Behind three second-half touchdowns and 471 yards rushing, the Colonels football team defeated Sam Houston State University 37-17 at John L. Guidry Stadium on Family Day Saturday.
The third quarter began with the Colonels leading the Bearkats 17-14. After giving up two Bearkat touchdowns on back-to-back drives in the first-half, the Colonels forced the Bearkats to punt on its first two drives.
The Colonels scored its first touchdown of the second half after the second Bearkat punt. Senior running back Joel Fontenot-Amedee outraced the defense for a 34-yard touchdown run to extend the Colonels lead to 24-14.
Sam Houston returned the ensuing kickoff to its own 35-yard line. The combination of the legs of running backs Jason Godfrey and Stevie Smith and the passing of quarterback Phillip Daugherty led the Bearkats to the Nicholls 33-yard line.
After being penalized five yards for a false start and given a first down due to a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty against the Colonels, the ball was placed at the NSU 24-yard line. From there, kicker Lance Garner booted a 40 yard field goal to cut the Colonels lead to 24-17 with 2:08 left in the third quarter.
Nicholls returned the favor on its next drive, an eight-play, 67-yard trip, which ended with junior fullback Joseph Tobias’s one-yard run, increasing the Colonels lead to 31-17.
The Colonels drove the length of the field for their final score after stopping the Bearkats deep in the Colonels territory. Freshman running back Zach Morgan’s two-yard run ended the drive and the scoring at 37-14.
“Our defense really stepped it up big time (in the second half),” head football coach Jay Thomas said. “We gave up some plays in the first half, and a lot of them were missed tackles. We came up with some big plays today, and we really needed that especially against a very good football team.”
Junior middle linebacker Cory Vavala said no defensive adjustments were made at halftime.
“We knew what they were going to do,” Vavala said. “We knew what we had to do to win the game. We had studied all week long. We just had to put it into play and do it.”
Senior quarterback Yale Vannoy led the Colonels rushing attack with 139 yards on 18 carries while Morgan added 101 yards on nine carries. Fontenot-Amedee, sophomore fullback Broderick Cole and Tobias rushed for 77, 75 and 68 yards respectively.
Godfrey led the Bearkats with 63 yards on 10 carries while Daugherty led all passers with 172 yards on 17 of 31 passing. He also threw two interceptions.
Tight end Corey Roberts led the Sam Houston receiving corps with four catches for 59 yards.
Vannoy completed three of four passes for 26 yards. Junior wide reciever Kenley Horton caught all three of Vannoy’s passes.
The game began with senior running back Anthony Harris fielding the Sam Houston kickoff at the NSU 4-yard line and returning it 10 yards. Harris was hurt on the play and did not return to the field for the rest of the game.
On second down, Vannoy ran 59 yards to the Bearkat 20-yard line. Two plays later, Cole scored on a four-yard run to give the Colonels a 7-0 lead with 12:08 remaining in the first quarter.
Thomas said Harris had changed by the second half and he will be re-evaluated and more information would be known by today (Sunday).
Later in the first quarter, the Colonels embarked on a five-play, 55-yard drive capped off by a Vannoy seven-yard run for a 14-0 Colonels lead with 0:48 seconds remaining.
The Colonels tacked on three more points in the second quarter when freshman kicker Ross Schexnayder connected on a 34-yard field goal to increase the Colonels lead to 17-0.
Following the field goal, Daugherty rushed for 12 yards and completed two passes for 53 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown to Godfrey on the Bearkats next drive to trim the Colonels lead to 17-7 with 6:14 remaining in the first half.
After the Sam Houston defense recovered a Vannoy fumble at the Bearkat 48-yard line, Daugherty drove his team deep into Colonel territory for a second touchdown to cut the Colonels lead to 17-14 with 2:09 remaining in the first half.
“One thing we did do today is we made a few big plays,” Sam Houston State head coach Todd Whitten said. “We had not been doing much of that. I think offensively we took a step or two forward. The biggest thing that happened today was Nicholls outplayed us.”
The Colonels have an open date this week but will return to action when they host nationally ranked Texas State in the annual “Battle for the Paddle” on Oct. 29. Homecoming will also be celebrated at this game, which is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.