Southeast secures playoff spot

Erick Starkey
Posted 10/25/17

Brady Fullmer stepped up to the challenge of a winner in/loser out game on Senior Night Friday between the Southeast Cyclones and Lusk, scoring four touchdowns and two two-point conversions.

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Southeast secures playoff spot

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YODER – Brady Fullmer stepped up to the challenge of a winner in/loser out game on Senior Night Friday between the Southeast Cyclones and Lusk, scoring four touchdowns and two two-point conversions.

“Overall, this is a good feeling to win,” Fullmer said. “Playoffs – that’s been our dream. That’s been everybody’s dream all year long and we finally accomplished that tonight.

“We treated it (as a playoff game). We knew if we lost we were out. It was a playoff game all week ever since our loss last week to Pine Bluffs. That’s all we focused on since then to tonight was it’s basically a playoff game because if we lose, we’re out.”

Fullmer got his night started early, finding the end zone on a 4-yard run, capping a nine-play, 74-yard drive to put the Cyclones up 6-0. Lusk rebounded two plays later to score on a 61-yard dash. Still in the first quarter, Dawson Beck found his way into the scoring column, with a 14-yard scamper, putting Southeast up 12-6.

Special teams for the Tigers got in on the action with a 92-yard punt return for a touchdown, giving Lusk the 14-12 lead with 11:00 remaining before intermission. The Tigers got into scoring position again in the second quarter, getting to the 1-yard line, but the Cyclone defense held tough, not allowing a Lusk score and forcing a turnover on downs.

Down 14-12 heading into the third frame, Fullmer scored the next touchdown, finding the end zone on a 2-yard run up the gut. He also converted the two-point conversion, giving the Cyclones a 20-14 lead. On the next Lusk drive, they took the ball inside the Southeast 5-yard-line, but a lightning delay of almost an hour paused their scoring chances.

“I think there was a refocusing period,” Fullmer said. “We got to learn and cover some new stuff while we were in there. We did a lot of studying, we weren’t just sitting in there. It was just like school.”

Following the delay, the Tigers punched in a 1-yard run to knot the score up at 20. Although the visitors scored, it took them four plays from inside the five to record the touchdown.

“Even though they still scored, holding them to that many plays was a morale booster on our side,” Fullmer said. “That was a big morale booster and it just kept us going.”

Fullmer scored his third touchdown of the night early in the fourth quarter. A 3-yard scamper gave the Cyclones a 26-20 lead. Lusk turned the ball over on downs on their next possession, giving Fullmer another opportunity to score, which he cashed in on with a 24-yard run. He added the two-point conversion to up the lead to 34-20.

Another turnover on downs by Lusk gave Southeast the ball with 3:37 remaining in the contest with a 14-point lead. The Cyclones gained one yard on their first three plays of the drive but dove into the playbook for some trickery, with Brant Fullmer taking a fake punt 53-yards down the field to ice the game.

The Cyclones tallied up 401 rushing yards in the win, led by Fullmer who rounded out his night with 138 yards on 22 carries.

“We’ve been running the option since freshman year so it’s just finally coming to me I guess,” Fullmer said. “The first week Chase Lovercheck broke the rushing record because we kept pitching it to him running the same play. In Tongue River, Dawson Beck had tons of yards because we were running the same play. It was just my turn tonight to help out.”

Beck was the second-leading rusher for Southeast, racking up 128 yards on 18 carries. Lovercheck had his number called 19 times, accounting for 79 yards.

In the passing game, Fullmer attempted three passes, completing two of them. Both receptions went to Sterling Werner, who tallied 14 yards.

Tanner Hort had a solid game on defense, recording five solo tackles and 12 assisted tackles. Harrison Hall was also all over the field, accounting for 10 assisted tackles, paired with three solo tackles. Werner disrupted the backfield against Lusk with 1.5 tackles for loss. He also had two solo tackles and five assisted tackles. Lovercheck, Beck and Conner Smith, who left the game with an injury, combined for five solo tackles and eight assisted tackles.

With the win, the Cyclones snagged the fourth seed out of the east for the playoffs. Their first postseason matchup comes on the road against undefeated Cokeville. The game is set for Friday at 1 p.m.

“They’re a very similar team to what we played tonight,” Fullmer said. “They run the ball very well. We just have to play good defense and defense will win us that game.”