The Colonels football team will march into Natchitoches Saturday in hopes of doing what no Colonel team has done since 1990 — winning a game against Northwestern in Turpin Stadium.
The contest is set for 2:30 p.m. and will be shown regionally on Cox Sports station.
Daryl Daye, head football coach, said he is looking forward to the challenge against the number 18 ranked Northwestern and said he admires its program.
“It’s an exciting challenge. When you speak of Northwestern football, you are talking about a physical brand of football,” Daye said. “That program has been extremely well funded, and extremely productive. They are one of the top 1-AA programs in the country.”
The last time the Colonels (2-4, 0-0 SLC) recorded a victory against Northwestern (4-0, 1-0 SLC) was in 2000, but the victory was not won on the Demons’ field. Northwestern originally won the contest 27-21 over the Colonels in Guidry Stadium, but Northwestern had to forfeit the game because they used an ineligible player.
Senior cornerback Chris Thompson, who has been here for four years, said he is hungry for a victory against Northwestern.
“It’s a big rivalry. There have been some close games,” Thompson said. “We have to do what we need to do to come out with a W.”
Although the Colonels have not beat Northwestern on the scoreboard since 1996, Daye said the Colonels are not intimidated by Northwestern.
“Our kids aren’t intimidated by how many games they’ve beaten Nicholls over the years. Our kids are going there to play football,” Daye said.
During the Florida Atlantic game, senior quarterback Josh Son dove head first into the ground and was tackled by an Florida Atlantic defender in the back of his neck. Son remained on the turf for 20-minutes as he was treated by Nicholls State head athletic trainer Jeff Smith and the medical staff at Lockhart Stadium. Son, who was complaining of pain in the middle of his back and left arm, was treated for a precautionary spinal cord injury and taken to Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.
“I was pretty worried for the first time in my life. Playing football for as long as I have, I never took a hit and lost feeling in something,” Son said. “Losing feeling is something that puts a little fear in you, but you got to get up and go back at it. It’s still a little sore, and hopefully I will be good to go and near 95% percent Saturday.”
In a press release from the Northwestern Sports Information Office, Northwestern coach Scott Stoker said the game between Nicholls and Northwestern is an important one.
“It’s a huge game for us because of the conference race, and it’s their conference opener after they’ve been off a week,” Stoker said. “Nobody at any level executes the option better than Nicholls does.”
The game matches two of the nation’s highest-scoring Division I-AA teams. The Colonels rank fourth with a 39.5 average and Northwestern is sixth at 38.6 points per game.
The match up of the game will come when the Colonels have the ball. Nicholls leads the nation with a 370.7 rushing average while the Northwestern defense ranks second in I-AA by allowing only 77.1 yards rushing per game. The Colonels are 11th nationally in total offense (446.8 yards per game) and the Demons are third in I-AA’s total defense category, allowing only a 246.6-yard average.
Northwestern leads the Southland Conference in scoring defense, pass defense, rushing defense and total defense.
Junior linebacker Jamall Johnson leads the Southland Conference with 81 tackles, which 53 were solo.
Offensively, junior running back Derrick Johnese is second in the Southland Conference with 810 total rushing yards and eight touchdowns. Quarterback Davon Vinson is the fifth rated passer in the Southland Conference with 838 passing yards and five touchdowns.
“He’s a double threat, and he can hurt you. He throws the ball well, and he has the ability to scramble,” Daye said about Vinson. “He can hurt you with the screen play, quarterback draw or running the option.”
After fumbling the ball six times and missing tackles in a loss against Florida Atlantic, Daye said the Colonels must avoid turnovers and tackle in order to defeat Northwestern.
“We cannot have turnovers or miss tackles this game and expect to win,” Daye said. “They are going to feature a top running back that we have to stop and try to make them one-dimensional and throw the football. Offensively, we have to execute our cut blocks and try to get people on the ground and slow them down.”