Carol Burns
September 13, 2018
Colonels hire Clark as student assistant
September 13, 2018
Cinderella’s glass slipper didn’t fit on Saturday night in New Orleans for the Nicholls State University football team.
The Colonels lost 43-17 to the Wave — the first loss far the season for Nicholls after beating Kansas on the road in the first week of the season.
Coach Tim Rebowe said lie liked the fight of the Colonels in the game, but he complimented the Green Wave for making enough plays to secure the win.
They thought our guys were playing hard.” Rebowe said.. “It did away away from us in the back end. We got to be able to stop the run. We didn’t stop the ball They did a tremendous job in the second half. We got out of our gaps a couple of time a. missing tackles. But hey. they’ve got a good hall club. We Ve just got to regroup and get ready for next week.”
Nicholls competed favorable at times in Saturday’s game, but they weren’t as crisp as they were against Kansas —especially defensively.
Tulane had their way up front gaining 458 yards of total offense, including 268 yards on the ground.
The Green Wave struck first midway through the first quarter an a long touchdown run from Carey Dauphine to go up
7-0.
After a short field goal by kicker Lorran Fonseca cut the lead to 7-3. Tulane grabbed control of the game for good in the second quarter on another lone touchdown run by Dauphine, then a touchdown ran by Jonathan Ban kg to go up 21-3.
Dauphins was a monster on Saturday. He carried the ball just six times, but had 152 yards and three scares. His shiftiness caused Nicholls problems throughout the night.
Tulane coach Willie Fritz also credited the team’s offensive line for operating effectively at the point of attack:
“I thought the offensive Line, for the most part did a good job of not allowing minus plays, and we did a good job, moat of the time, with the option.”
But Nicholls fought back.
The Colonels scored just before halftime to take some of Tulane’s momentam—a 7-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Chase Fourcade to Gabe
Fuselier to make the gains a 1-10 through two quarter*
Fourcade wasn”t perfect on Saturday, but as always, he competed and emptied his tank an the field far the Colonels. He completed l7-of-31 passes for 239 yards and a score. But he also had two interceptions. On the ground. Fourcade pushed forward far 53 yards on 14 carries.
The third quarter was a bit of a stalemate with both defenses forcing multiple possession changes before a change on the scoreboard.
But unfortunately tor Nichols. that icebreaker came from Tulane, who marched 11 plays in 05 drives for a score late in the third quarter to take a 38-10 lead The touchdown came on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Banks to Darnell Mooney.
Banks was strong in Week 1 for Tulane against Wake Parent and lie built on that performance an Saturday, completing 12-of-16 passes for 190 yards and a score.
The final quarter had high moments for both teams.
Nicholls struck first on a long touchdown run from Dontrell Taylor, which made the score 28-17. But Tulane finished with a bang. They added two late-game insurance scores to push the game to its final margin.
But Nicholls doesn’t have much time to lick its wounds.
Now out of its non-conference grind, the Colonels will embark cm arguably its two big-Best Eames in the season in the next two weeks.
Nicholls will travel and face McNeese State on Saturday to open Southland play. The following week, they will open their home schedule with a date against Sam Houston State.
Both the Cowboys and Bearkata are in the Top 25 and both have proven to be formidable foes for the Colonels in recent years.
Last year, Nicholls beat McNeese in the final seconds of the game, but before that the Cowboys had owned a lengthy winning streak over the Cobnels. Sam Houston has been a constant thorn in Nicholls’ side. The Bearkats crushed Nicholls last season — the only blowout of the season for the Colonels.
Wins in both of those games would put Nicholls in wonderful position to return to the playoffs. A split would keep the team on pace, as well.
Rebowe said he knows that any loss hurts, bat he added that the Colonels also are well aware that their biggest challenges still are ahead.
“There be a lot of work, but a lot of football to be played,” Rebowe said. “And you know, the rest is going to be tomorrow. “We are 0-0 and we’ve got to start getting ready for next week”.
The Nicholls state University football team couldn’t pull off another upset this past weekend, but the Colonels did campete at Tulane. Now, it’s time for Southland play.
