Lightning rarely strikes twice in the same place, but the Colonels football team could not dodge the strike this week as another last minute fourth quarter touchdown did them in as Nicholls fell to Stephen F. Austin 16-13. With less than a minute remaining in the game, SFA quarterback Danny Southall was faced with a third and five when he dropped the snap, recovered it in stride, then found receiver Dominiq Edison 42 yards down the field for the game-winning score.
“Our offense has been like that all year, making the big play when we need it,” SFA Head Coach Robert McFarland said. “You’ve got to give credit to our kids for not giving up when we were down most of the game.”
An SFA personal foul penalty put the Colonels at the Nicholls 46-yard-line with less than 40 seconds remaining in the fourth. A Vince Montgomery pass to junior receiver Michael Okoronkwo put the offense at the SFA 36-yard line with the clock still running.
Instead of using one of the three remaining timeouts the team had, Nicholls instead went into the hurry-up offense and on the ensuing play, the freshman Montgomery went for in the end-zone and was intercepted by a SFA defender, ending the game and Nicholls’ hopes for another conference championship.
“I take full responsibility for what happened in the fourth quarter,” Head Coach Jay Thomas said. “After the first down I felt like we could keep the drive going and win the game.”
SFA improved to 3-7 overall and 3-2 in conference while Nicholls fell to 4-6 and 2-3.
The afternoon started as 12 seniors were recognized in the last home game of their careers along with a remembrance of Norman Swanner, a proud supporter of Nicholls and its athletics department, who died recently of a massive heart attack.
Neither team could muster any offense in the first quarter as both teams struggled to find any rhythm offensively.
The Colonels drew first blood in the second quarter when Montgomery scurried 26 yards for the first score of the game putting Nicholls up by seven and took that lead into halftime.
Getting the ball back at the start of the second half, Nicholls used the momentum from the second quarter and got a field goal as The Colonels were up by 10.
The SFA big play offense had yet to make an appearance in the game, but the battle for field position started to favor the Lumberjack offense.
Starting at its own 42-yard line, the Jack’s drove to the Nicholls 15-yard line and got on the scoreboard with a Cory Long field goal.
After a Nicholls punt, the Jacks got the ball on their 47-yard line and once again stormed into Nicholls territory but were held again to a field goal, putting SFA down by 4 with one quarter remaining.
The turnover bug hit the Colonels at the wrong time when junior running back Michael Mclendon fumbled in Nicholls territory with the Jacks using that to their advantage to bring SFA within one point of the Colonels.
The Colonels scored again with another field goal making the score 13-9 on a drive that consumed over seven minutes of the clock. It would be the last time the team scored as SFA’s final drive of the game would be the game winner.
Thomas said his team was disappointed with the loss, but they still can play spoiler for McNeese in next week’s game.
“Losing never feels good,” Thomas said. “McNeese is still a big game for us, and we still have a lot to play for.
