The Nicholls State Colonels opened their two-game home stand on
a positive note Saturday defeating Cheyney University of Pennsylvania
54-0. “I was happy with the way things turned out today,” second year
head football coach Jay Thomas said. “We needed our defense to come out and play well today and they did.”

In addition to the Wolves’ the Colonels also had to fight sloppy
weather conditions which altered their game plan mid way through the
first quarter. The rain marked the second straight year a home opener
was played under stormy conditions.

“It seems that rain is becoming a tradition for our home games,”
Thomas said. “We may have passed the ball more, but once it started
raining we played safe and went back to our bread and butter which is
the option.”

Cheyney head coach Tim Newsom felt the rain hurt his team’s play
on the field.

“The rain favored them much more than it did us,” Newsom said.
“We tried to throw the ball a little more but the weather didn’t help us
at all.”

The Colonels’ defense held Cheyney to -5 yards of total offense,
while the Colonels piled up 421 yards. The Colonels finished with 26
yards passing and 395 yards rushing while the Wolves’ ended their day
with seven yards passing and -12 yards rushing. The Colonels did however turn the ball over four times compare to two for the Wolves.

“We felt going into the game that dominating the line of
scrimmage was critical to us.” Thomas said. “They had a nice game plan
by trying to keep our defense off the field but in the end we still prevailed.”

Despite their defensive performance, the Colonels believe there is
always room for improvement. Senior defensive end Trae Robertson said the defense is coming along.

“All week long coach has been preaching domination,” Robertson
said. “We came out and played well but we can always get better. I feel
that by the time it’s all over we’ll have the No. 1 defense in the
conference.”

It took a while for points to be scored as the first points of
the game didn’t come until the middle of the first quarter when freshman
Zach Morgan scampered in from the three-yard line to put the Colonels’
up 7-0. Morgan’s score was the only score of the first quarter.

The second quarter featured more Colonel offense as Morgan and
freshman quarterback Vincent Montgomery each scored and gave the
Colonels a 21-0 lead at halftime. Morgan finished the day with three carries for 56 yards and two touchdowns.

“I just followed my offensive line,” Morgan said. “It was a little more difficult in the rain but I just focused on the ball.”

In the third quarter, the Colonels added another score as Montgomery scored on a nine yard run from scrimmage. The extra point was blocked and the Colonels’ took the 27-0 lead.

Freshman running back Dwayne Jones shined in the final quarter
scoring two touchdowns, while sophomore running back Karl Bartholomew added a touchdown of his own at the 4:46 mark. A 38-yard interception return on a deflected pass gave senior defensive end Juan Montoya his first touchdown of the season and sealed the 54-0 win for the Colonels.

Leading the Colonels on offense was Jones, who finished the
night with 16 carries for 138 yards.

Senior quarterback Yale Vannoy completed five of six passes on
his way to learning the spread offense.

“I was surprised when we ran the spread offense,” Vannoy said. “It’s something new that we wanted to try out. I say we’re about 70
percent of where we need to be on offense right now.”

Vannoy added, “Once we get everything together we’re going to be
a hard train to stop.”

With the win, the Colonels improved to 1-1 while the Wolves dropped to 2-2 overall. The Colonels will next be in action next Saturday against Western Carolina. Game time is set for 2 p.m. in Guidry stadium.