HAMMOND, La. – A pair of late first-half touchdowns off HBU turnovers propeled 11^th-ranked Southeastern to a 61-24 victory in Southland Conference football Saturday afternoon at Strawberry Stadium.
 
Freshman quarterback Orion Olivas completed 23-of-42 passes for 239 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions for the Huskies (0-6, 0-3 SLC). Sophomore Tyson Thompson had four catches for 70 yards and a touchdown, freshman Charles King made four catches for 35 yards and a score and sophomore Ismael Fuller had three grabs for 26 yards and a touchdown. Junior Branden Walker added five catches for 54 yards.
 
Freshman linebacker Rodney Dansby tied the HBU single-game record with 19 tackles, joining Garrett Dolan (twice), Langston Tunson and senior linebacker Brennan Young, who made eight tackles in Saturday night's game. Freshman safety Xavier Toliver made 11 tackles, forced two fumbles and recovered one and sophomore safety Isaiah Cash made nine stops.
 
Cole Kelley completed 31-of-38 passes for 396 yards and five touchdowns for the Lions (5-1, 3-0). Austin Mitchell caught five passes for 62 yards and two touchdowns, while CJ Turner had four catches for 72 yards and a touchdown. Nolan Givan added five catches for 56 yards. Cephus Johnson III came in at quarterback and led SLU with 87 rushing yards and a touchdown.
 
Alexis Ramos led the Lions with five tackles and four others had four tackles each. Jackson Henderson and Brandon Barbee each had interceptions and Joshua Randall recovered a fumble for a touchdown.
 
HBU received the opening kickoff, but went three-and-out. SLU worked quickly down the field and Kelley finished off a six-play, 58-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Turner. The Huskies seemed to be stopped on their second drive, but senior tight end Josh Alfaro ran 37 yards on a fake punt for a first down. Olivas hit King with a four-yard strike to tie the game with 6:53 remaining in the opening quarter.
 
SLU answered with a 75-yard drive that ended with Kelley finding Nick Kovacs for a nine-yard touchdown reception, but Wallis blocked the extra point. HBU came back and put points on the board when Garcia drilled a 59-yard field goal with exactly one minute left to make the score 13-10. The kick was the second-longest in school history, behind Alec Chadwick's 60-yarder at UIW in 2016.
 
McClendon's six-yard touchdown run opened the second-quarter scoring, putting the Lions ahead, 20-10. On HBU's ensuing drive, Olivas' 35-yard completion to Walker set up an eight-yard touchdown pass to Fuller to pull the Huskies within three with just over eight minutes to go in the half.
 
The Lions were driving deep into Husky territory late in the half, but Toliver forced a fumble after an SLU completion that was recovered by freshman cornerback Travis Greenawalt at the 12-yard line. A bad snap on HBU's first play went into the endzone and was recovered by Randall for a touchdown. Olivas was intercepted by Barbee and SLU got the ball back at the HBU 41 with 1:22 left. Kelley hit Mitchell for a 35-yard touchdown as the Lions took a 34-17 lead into the half.
 
SLU took the second-half kickoff and Kelley led a 67-yard drive that was capped by a four-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell. The Lions added Mateo Rengifo's 26-yard field goal to extend their lead to 44-17 with 6:14 left in the third. The Huskies struck back quickly with Olivas hooking up with Thompson for a 51-yard touchdown.
 
Kelley completed a 14-yard pass to Kovacs down to the one, then Kelley tried to sneak it in, but Toliver forced a fumble and recovered it himself at the four-yard line.
 
In the fourth quarter, Gage Larvadain caught a five-yard touchdown to give SLU a 51-24 lead with 9:30 left in the game. Johnson entered the game at quarterback for the Lions and he ran 66 yards on a keeper on his first play from scrimmage. Rengifo added a 29-yard field goal with 6:35 remaining. Olivas was intercepted by Jack Henderson, who returned it down to the HBU 10, but a penalty pushed it back to the 15. Johnson ran it in from there on the first play to make the score 61-24.
 
The Huskies return home to host Nicholls for Family Weekend Saturday, Oct. 23 at Husky Stadium.