With the game on the line, the Nicholls football team kept Texas St. from tying the game with a two-point conversion and escaped San Marcos with a 21-19 win over the Bobcats Thursday. The Colonels (4-5 overall and 2-2 in conference) will return home this weekend to host Stephen F. Austin, who lost to Sam Houston St. 21-17 at home over the weekend.
Head Coach Jay Thomas said the win over the Bobcats was tough, but it shows the resolve of his coaching staff and players.
“Winning on the road in the Southland Conference is just as big as getting a win at home,” Thomas said. “We had some things that didn’t go our way in the first half, but we came out in the second half as a team, prepared to win the ballgame.”
SFA is number one in the conference in total offense, averaging 363 yards, and is third in scoring offense with 23 points per game.
Junior Lumberjack quarterback Danny Southall is ranked second in conference in total offense with 678 yards passing and 214 yards rushing.
Thomas said although SFA has had key injuries during the season, containing Southall will be a key to winning the game.
“Southall has what we call old eyes, meaning he knows how to read a defense and what he has to do to keep his team in the game,” Thomas said. “Our defense will have to keep him off-balance, and our offense has to keep him off the field.”
Nicholls once again has the best rushing offense in the conference, averaging 246 yards per game, but the defense has shown flashes of brilliance as the team is ranked second in total defense allowing 288 yards per game.
“Our defense has done a great job of keeping us in games and making plays when we need them to,” Thomas said.
In the game against Texas St., both teams were held scoreless in the first quarter as Texas St. fumbled twice, while the Colonels missed its first chance to score as sophomore kicker Alex Romero missed a 33-yard field goal.
Colonel freshman quarterback Zach Chauvin did his best to get the offense going but came off the field twice, once after a tackle to his knee and again after a shot to his upper body. Thomas put in freshman quarterback Vince Montgomery for the first time coming off a shoulder injury as Nicholls went into the locker room down by 13.
Nicholls got the ball first in the second half, drove 64 yards down the field and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Dwayne Jones as the Colonels were within six points of Texas St. and shifted the momentum in the Colonel’s favor.
On the next offensive series, Mongomery connected with junior running back Michael McClendon for a 56-yard touchdown pass to put the Colonels up 14-13.
Sophomore running back Zach Morgan scored from eight yards out to put the Colonels up 21-13.
Texas St. scored with no time left in the game, but missed the two-point conversion, and Nicholls won 21-19, keeping title hopes alive for another week.
Montgomery was named the Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week going two for four passing for 94 yards and rushed 10 times for 64 yards.
With Nicholls in a tie for second place in the conference with two games left, the chance for conference supremacy is still in reach, and Thomas is keeping his players focused on the Lumberjacks.
“Right now we’re trying to cross a lake, and there are 11 stones with the eventual goal of making it to the other side,” Thomas said. “If you take your eyes off the path, you fall in the lake, and we can’t afford to take our eyes off the next stone, and that’s SFA.
