THIBODAUX, La. – Trailing by 16 late in the fourth quarter, the Nicholls State University football team scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes and recovered a pair of onside kicks, but a last-second Hail Mary into the end zone was batted down as the Colonels were defeated by Southeastern Louisiana, 44-42, in the River Bell Classic on Thursday night at John L. Guidry Stadium.
 
A field goal by Southeastern (7-4, 6-2) looked to have put the game away at 44-28 with five minutes remaining before Nicholls made it furious comeback. The Colonels pulled within eight when Chase Fourcade threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Damion Jeanpiere with 1:18 remaining and then found C.J. Bates for a two-point conversion.
 
Senior Jeff Hall followed with a recovery of an onside kick, leading to a 2-yard touchdown run by Fourcade with 4 seconds left on the clock. This time, Fourcade threw into the end zone on the two-point try and it was batted down. But once again, David McKey delivered another successful onside kick, which was recovered by Darryl Adams. Nicholls had one last chance from the SLU 37 and Fourcade's desperation heave into the end zone was broken up as SLU escaped with the River Bell.
 
The Colonels rushed for a season-high 322 yards in the loss, with freshman Dontrell Taylor making a triumphant return with 169 yards and a touchdown on just 12 carries. Taylor had not played since the Colonels' win over SFA on Oct. 8 due to an injury, but showed no signs of rust as he recorded his second career 100-yard game. Freshman Kryan Irvin also had a big night, racking up 97 yards on 15 carries.
 
The Colonels started off slowly, falling behind 14-0 after the first quarter before the offense exploded for three touchdowns in the second. Senior C.J. Bates, who had four receptions for 94 yards and two touchdowns, scored his first TD of the night on a 24-yard pass to cut the deficit in half. Just over a minute later after getting the ball back on a three-and-out, the Colonels tied it up on a Fourcade keeper.  The touchdown was setup on a 67-yard scamper by Taylor, who was knocked out of bounds at the 1.
 
But Taylor took care of the scoring himself later in the quarter when he busted loose for a 33-yard touchdown as Nicholls headed into the break with a 21-14 lead.
 
In the second half, the momentum swung back to the Lions, who inserted D'Shaie Landor at quarterback  after starter Justin Alo left the game with an injury. Landor tossed a touchdown pass to spark the surge, but the extra point was no good, and Julius Maracalin scored on a pair of rushing touchdowns to give SLU a 34-21 lead early in the fourth. Maracalin racked up 130 yards on the ground and scored three times.
 
Needing a big play, Fourcade went to Bates for a 57-yard touchdown; however, SLU answered right back with a 48-yarder to Juwan Dickey. SLU then tacked on the field goal for the 16-point lead before Nicholls mounted its comeback.
 
Fourcade accounted for five touchdowns, but had three interceptions on 17-of-40 passing (255 yards) and two of the turnovers led to touchdowns for Southeastern. The Colonels also had several chances to put points on the board, but McKey was unable to convert on three field goal tries from inside 40 yards.
 
Defensively, Corey Abraham recorded his second interception of the year, setting up Taylor's touchdown run. Ronald Ollie and Allen Pittman led the team with two tackles each, and Darryl Adams added two pass breakups.
 
The Colonels (5-6, 5-4) finish the season with a winning record in Southland play for the first time since 2005. In just his first year, Fourcade threw for 2,482 yards which is the third best single-season in program history.  Bates closed out his career with 1,193 yards receiving, placing him ninth on the all-time list.