can progress and how far we can take this thing," Bennett said.
Bennett and Barnett spread the ball around hooking up with nine different Lions' receivers
on the night.
Second-year coach Ron Roberts said he was really pleased with his team's effort.
"Our guys played hard. We made some mistakes, but we played a lot of young men, which is
something that we wanted to do to get them experience, Hopefully,  they have those jitters
out of the way," Roberts said. 
Defensively, Amite linebacker Drew Misita led the way with five total tackles including three
solo stops and four assists.
Trenon Trosclair and James Scales chipped in with four tackles each.
A number of former St. Tammany Parish players made significant contributions for the Lions
including Fontainebleau High junior Justin Church, who recorded a solo stop with two
assists. Church also blocked a Southeast Missouri field goal attempt.
Church, who switched from defensive end to linebacker, made two consecutive stops on
third-and-two and fourth-and-one situations.
Church talked about the defensive effort on fourth down.
"Our coaches did a good job of putting us in position on that play. I just saw the play
happening and I was able to chase it down," Church said.
The Lions played solid team defense and Church talked about swarming to the ball.
"We put a big focus on that during camp on getting to the ball, which really helped us to
get to the ball," Church added. 
Northshore High's Josh Dakin, a sophomore and talented special team's player, recorded two
primary stops and two assists. Dakin was also credited with breaking up a pass.
SLU's special teams did a nice job with senior place kicker Seth Sebastian drilling a 45-yard
field goal and he was true on all six of his extra point attempts.
Covington High grad senior Matt McCormick punted twice averaging 42.5 yards per punt with a long
of 47. McCormick was also the Lions' holder on Sebastian's extra points and field goal attempts.
SLU junior linebacker and starting special team's player, Tyler Tourelle, a St. Paul's graduate, suffered a knee injury on the opening kickoff.
"It's great to get a win in the opener it's definitely what the program needed. We have worked really hard for the past nine months getting to this point. There is a bright future ahead," Tourelle said.
Tourelle said he picked Southeastern for a reason, knowing the football program was headed
in the right direction through everything the coaching staff had done and what the players
have done.
Tourelle said he got encouragement from his teammates during the course of the game
following his injury. 
"These are your brothers, you sweat with them and fight with them doing everything together
for at least eight hours a day," Tourelle added.
SLU returns to action next Saturday traveling to TCU to battle the No. 20 ranked Horned Frogs.
The Lions play their next three games on the road followed with a bye week before returning
to Strawberry Stadium on Oct. 5, hosting Incarnate Word.