The Journey Ends: Colonels fall at Eastern Washington

Nicholls had everything going its way for the first 29 minutes and 59 seconds of its FCS playoff game against Eastern Washington.

But the last play of the first half was disastrous for the Colonels and it sparked an avalanche of negative momentum that spilled over into the second half and eventually ended the team’s season in a 42-21 defeat.

The Colonels led Eastern Washington 14-3 before halftime and were driving into Eagles territory hungry for more — a chance to seize an even tighter grip on the game.

But instead of getting 3 points, the Colonels relinquished 7, as Dylan Bedletter broke through the line of scrimmage and blocked Lorran Fonseca’s 37-yard field goal. It was then scooped up by Kedrick Johnson, who took the ball 55 yards into the end zone for a touchdown.

Nicholls still led 14-10 at halftime, but for Eastern Washington, the special teams play was everything.

They dominated the second half and controlled every facet of the game to move to next week’s quarterfinals.

For the Colonels, the loss ends the team’s season with a 9-4 record — just the second time that Nicholls has ever made it to the second round of the playoffs.

Coach Tim Rebowe said he’s sorry to see the team’s ride end, but added that he couldn’t be prouder of a team than he is of this year’s Colonels — a group that had high expectations in the preseason and cashed them in with a historic, conference championship season.

“It’s a tough loss,” Rebowe said. “I feel for those guys and the group of seniors that had a fantastic year. It didn’t end how we wanted it to end, but I’m very proud of them and their effort.”

There were concerns from folks in the community about how Nicholls would handle playing across the country — more than 2,000 miles from Thibodaux. There were also concerns about how the team would handle the bitter cold of the Northwest.

But neither factor bothered Nicholls for most of the first half.

Nicholls was on fire early, storming out to a 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 14-3 lead early in the second.

The Colonels scored first on a 1-yard touchdown run from quarterback Chase Fourcade to go up 7-0 early in the game — an advantage that held until late in the first quarter when the Eagles made a short field goal to cut the score to 7-3.

Nicholls added to its lead on the next drive — a 75-yard trek capped with a short run from Dontrelle Taylor to go up 14-3.

Fourcade and Taylor were big in the game for Nicholls, combining for 201 rushing yards with three touchdowns.

After several empty possessions from both teams, Nicholls had the chance to storm into the locker room with momentum with disaster struck — a bugaboo that’s happened all too often to the Colonels this year.

Nicholls missed more than a dozen combined extra points and field goals this season — often at key times in games.

Never was it more of a factor than on Saturday when it started a momentum swing that changed the game.

“It was big. It was a big momentum swing,” Rebowe said of the blocked kick and touchdown. “If you don’t make the kick, it’s still 14-3 and you get the ball back to start the second half. But when it’s blocked and returned, it’s 14-10 and we couldn’t get the momentum back to start the second half. They made a good play and it bounced the right way and it happens sometimes.”

But Fourcade said he doesn’t buy that the play was the end-all for Nicholls. He said the Colonels had plenty of opportunities in the second half to correct the ship, but never did.

Nicholls got the first possession of the third quarter and got to the Eagles’ 44-yard-line, then stalled.

That allowed the Eagles to take their first lead of the game on the next drive when Eric Barriere hit Andrew Boston on a 34-yard strike to go up 17-14.

After another empty possession, the Eagles added a field goal to go up 20-14 at the end of the third quarter.

But in the fourth quarter, things went from bad to worse, as the Eagles forced a fumble, which set up a short field and a touchdown and 2-point conversion to go ahead 28-14.

“We didn’t execute in the second half and we didn’t do what we were doing after a great first half,” Fourcade said. “Our defense made some good plays and we got points off of turnovers, but we couldn’t find our rhythm in the second half. That was a great defense we faced and I thought we had times where we could’ve made better plays and we came up short.”

The dagger came on the team’s next possession when Sam McPherson took the ball 34 yards on a touchdown run to cap a 3-play scoring drive, putting Eastern Washington up ahead 35-14 with 7 minutes to play.

Forcade and Nicholls battled back, pushing the ball to Eastern Washington’s 5-yard-line with 3:34 on the clock.

But Fourcade was intercepted by Ketner Kupp and he took the ball 95 yards to the house to slam the door on the Colonels for good.

Fourcade added a late score to send the game to its final margin.

With the loss, the Colonels’ season ends short of its goals — the final chapter in the careers of several seniors.

But Rebowe said no matter what happens next for Nicholls, this year’s senior group is legendary. Some members of that class were part of a 0-win team in 2014 and every senior in the group was with the team in Rebowe’s first season — a time when the team had to completely rebrand its image to try and compete.

The coach said those efforts will never be forgotten and this season was one he will never forget.

“We didn’t lose tonight. We just came up a little bit short,” Rebowe said. “We have a special group. There was a bond in the locker room that they built. They came from nothing and taught each other how to win and how to build a program. I can’t say enough or thank them enough for what they did for Nicholls.”

Nicholls State University Football vs Eastern Washington University 2018 (Misty Leigh McElroy/Nicholls State University) 12/1/18

Misty Leigh McElroy

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