Coaches, players get final tune-up
September 2, 2014
Cardiac Cats rally from 17 down, earn opening win
September 2, 2014
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Nicholls State football team got the start it wanted during Saturday’s season-opening game at Air Force.
The problem for the Colonels was they didn’t get the finish they would have needed to pull off an upset.
Unable to contain a potent triple-option attack engineered by quarterback Kale Pearson and tailback Jacobi Owens (233 rushing yards), Nicholls allowed 558 yards of total offense in the team’s 44-16 loss to Air Force at Falcon Stadium on Saturday.
The Falcons picked up 27 first downs to Nicholls’ 18 and held the Colonels to 263 yards of total offense.
Before it went south, things started promising enough for the Colonels. The Nicholls’ defense, in its first game under first-year defensive coordinator Steve Adams, opened the game by getting two three-and-out stops and forcing a pair of Air Force punts, while on Nicholls’ first play from scrimmage on offense, quarterback Kalen Henderson dumped off a completion to tailback Michael Henry for 22 yards and a first down to midfield.
The drive stalled three plays later and after forcing Air Force’s second punt, the Colonels began their second drive from inside their own 10-yard-line. Two plays later Henderson was called for intentional grounding in the end-zone for the first points of the game and a 2-0 Air Force lead.
The Falcons took advantage of the ensuing free kick, a short field, and followed that up with a seven-play, 52-yard drive capped by a five-yard Garrett Brown touchdown run to take a 9-0 lead.
But Nicholls didn’t lose its composure and answered three minutes later by going 75 yards in seven plays and three minutes, with Tobias Lofton scoring the Colonels’ first points of the season by breaking an 18-yard run. A blocked extra point would make it 9-6, and Nicholls would tie the game on its first drive of the second quarter with a 37-yard field goal from Francisco Condado.
Air Force broke the tie early in the second quarter with a six-yard touchdown run by Broam Hart – and they never looked back. By halftime, they had stretched their lead to 23-9 thanks to two back-breaking drives – one that took 11 plays and went 75 yards and another that took eight plays and went 80 yards.
By the third quarter, with the Colonels’ defense looking more and more winded, Air Force continued to rack up large chunks of yardage on their way to 35 unanswered points and a 44-9 lead. The Falcons ended the game by going eight consecutive possessions without having to punt; one ended with a failed fourth-down attempt, another on a missed field goal and on to end the half.
Nicholls’ offense, meanwhile, sputtered past the first quarter as Henderson was under duress all afternoon. The senior quarterback managed to complete 12 passes for 136 yards but was sacked four times and managed just one yard net gain on the ground.
Henderson got little help in the run game, either, as Henry and Lofton combined to rush for just 43 yards on 13 carries.
Still, the University of Tulsa transfer who won the starting job this fall ahead of senior Beaux Hebert and hopeful red-shirt sophomore Tuskani Figaro stayed in the game until the Colonels’ final drive. That’s when Nicholls coach Charlie Stubbs decided to bring in Hebert, who responded by completing all six pass attempts for 64 yards and a touchdown, leading the Colonels on a 75-yard drive.
That made it 44-16, and though not enough to make any real impact on the outcome, it did give the Colonels a spark of momentum to close the game.
Aside from that, the good news for the Colonels is that they escaped the game without any major injuries, and the loss, while lopsided, shouldn’t be enough to deter the team’s confidence in the long run; Nicholls lost by a worse score in their season-opener a year ago at Oregon and still went on to begin the year 4-2.
Moreover, the challenge of playing three opponents from the FBS for the third consecutive year could make the Colonels more battle-tested later in the season when conference play begins.
“We try to do whatever we can to prepare ourselves for a very tough Southland Conference,” Stubbs said. “I really believe with the crowd noise and the hostile environment and being on TV, when they hit the Southland Conference, I don’t think they will be big-eyed. Of the last few years, we’ve played three FBS teams every year, and I don’t think there’s anybody in the nation that can (say) that.”
The Colonels return to the field Saturday at 3 p.m. CT when they travel to Fayetteville for their first ever game against an opponent from the Southeastern Conference in Arkansas.
The game will be televised by the SEC Network.
Nicholls quarterback Kalen Henderson hands the ball off to halfback to junior halfback Tobias Lofton during Saturday afternoon’s loss at Air Force. The Colonels couldn’t stop the Falcons’ dominant rushing attack in the game, yielding 558 yards on the ground.
