Final Stats LAKE CHARLES, La.  – The Nicholls State University football team carried a 10-7 lead into halftime, but two turnovers in the second half led to 10 points for McNeese State as the Cowboys held off a late comeback to hand the Colonels a 26-17 loss on Saturday afternoon at Cowboy Stadium.

With the loss, Nicholls falls to 1-8 on the season, and 0-5 in Southland play. McNeese State (4-5, 3-3 SLC) snaps a four-game losing streak and has won the last three meetings against the Colonels.

“We had a very clean first half. We took care of the football, put together some good drives and gave McNeese short field,” said Nicholls head football coach Charlie Stubbs. “We tried to stretch the field in the second half, but they made a great play to come up with the interception. We need to try to make those types of plays on offense if we want to win games.”

Trailing 24-10 in the fourth, quarterback LaQuintin Caston led the Colonels to a late score on a 10-yard pass to Demon Bolt with 4:21 left in the game.  Nicholls then forced McNeese State to punt, but the Cowboys downed the ball at the 5-yard line with 1:49 remaining. On the ensuing play, McNeese sacked Caston in the end zone for a safety, making the final score, 26-17.

Caston paced the Colonels with 94 yards rushing on 27 carries and one score. For passing, he finished 14-of-21 with an interception, which was one of two turnovers for Caston in the third quarter.

Marcus Washington added 39 yards on 11 carries. Bolt led the receivers with three receptions for 23 yards and scored his first career touchdown.

For the game, McNeese opened the contest with a 13-play, 82-yard drive that was finished on a TD run by Andre Anderson, who led the Cowboys with 57 yards rushing and two scores.

On the ensuing kickoff, Chika Madu put Nicholls at midfield with a 34-yard return, setting up a 39-yard field goal by Andrew Dolan to make the score 7-3.

The Colonels' next possession, McNeese forced a three-and-out, but was called for running into the punter, giving Nicholls a first down. Nicholls took advantage of the mistake to grab a 10-7 lead in the second quarter, piecing together a 13-play, 84-yard drive, capped on a 1-yard TD run by Caston. Nicholls headed into the intermission with a 10-7 advantage.

After the break, Anderson scored his second TD of the game to put McNeese back up, 14-10. Nicholls then gave up the ball for the first time after a Caston option pitch was off the mark, with the Cowboys recovering the ball at the NICH 32. However, the Colonel defense held McNeese to a 42-yard field goal, making the score 17-10.

Nicholls tried to stretch the field on their next drive, but a deep pass by Caston was intercepted and returned to midfield. McNeese would capitalize on the turnover, scoring on a 4-yard pass from Cody Stroud to push the lead to 24-10 in the third.

Nicholls made one final push, scoring on the 10-yard reception from Bolt with 4:21 remaining in the game. The Colonels burnt their final two timeouts to force a punt, but the Cowboy defense came up with a safety to end the threat.

McNeese outgained Nicholls on offense, 320-231. The Colonels were only flagged for two penalties for the game.

Siegan Vergenal led the Colonels with nine tackles (three solo). Bobby Felder, Edet Udoh, Mike Walker, Rashar Knight and Darrell Brown finished with six each.

Nicholls will return to action on Nov. 12 when they host the Lamar Cardinals for Senior Night. Kickoff at John L. Guidry is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.