HAMMOND – The Northwestern State football team's search for consistency continues.
 
The Demons could not sustain drives offensively, struggled to slow Deantre Jackson on defense and saw their special teams units surrender points in a 49-0 Southland Conference loss to No. 22 Southeastern Louisiana at Strawberry Stadium on Saturday evening.
 
"First thing, I want to give Southeastern a lot of credit," second-year head coach Blaine McCorkle said. "What coach (Frank) Scelfo has built in his eight years is really impressive. They're good. They're every bit of that No. 22 ranking, and they're probably better than that when it's all said and done. That's a good football team, and I give them their due.
 
"As far as us, now we know what that feels like. We know what a championship-level football team in the Southland Conference looks like, and hopefully, we learn from that. The biggest frustration was we gave up 21 points in the kick game. We had a punt blocked that led to a touchdown on the next play. We had an atrocious punt that led to bad field position and a touchdown a couple of plays later. We gave up the kickoff return out of half. Twenty-one points to a team like that, you're not going to overcome that. We have to do better."
 
Northwestern (1-6, 0-3) started the game with its best special teams play, a 71-yard punt from Zack Stone that pinned Southeastern (5-2, 3-0) at its 2-yard line. Stone's boot was the longest by a Demon since Scotty Roblow's 71-yarder against Southeast Missouri State on Oct. 22, 2022.
 
The Demon defense played its complementary part early, forcing the Lions to punt after a 23-yard drive.
 
The ensuing drive, however, is where the Lions began to flip the game on special teams, blocking a punt and recovering at the Demons' 27-yard line. One play later, Jackson caught a short pass from Carson Camp and weaved his way 27 yards for the first of his three first-half touchdowns.
 
Jackson's play set the tone for a 28-point first half in which Southeastern outgained the Demons 213-18 with the Lions' defense holding Northwestern to a 2-for-9 mark in third-down conversions.
 
Jackson's score also started a run of four touchdowns in five possessions for the Lions. The lone stop in that stretch came when Demon defensive lineman Ke'Shawn Reed chased down a Cade Collier fumble that was forced by Je'Careon Lathan at the Demons' 3-yard line.
 
Reed pounced on the ball after Southeastern's Brandon Hayes nearly recovered it around the 10-yard line.
 
"One thing I don't think I've been able to complain about all year is their effort," McCorkle said. "We have a lot of things we need to get better at – we all know it and we know what they are – but the play hard. They really do. We said it against East Texas A&M a couple of weeks ago. The game looked ugly, but we looked at the tape and saw some good efforts. We'll see some from this game, and Ke'Shawn's is one of them. Ke'Shawn loves this team, and he gives us everything he's got, and I like the way he plays."
 
Hayes' 83-yard touchdown return of the second-half kickoff added to the Lions' lead and was the first kick return score surrendered by the Demons this season.
 
Northwestern scuffled offensively until late in the fourth quarter when senior quarterback Eli Anderson, who made his first start as a Demon, led a march into the red zone that was aided by a key third-down catch by Amaaz Eugene and a 34-yard swing pass to Jeremiah James. The drive ended with an end-zone interception.
 
"Consistency has been the theme this year," McCorkle said. "We show, in spurts, that we have the ability to be a good football team and do good things, but we have to be more consistent and do it on a more regular basis. Part of that comes with youth and part of that comes with experience. Those two things go together. We have to fid a way to simplify, which we have the last couple of weeks, and put our guys in position to play more consistently."
 
The Demons return home next week to face Lamar. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. inside Turpin Stadium.