BUSTED UP—Southeastern defensive backs Trey Douglas, left, and Brian Reynolds (4) break up a pass intended for South Dakota receiver Ben Oberle (83) during Saturday’s clash in Strawberry Stadium. The Lions defense coughed up almost all of a 14-point second-half lead, but came up with a big play late to hang on 31-30. Photo by John Lenz

All those good things Southeastern did in the second half almost went for naught — until Lions linebacker Mark Newbill used his head on the final snap of the night.

South Dakota stunned the Lions with two touchdown drives in the final 7 1/2 minutes to get within a point on the final play of the game. But on a conversion try for two points and the victory, Newbill knocked the ball loose from Coyote quarterback Noah Shepard at the goal line, the ball went into the end zone, and by rule the Lions had held on for a pulsating 31-30 victory.

“It's not the way we want to win,” Newbill admitted. “But a win is a win.

“I sawhim coming, I was thinking I couldn't let him get in. I just put my head on the ball and it just so happened it popped out. I didn't even know it popped out until I saw everybody back there laying on the ground.”

That final play saved the day for the Lions, but it didn't do much for head coach Mike Lucas’ disposition — other than the fact that the Lions came out 2-1 instead of 1-2.

“That's two close, last-play-of-the-game wins for us,” Lucas said. “In years past we would have lost those kind of games. Maybe we're maturing a little bit.”

The Lions won behind an ‘Air Raid’ kind of night for quarterback Brian Babin, who delivered a career-high 330 yards on 27-for-44 passing with two touchdowns.

“They ran a lot of zone, so we knew if we could just get it to our receivers quick, we could let them make plays,” said Babin, who showed no ill effects from the concussion that kept him out of last week's game.

“I felt good,” Babin said. “It took me a while to get back in rhythm. But I felt good, I had time all day, I was seeing things well, the receivers did a good job, and the offensive line, hats off to them. They did unbelievable.”

And it didn't hurt a bit that the Lions finally got Jay Lucas untracked for 95 rushing yards on 21 carries and two touchdowns, plus four pass catches for 94 yards and another score.

The Lions seemed to have broken the game open with Babin’s passing in the second half. The turning point might well have been the Lions’ successful onside kick right after Babin had driven them 51 yards in 11 plays to score on Lucas’ 1-yard run. Babin was perfect on five passes in the march, including a sparkling mis-direction screen to Lucas for 23 yards.

The Lions then stole the onside kick as Curtis Strong fell on it at the South Dakota 47. Babin was good on four of five passes, including an 18-yard touchdown pass to Krishna Muhammah that made it 31-17 with 12 seconds left in the third quarter.

“We'd looked at them on tape and we felt it was there,” Lucas said. “Jeff Turner kicks that kick very well. It was an awesome kick. We should have caught it in the air.”

That meant that the Coyotes defense stayed on the field for 16 consecutive snaps and almost eight minutes — and that had to take its toll on the Coyotes in Hammond’s heat and humidity.

Still, South Dakota would not quit as quarterback Noah Shepard marshaled his troops on a marathon 13-play, 86-yard touchdown drive to score on Isaac Newton’s 1-yard plunge on 4th-and-goal with 2:52 remaining to pull within 31-24.

South Dakota gave itself one more chance by stuffing the Lions for negative yardage on three plays in their next possession, forcing a punt and taking over at their own 40 with 1:42 to play.

With the he Lions laying back in coverage, Shepard marched them right back down the field, surviving a fumble after a key completion to Dan Skelly, to reach the Southeastern 12 with five seconds remaining.

Shepard, who was just as good as advertised — 16-for-31 for 291 yards and two TDs, with 39 more net yards on scrambles — ran around to buy time, then drilled Skelly in the back of the end zone on the final play of regulation. The catch gave Skelly eight catches for 184 yards and two TDs.

Coyotes coach Ed Meierkort wanted nothing to do with overtime and went for two and the win. And Shepard nearly got it for him, keeping up the middle before Newbill met him and made what Lions safety Tommy Connors called an MVP play.

“The quarterback got outside the pocket, made himself some time like he's known for like, he does all the time,” Connors said of the touchdown play. “That throw and catch was unbelievable. Hats off to them for that throw and catch — but hat's off to us for that two-point conversion.

“I'm stressed out,” Connors added. “That was definitely a stressful play. But that's the fun of it. That's what we practice for, that was that last bench-press play.”

“We didn't deserve to win this game,” Meierkort said. “We had a total breakdown — offense, defense and special teams — in the third quarter.

Meierkort wasn't about to second-guess the call on the final play.

“I've got the worst seat in the he house,” he said. “Noah's a big strong kid; he thinks he broke the plain, but the referee's got a better look at it than all of us. I'm sure he didn't.”

Southeastern twice had to come from behind to forge the 14-14 halftime tie. The Lions appeared to have taken the lead on its first touch when Kentwood’s Andre Cryer returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown - only to have it erased by an illegal block after 59 yards.

Babin was sacked by South Dakota’s Byron Thomas, who forced a fumble that Ryan Routh recovered for the Coyotes at their own 44. And it took Shepard just five plays to whip the Coyotes into the end zone thanks to a 50-yard pass play to Skelly to set up a six-yard touchdown run by Chris Ganious with 9:39 left in the first period.

The Lions answered right back when Babin led an impressive 11-play, 90-yard drive, completing 5-for-8 in the march including a 28-yarder to Cryer. Lucas rumbled 22 yards to set up his own two-yard touchdown run and Jeff Turner’s kick knotted it 7-7.

But the Lions gave that one right back when they allowed Skelly to get free up the center of the field and Shepard hit him in stride behind the secondary for a 68-yard touchdown bomb for a 14-7 South Dakota lead with 5:52 still to play in the opening period.

The game devolved into a defensive struggle after that as neither team advanced much past midfield on their next three possessions. But the Lions struck with a big play two minutes before halftime as Babin ran a play fake and rolled to his right, then stopped and fired across the field to Lucas, who toured the left sideline for a stunning 54-yard TD strike. Turner’s PAT knotted it with 1:57 left in the opening half.

The Lions would get a big break to opent eh second half when Steven Honore sacked Shepard and forced a fumble which Quinten Pierre recovered at the SDU 3 on the second play of the half.

But Southeastern stalled and settled for Turner's 24-yard field goal, and the Coyotes promptly matched that with an 11-play, 71-yard march to tie it on Justin Veazie's 19-yard field goal.