Nicholls gets big win over Abilene Christian

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Field goal kicking was a big-time problem last year for Nicholls.


Not anymore.

On Saturday, Nicholls kicker Lorran Fonseca had a career day, booming home a Nicholls record five field goals to help the Colonels beat Abilene Christian 29-20 at John L. Guidry Stadium – the first-ever meeting between the two conference rivals.

The win improves the Colonels to 5-2 on the season and 4-1 in the Southand. The victory also improves Nicholls to 4-0 at home.


Coach Tim Rebowe said he was proud of the way the Colonels played through adversity in the game. With seven-straight weeks of games, Rebowe said the Colonels are beat up throughout the roster, which makes this week’s bye week a significant luxury.

“We did what we had to do at home,” Rebowe said. “I just told them in the locker room that it was all three phases of the game. It was offense, defense and special teams all the way to the end. I was proud of that.”

The Colonels were in a dog fight for a lot of Saturday’s game.


Abilene Christian got the football first and showed they meant business, going 78 yards in just 90 seconds on a quick touchdown drive capped by a touchdown pass from quarterback Dallas Sealey to De’Andre Brown to go ahead 7-0 early in the first quarter.

The Colonels answered quickly – albeit with some unconventional methods.

Nicholls punted to the Wildcats who couldn’t move the football on their second offensive drive. On fourth down, Colonels defender Kevin Johnson blocked Abilene Christian’s punt attempt and Adrian Richardson fell on it in the end zone for a touchdown, which tied the game at 7.


Then, the field goal fest began.

Neither team scored for the remainder of the first quarter, which sent the game to the second with the teams tied at 7.

In that quarter, Nicholls had three scoring drives, which netted 13 total points.


The first came early in the quarter when Nicholls used a short field to spark a 30-yard drive capped by Fonseca’s first field goal – a 27-yarder, which put the Colonels up 10-7.

The second was a 43-yard try and it came on Nicholls’ next drive, upping the lead to 13-7 with 6:39 before halftime.

Abilene Christian got points of their own with a short field goal with 3:34 to go before halftime, which cut Nicholls’ lead to 13-10.


But the Colonels landed the biggest blow of the second quarter just before the end of the half when Dontrell Taylor scooted into the end zone from two yards out to put Nicholls up 20-10 – a lead which stuck until halftime.

Taylor was one of the bright spots offensively for Nicholls on Saturday, rushing 20 times for 130 yards and a score.

The Colonels’ passing game was out of rhythm throughout the game. Quarterback Chase Fourcade hit just 12-of-30 passes for 153 yards – still a little gimpy after missing three quarters of last week’s game against Northwestern State with an injury.


Nicholls struck first in the second half with a quick-hitting drive out of the lockers capped by a 40-yard field goal from Fonseca, which upped the lead to 23-10.

After several stalled out drives from both teams, Abilene Christian got their only points of the third quarter on another short field goal, which cut the Colonels’ lead back down to 23-13.

But Fonseca was just warming up.


After that drive, Nicholls answered with three more points to go up 26-13 early in the fourth quarter – this time a 29-yard kick from the junior college transfer kicker, who is now 11-of-13 on the season.

The Wildcats wouldn’t budge, quickly driving 75 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown drive to cut Nicholls’ lead to 26-20 midway through the fourth quarter.

But on Nicholls’ very next possession, Fonseca pushed the lead again with his last kick – a 44-yarder – which sent the game to its final margin.


Abilene Christian had one last stab at victory after Fonseca’s final kick, pushing the ball to Nicholls’ 24-yard-line with two minutes to go in the game.

But they couldn’t score, turning the football over on downs. From there, Nicholls ran out the rest of the clock and sealed the win.

Rebowe said he was happy with how the team used all three phases to secure the win, touting that the Wildcats are an upcoming program, despite being new to the Southland Conference.


The coach said in the bye week, the Colonels will rest and fix some of their own X’s and O’s before turning attention the following week to their game with Incarnate Word on Oct. 28.

“I’m very excited for the win,” Rebowe said. “It was just an awesome job by our guys. We fought. I knew Abilene Christian was a good football team. … We just have to worry about ourselves (now). We’ll take next week off and try to heal up a little bit.”

Nicholls footballMisty Leigh McElroy


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