Colonels fall at McNeese, aim to rebound at home on Saturday

All of Nicholls’ championship aspirations are still very much in play.

But the past two weekends have shown that in the Southland Conference, nothing can ever be taken for granted.

The Colonels opened league play with a loss on Saturday, falling 20-10 at McNeese on Saturday — the team’s second-straight loss in the young season.

The Colonels out gained the Cowboys 362-280 in the loss, but a couple turnovers proved to be the difference in the game for the Cowboys, who, like Nicholls, are in the FCS Top 25 and are a contender to make the playoffs at the end of the season.

“I thought our players took it as a challenge, especially our defensive players,” McNeese head coach Lance Guidry said of the win. “The kickoff team went down and set the tone for the whole night. They showed that we were going to be the more physical team.”

The Cowboys controlled the tone and tenor of the game throughout the evening.

The start of the game was delayed more than an hour after a lightning delay after an afternoon thunderstorm in Lake Charles.

But once back on the field, McNeese provided all of the fireworks.

The Colonels got the ball first, but fumbled the opening kickoff, giving the ball to the Cowboys deep inside Nicholls’ territory. McNeese cashed in on the early gift, getting a 16-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage — a strike from James Tabary to Lawayne Ross to put the Cowboys up 7-0 early in the game.

Guidry said the early turnover and score was one of the defining stories of the night. He said McNeese was hungry to avenge last year’s loss to the Colonels in Thibodaux. He also added that his team felt fuel to silence critics after having just one player named to the Preseason All-Southland Conference Teams, despite currently holding a Top 25 ranking.

“I thought the whole team fed off of that,” Guidry said of the early turnover. “That’s what a kickoff team can do. It’s the first play of a defensive snap. We’ve got some guys that run down and make some big hits.”

After the turnover and score, a defensive struggle ensued and the Colonels’ offense could never get out of their own way throughout the game.

McNeese drew their second blood of the game on a 11-yard pass from Tabary to Cyron Sutton, which made the score 14-0 early in the second quarter — the culmination of a 68-yard drive for McNeese.

Nicholls flirted with pay dirt before halftime, marching deep into McNeese territory on their most promising drive of the first half.

But on third and goal from the McNeese 4-yard-line, a pass from quarterback Chase Fourcade fell incomplete in the end zone, which forced a short field goal from Lorran Fonseca to make the score 14-3 — a lead which held until halftime.

In the second half, the pace of the game never changed. McNeese’s fierce special teams and defensive effort forced the Colonels into long fields, which stalled drives without points on the scoreboard.

Once in possession, themselves, McNeese found ways to add steadily to their lead. Gunner Raborn made a chip-shot field goal midway through the third quarter to put McNeese in front 17-3.

After most dominant defense, the Cowboys got the ball again early in the fourth quarter and added again on a 42-yarder from Raborn to go up 20-3.

Nicholls never seriously threatened victory.

McNeese’s defense thwarted all of Nicholls’ scoring chances, surrendering just a last-second touchdown with 6 seconds left to Dai’Jean Dixon — a score which had no bearing on the outcome of the game.

Guidry said it was the best that McNeese played defensively in a long time. He added that the team knows of Nicholls’ talent, adding that the focus level in practice last week was high because of all the weapons and accolades that Nicholls has in its locker room.

“Chase Fourcade creates that,” Guidry said. “There were a couple of plays that were play-action pass and he had us deep, but a lot of the plays that he did make, he extended it with his feet. But I do think we played a lot better in this game than the previous two.”

For the Colonels, there is no time to sulk.

Nicholls will have their first home game of the season on Saturday, but it will come against one of the best teams in the FCS, the Sam Houston State Bearkats.

They are 1-1 this season with a win against Prairie View A&M and a loss against North Dakota.

Last year, the Bearkats scored more than 60 points against the Colonels and they’ve been a thorn in Nicholls’ side for the past several years.

NSU football

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