Final Stats Final Stats

HAMMOND, La.  – The Nicholls State University football team went into the locker room with a slim 14-13 lead, but No. 8/10 Southeastern Louisiana put 32 points on the board in the third quarter as the Lions retained the River Bell trophy for the third consecutive year with a 52-27 victory over the Colonels on Thursday night at Strawberry Stadium.

Nicholls finishes the year on a six-game losing streak, falling to 4-8 overall and 1-6 in conference. Southeastern wins its eighth straight game to improve to 10-2 and goes undefeated in Southland play to earn an outright title.

Despite a strong first half by the Colonel defense, the Lions recorded a program record 702 yards on offense. Nicholls finished the game with 448 yards, led by sophomore quarterback Tuskani Figaro with 139 yards passing, 84 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Figaro finished the year with a single-season rushing record of 1,103 yards, surpassing Nakia Lumar's mark of 1,072 set in 1996.

Sophomore running backs Michael Henry and Reggie Wilson also had career days for the Colonels. Henry accounted for 175 all-purpose yards, with 90 rushing and 85 receiving – both career highs – while Wilson scored his first and second career touchdowns. His second came on a Beaux Hebert 11-yard pass late in the fourth which made the final score. Hebert completed 7 of 12 passes for 116 yards.

Lion quarterback Bryan Bennett paved the way for SLU, throwing for 273 yards and two touchdowns on 16 of 25 attempts. Bennett also rushed for a score, finishing with 120 yards on 13 carries.

The game started promising for the Colonels as the defense held Southeastern to a field goal on a 10-play, 56-yard drive. Seth Sebastian chipped it in from 37 yards to give SLU an early 3-0 lead.

Nicholls grabbed the advantage on the next possession as Figaro rushed in from 9-yards out. Figaro and Henry accounted for all 75 yards on the drive, including a 15-yard rush by Figaro on the third play and a 20-yard reception by Henry that moved the Colonels into the red zone.

On SLU's next drive, the Colonels forced back-to-back fumbles but could not come up with the ball. B.J. Lewis popped the ball loose on the first play of the drive, and Chris Bermond ripped the football out of Xavier  Roberson's grip; however, bad bounces kept the ball in the Lions' possession. The Colonels forced a punt, but gave the football back on a three-and-out.

Before the end of the quarter, Southeastern used a 46-yard reception to set up its first touchdown. Jeff Smiley hauled in the deep pass from Bennett to the Nicholls 10, and Bennett connected with Tony McCrea on the next play for a 10-7 lead.

Following another punt, Bermond forced his second fumble of the night on a rush by Bennett, but this time Chris Lorden was able to recover it for the Colonels at the Nicholls 33. Figaro then led Nicholls on an 8-play, 67-yard drive to give Nicholls a 14-10 lead. Figaro ended the drive with an 8-yardsscamper into the end zone.

Sebastian would add a 27-yard field goal at the 3:54 mark for the Lions to send the teams into break at 14-13.

In the third, the game got out of hand for the Colonels as Southeastern found the end zone four times. In the first five minutes, a Sebastian 46-yard field goal gave SLU the lead before Devante Scott rushed for a 53-yard score to make it 23-14 Lions. Nicholls answered with a quick four-play touchdown drive, capped by a 9-yard touchdown run by Wilson. However, the Lions blocked the PAT and Harlan Miller went the distance for two-points to make the score 25-20 Southeastern.

The Lions added another touchdown at the 6:24 mark on a 2-yard run by Kody Sutton, and then used an interception to set up a 1-yard touchdown by Bennett. Later in quarter, Marquis Hayes scored on a 54-yard pass from Bennett.

Leading 45-20, Southeastern tacked on another touchdown in the fourth on a 3-yard run by Roberson. The game's final touchdown came with 50 seconds remaining as Hebert tossed his seventh TD pass of the season.

Seniors Carey Fortson and Erik Buchanan led the Nicholls' receivers with 54 and 45 yards, respectively. Buchanan set a program record for yards per reception in a season, averaging 24.1 yards (507 yards, 21 receptions).

Junior Conner Fryoux had a solid day punting for Nicholls, finishing with a 44.2 yard average on five punts.

On defense, freshman safety B.T. Sanders led Nicholls with a career-high 16 tackles and added a fumble recovery. B.J. Lewis chipped in with 10 tackles in his final game while Bermond finished the year with five forced fumbles.

In addition to his rushing record, Figaro became the first Colonel in program history to pass and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season. Figaro closed out his sophomore year with 1,135 yards passing and eight touchdowns.