Colonels capture Southland football title in front of home crowd with win over Lamar

Every time Lamar seemed to be on the verge of gaining momentum, Nicholls seized the moment.

There were so many such moments on Saturday afternoon that it was hard to judge which may have been the most important. Among the big momentum stops for Nicholls was a goal-line stand to end the second quarter, stopping a two-point conversion that would have allowed Lamar to make it a one-score game, and a fumble recovery where the Cardinals were on the move.

Those moments, and several others, when all added together, equaled a Southland Conference championship and automatic bid to the FCS playoffs after a 37-24 win for Nicholls over Lamar on Manning Field at John L. Guidry Stadium.

“It’s good. There’s a lot of work,” said Tim Rebowe, who captured his third SLC title during his nine-year tenure as Nicholls coach. “It’s not easy winning every year, any league, we talked about that. I’m just proud of the effort. Proud of a lot of guys.

“The season didn’t start off like we wanted but we had the goal in sight to win the championship and go to the playoffs and we accomplished that tonight.”

The Colonels also didn’t gain the title as Southland Conference champs merely by their performance on Saturday. According to many players, the groundwork was laid months ago.

“It’s awesome. It’s everything you work for. Just the team and the camaraderie. Just the hard work. Not just that we put in the season but just over the summer and spring football, finally getting that to come together and be victorious and host the trophy back in Thibodaux, that means everything,” Nicholls running back Collin Guggenheim said.

“We worked hard for this. Since last spring, we made it that we were going to change the program back to what it’s been. Doing this, it doesn’t feel any better than this,” said Nicholls defensive back Tyler Morton.

Nicholls, 5-4 overall, remained unbeaten in Southland play at 6-0. Lamar now has two conference losses. The University of Incarnate Word has one SLC loss with one game remaining, but Nicholls beat UIW head-to-head last week, and Nicholls is going to the playoffs. Nicholls closes out the regular season at rival Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday.

Leading 20-11 at halftime, the Colonels marched on the opening possession of the second half but missed a field goal.

Lamar countered on its first possession of the second half when a 19-yard touchdown pass from Robert Coleman to Kyndon Fuselier pulled the Cardinals within two points at 20-18 at the 7:45 mark of the third quarter.

“They are a good football team,” Rebowe said of Lamar. “I think they are a very good football team. Look, they were 5-1. There is a reason you see that. They are good. They know what to do. They know how to run the football. They schemed us up on some things, and those guys made some plays. Our guys responded. That’s what it’s about. Things are going to happen in a game. It’s how you respond, and we delivered.”

It took the Colonels only three plays to regain the momentum and extend their lead.

Lee Negrotto took a short pass from quarterback Pat McQuaide and turned it into a 40-yard gain to midfield. Following a 35-yard run by Jaylon Spears down to the Lamar 15, a well-covered David Robinson hauled in a touchdown reception to give Nicholls a 27-18 advantage with 6:26 still remaining in the third quarter.

Two plays into Lamar’s next drive, Morton came up with his fourth interception of the season, giving the ball right back to Nicholls at the Cardinals’ 38.

“I saw the tight end ran across the field and I read it out of the quarterback’s hands that it was going to be an overthrow. I just put myself in the right spot to be able to catch the ball,” said Morton.

Nicholls turned Morton’s interception into a touchdown on a 14-yard run by Spears and the Colonels’ cushion increased to 16 points at 34-18 at the 3:05 mark of the third quarter.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Coleman connected with Devyn Gibbs on a 14-yard touchdown pass. A two-conversion pass attempt was well defended by Nicholls linebacker Eli Ennis, allowing the Colonels to maintain a two-score lead at 34-24.

“You have the chart, and you have to go. They were down by 16. We knew that when they scored. Eli Ennis made a big play on the tight end throwback,” said Rebowe.

From that point on, the Nicholls offensive line and running game took over.

Over the last 14:45 of the game, Guggenheim rushed five times for 28 yards, Spears four times for 28 yards, and Marquese Albert four times for 31 yards.

During that span, Gavin Lasseigne kicked a 28-yard field goal.

Spears finished with 177 yards rushing on 16 carries and two touchdowns, and Guggenheim had 113 yards on 18 attempts as Nicholls amassed 349 yards on the ground.

McQuaide was 9 of 17 passing for 106 yards and three touchdowns.

Coleman was 17 of 35 passing for 289 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for Lamar. He also was the Cardinals’ leading rusher with 72 yards.

Lamar scored a touchdown on the opening possession of the game before Nicholls countered on its initial drive on a 29-yard touchdown reception by Spears with five minutes remaining in first quarter for a 7-7 tie.

On the Cardinals’ next possession, a Coleman pass attempted was batted in the air and intercepted by 310-pound red-shirt freshman defensive lineman Rasheed Lovelace at the Nicholls 49-yard line.

Nicholls eventually converted the Lamar turnover into points on a 3-yard touchdown pass to Quincy Brown.

The extra point attempt was blocked, with Lamar’s Ramond Stevens scooping up the ball and racing 95 yards to give the Cardinals two points, making the score 13-9 in favor of Nicholls.

A 69-yard burst by Spears for a touchdown extended the Nicholls lead to 20-9 early in the second quarter.

The Cardinals added another two points, this time on a sack of McQuaide in the end zone to make it 20-11.

All season long, the Colonels have had a penchant for giving up a score at the very end of the first half.

The script seemed to be following form when Lamar eventually faced first-and-goal at the Nicholls 6-yard line.

On third-and goal from the 1-yard line, the Cardinals were stopped, and it appeared time might run out with Lamar having no timeouts remaining. An offside penalty on Nicholls moved the ball inches away from the goal.

A rushing attempt by R.J. Carver was snuffed out by Ennis and Kershawn Fisher, allowing Nicholls to take over and run one play before taking a 20-11 lead to the locker room.

“There was a little bit of confusion,” Rebowe said. “We thought they didn’t have any timeouts left and felt there was going to be a 10-second runoff. They ended up calling a penalty on us. They got fourth-and-1 and went for it.

“We still had to punch it out of there and run a little sneak to get it out. That was huge. Anytime you can deny and not give up any points in that situation, that was big.”