Colonels’ three-game winning streak ends with 35-31 non-conference loss to Redhawks

A bad snap on a play from wildcat formation on fourth down resulted in a 28-yard loss, giving Southeast Missouri State the ball at the Nicholls 13-yard line with 4:14 left in the game and the Redhawks leading 35-31 lead.

Needing a defensive stop to limit SEMO to a potential field goal and a seven-point Nicholls deficit, the Colonel defense did one better.

Nicholls forced a 31-yard field goal attempt, but a miss by Redhawks kicker D.C. Pippin gave the Colonel offense one last chance, trailing by four points with 2:31 left in the game.

With the aid of a pass interference call against SEMO on fourth down and a 39-yard toss from quarterback Pat McQuaide to David Robinson Jr., the Colonels marched down the field.

On third-and-10 from the SEMO 14-yard line with less than one minute remaining in the game, McQuaide lateralled to Collin Guggenheim. Guggenheim attempted to throw back to McQuaide, but the Redhawks’ Steven Lewis read the play and picked off the pass.

The 6-foot-1, 275-pound defensive tackle ran the interception back 36 yards, sealing the Colonels’ fate in a 35-31 non-conference loss Saturday afternoon on Manning Field at John L. Guidry Stadium.

“I thought we had a good play called. Fourth (actually third) down, the kid made a good play, stepped in front of it,” Nicholls coach Tim Rebowe said. “We have to try and pick him up when there is a little trick play. I thought it was wide open to win the game.

“I told our guys I was proud of them. We will have to learn from this. It was a tough football game. It was a playoff-type atmosphere football game. We have to be able to learn from it.”

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak and dropped Nicholls to 3-4. Southeast Missouri State evened its record at 4-4 after winning its third-straight game.

Nicholls held a 21-13 halftime lead. The Colonels led 21-10 late in the first half before a 43-yard field goal by Pippen with 11 seconds remaining in the second quarter allowed SEMO to cut the deficit to eight points.

The field goal by Pippen was the start of 18-straight points scored by the Redhawks.

SEMO marched 67 yards in eight plays to open the second half. The drive was culminated on a 26-yard pass from Patrick Heitert to Ryan Flournoy. Heitert, making his first start of the season in place of injured Paxton DeLaurent, scored on a two-point conversion run to tie the game 21-21 less than five minutes into the second half.

Nicholls was forced to punt on the ensuing possession, with SEMO’s Dalyn McDonald returning the kick 65 yards for a touchdown to put the Redhawks on top 28-21 with 9:08 still remaining in the third quarter.

“The punt return was big. We knew how good Dalyn McDonald was. We were supposed to kick away from him. We’ve got to be able to get him down in that situation. That’s not on defense. You don’t give up that play then it’s a whole different ball game,” said Rebowe.

In the middle of the third quarter, Nicholls pinned SEMO deep in its own territory at the 15-yard line following a punt.

On third down, a sack of Heitert by Nicholls linebacker Hayden Shaheen for a 10-yard loss forced the Redhawks to punt from their own 5-yard line, giving the Colonels possession at the SEMO 47.

“That’s just everybody playing hard. Everybody is in their rush lanes. We talk about that from week-to-week, having good symmetry on our rush lanes and not letting him get out anywhere. It was just a wrap and I saw a lane bust open, so I hit it. It was a whole d-line sack there,” Shaheen explained.

Nicholls quickly took advantage. Two plays after a 32-yard pass reception by Neno Lemay, Guggenheim scored on a 5-yard run to tie the game 28-28 at the 3:12 mark of the third quarter.

The Redhawks regained the lead less than a minute later when running back Geno Hess broke loose on a 64-yard scamper to put SEMO on top 35-28 with 2:31left in the third quarter.

“They know how to run the football. (Geno Hess) is a good running back. He runs hard. We got out of the gap a couple of times,” said Rebowe.

Nicholls cut the deficit to 35-31 on a Gavin Lasseigne field goal with 7:47 left in the game.

The Colonels amassed 406 yards of total offense. Although Guggenheim was the team’s leading rusher with 68, Nicholls ended up with a net 61 yards on the ground.

McQuaide was 26 of 53 passing for 345 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception.

Lemay and Robinson each had 11 catches for the Colonels. Running back Jaylon Spears had 116 reception yards, 88 coming on one play.

SEMO finished with 349 total yards, 210 rushing and 139 passing.

Hess rushed for 128 yards on 18 carries. Heitert was 12 of 23 passing for 139 yards. Flournoy hauled in nine passes for 62 yards a week after amassing more than 200 receiving yards.

SEMO marched on its opening possession of the game. The Redhawks had first-and-goal from the Nicholls 1-yard line but three plays netted SEMO minus-5 yards. A 24-yard Pippen field goal gave the Redhawks a 3-0 lead.

Nicholls managed to build a 21-10 lead despite poor field position. The Colonels began their first three possessions inside their 20-yard line.

“The field position was not good. We made some bad decisions on special teams where we tried to catch some balls that we should not have. We ran some balls out we should not have. We have to be able to fix that. The wind was a little bit of a factor, but not much,” said Rebowe.

Nicholls took a 7-3 lead on a 17-yard pass from McQuaide to Quincy Brown with 1:17 left in the first quarter.

After the Redhawks regained the lead at 10-7 on a 3-yard run by Flournoy, Spears scored on a 17-yard touchdown run when he ran wide to his right after taking a handoff from Guggenheim in wildcat formation to put the Colonels on top 14-10.

Spears explained the success this season the Colonels have had this season running out of the wildcat formation.

“Because they (opposing defenses) have got to pick on two guys. They don’t know which one to pick on. Me, I’m an outside guy, and get a sweep outside, and Collin is an inside guy, running downhill and getting it done. We practice that a lot in practice. It’s like nobody can really stop it,” Spears said.

Nicholls increased the lead to 21-10 with 1:29 remaining in the first half when Spears took in a pass from McQuaide and raced 88 yards for a touchdown.

“When they called that play up and I was in, I just knew I had to burn the linebacker. Good thing he blitzed, so that left me wide open, and Pat made me a good throw to lead me upfield,” said Spears.

Although the loss dropped Nicholls to 3-4 it was a non-conference defeat.

Also on Saturday, the University of Incarnate Word defeated Lamar 17-7. Both teams went into the game undefeated in Southland Conference play.

The result puts UIW 4-0 in conference play and sets up a showdown between the Cardinals and 3-0 Nicholls heading into next week’s showdown in San Antonio.

That means the Colonels’ defeat to SEMO needs to be quickly forgotten.

“It’s got to be real, real fast because it was not a conference game,” Rebowe said. “We have to be able to go to work. I told those guys; they know what’s in front of us. We use a one-game mentality. Our guys know that, but they know this next game is a big one next week and we have to start preparing for tomorrow. We have to get ready after UIW a little bit and go on the road and try to win a big-time ball game.”

“It hurts to lose,” said Shaheen. “We’ve been on a good run, but at the end of the day, it isn’t in the conference. It doesn’t mean nothing for our end goal to win conference. It’s huge for us to flush this one going into UIW next week.”