Lakeland, Fla. - The football program at Thomas More fell to Southeastern (Fla.) on Saturday night (September 18) by a score of 20-14. With the loss the Saints drop to 1-2 on the season.
- Southeastern took an early 7-0 lead when Cooper Jones found Wendall Harris for a 14 yard touchdown pass, Tristan Connel converted the extra point.
- The Fire added to their lead as Jones would toss another touchdown, this time he found Kenneth Djaha for 59 yards, Connel once again converted the extra point for a 14-0 lead.
- Connel added three more points to Southeastern's lead via a 36 yard field goal.
- Thomas More would get things started as sophomore quarterback Blaine Espinosa found wide receiver Roques Dowdy (Athens, Ga. / Oconee County) for a 92 yard touchdown, senior kicker Alexander Haley (Lebanon, Ohio / Lebanon) converted the extra point to cut the Fires lead to 17-7.
- Connel once again would knock one through the uprights, this time a 29 yard field goal, making Southeastern's lead 20-7 to head into the locker room.
- Junior running back Maleek Jarrett (Hamilton, Ohio / Hamilton) found a whole in the defense that led to a 12 yard touchdown run, cutting the Fire's lead to 6 (20-14).
- Neither team could gain any traction in the quarter and the score would remain, making the final 20-14 in favor of Southeastern.
- Dowdy led the team in receiving with 120 yards on two receptions with a touchdown.
- Jarrett ran for 78 yards on 10 attempts with a touchdown.
- Sophomore punter Elgin Phillips (Hamilton, Ohio / Fairfield) punted the ball 10 times for an average of 43.6 yards per with two downed inside the 20.
- Junior linebacker Del Thomas (Fairfield, Ohio/Fairfield) led the team in tackles with 12 total and had a half of a tackle for a loss for one yard.
- Senior Drew Bartolovich (Fairfield, Ohio/Fairfield) tallied 10 total tackles with seven of them being solo.
- Senior Peyton Van Horn (Hebron, Ky./Conner) had the lone sack for Thomas More and had another tackle for a loss along with nine total tackles.
- Thomas More's defense posted a second half shutout.
The football team will return to the field on Thursday, September 30 when they travel to Campbellsville, Kentucky to open up Mid-South Conference play taking on Campbellsville at 6 p.m. ET.
