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THIBODAUX, La. – Lorran Fonseca kicked a school-record five field goals Saturday afternoon and Nicholls withstood a fourth-quarter flurry by ACU to knock off the Wildcats, 29-20, at Manning Stadium.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 2-5 overall and 2-3 in the Southland Conference, while the 23rd-ranked Colonels improve to 5-2 and 4-1.
ACU trailed 26-13 in the fourth quarter before the Wildcat offense – which ran off 81 plays for 393 yards on the day – got cranked up. First Dallas Sealey (30 of 48 for 323 yards and two touchdowns) hit Josh Fink for 30 yards and then Justin Miller for 11 more to move the ball to the Nicholls 31.
Later in the drive he hit Troy Grant for 15 yards to the Nicholls 2-yard line to set up first and goal with about 10 minutes to play. After three runs lost three yards, the Wildcats faced fourth-and-goal from the 5-yard line. On fourth down, Sealey swung the ball out to the right where Tracy James caught the ball and bulled his way into the end zone to cut the Nicholls lead to 26-20 with 8:49 left to play.
But Nicholls answered with a clutch drive that covered 42 yards, saw the Colonels convert a huge third-and-six play on a 20-yard reception by Dai’jean Dixon and was aided by a roughing the passer penalty. After a holding penalty pushed the Colonels back to the ACU 27 and Chase Fourcade threw an incomplete pass on third down, Fonseca came on and drilled a 44-yard field goal – his fifth field goal of the day – with 6:08 left to push the Nicholls lead to 29-20.
On ACU’s ensuing drive, Sealey hit Trevor Crain for 21 yards on the first play before going back to Fink for 13, Chase Cokley for 10, Groy Grant for 11 and James for eight more, moving the ball to the Nicholls 20-yard line with 2:11 left in the game. But ACU had to burn its final two timeouts of the game before a fourth-and-1 play, and when the Wildcats finally did run the play, Hezekiah White stormed through the offensive line and dropped James for a loss of four yards, turning the ball back over to his offense and essentially ending the game.
James carried the ball 13 times for 83 yards and caught four passes for 36 yards, while De’Andre Brown had 32 yards on the ground and 73 more receiving as the two ACU running backs combined for 224 yards of total offense.
The ACU defense played well again as the Wildcats limited the Colonels to just 308 yards of total offense, including just 140 in the second half.
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The loss drops the Wildcats to 2-5 overall and 2-3 in the Southland Conference, while the 23rd-ranked Colonels improve to 5-2 and 4-1.
ACU trailed 26-13 in the fourth quarter before the Wildcat offense – which ran off 81 plays for 393 yards on the day – got cranked up. First Dallas Sealey (30 of 48 for 323 yards and two touchdowns) hit Josh Fink for 30 yards and then Justin Miller for 11 more to move the ball to the Nicholls 31.
Later in the drive he hit Troy Grant for 15 yards to the Nicholls 2-yard line to set up first and goal with about 10 minutes to play. After three runs lost three yards, the Wildcats faced fourth-and-goal from the 5-yard line. On fourth down, Sealey swung the ball out to the right where Tracy James caught the ball and bulled his way into the end zone to cut the Nicholls lead to 26-20 with 8:49 left to play.
But Nicholls answered with a clutch drive that covered 42 yards, saw the Colonels convert a huge third-and-six play on a 20-yard reception by Dai’jean Dixon and was aided by a roughing the passer penalty. After a holding penalty pushed the Colonels back to the ACU 27 and Chase Fourcade threw an incomplete pass on third down, Fonseca came on and drilled a 44-yard field goal – his fifth field goal of the day – with 6:08 left to push the Nicholls lead to 29-20.
On ACU’s ensuing drive, Sealey hit Trevor Crain for 21 yards on the first play before going back to Fink for 13, Chase Cokley for 10, Groy Grant for 11 and James for eight more, moving the ball to the Nicholls 20-yard line with 2:11 left in the game. But ACU had to burn its final two timeouts of the game before a fourth-and-1 play, and when the Wildcats finally did run the play, Hezekiah White stormed through the offensive line and dropped James for a loss of four yards, turning the ball back over to his offense and essentially ending the game.
James carried the ball 13 times for 83 yards and caught four passes for 36 yards, while De’Andre Brown had 32 yards on the ground and 73 more receiving as the two ACU running backs combined for 224 yards of total offense.
The ACU defense played well again as the Wildcats limited the Colonels to just 308 yards of total offense, including just 140 in the second half.
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