THIBODAUX, La. - The Nicholls State University football team tallied its second straight shutout at Guidry Stadium as the Colonels won their Southland Conference home opener, 20-0, against rival Northwestern State on Saturday afternoon.
Nicholls (3-4, 1-1 SLC) limited Northwestern State (0-8, 0-3 SLC) to just 46 yards of offense which included 21 yards coming on a fake punt. The Demons had 15 net yards on the ground with linebacker
Jake Dalmado contributing to a large chunk of negative yardage with three first-half sacks. Dalmado had a career day for the Colonels with 10 total tackles, three hurries and a fumble recovery.
On offense,
Pat McQuaide passed for 186 yards and two touchdowns while
Collin Guggenheim rushed for 129 yards to go over 3,000 for his career, joining former teammate Julien Gums as the only Colonels to reach the milestone. Guggenheim carried the ball 23 times as he notched his 11th career 100-yard game.
The Colonels took an early lead when McQuaide found
Miequle Brock for a 4-yard score with 2:23 left in the opening quarter. The possession was the longest scoring drive of the day which went 73 yards on 11 plays.
One of Dalmado's sacks made way for a three-and-out on the next Demon possession and the Colonels followed with a McQuaide touchdown pass to
Lee Negrotto from 23-yards out. Later in the second quarter,
Eli Ennis stripped Ty Moore after a catch and Dalmado came away with the recovery. The Colonels turned that into a 35-yard field goal by
Gabe Showalter and a 17-0 lead.
Despite finishing with 393 yards of offense, Nicholls added only a 39-yard Showalter field goal in the third quarter to make the final. The Colonels drove 87 yards on the final possession of the game but kneeled twice at the 1 to run out the clock.
Negrotto led the Colonels with 55 yards receiving on three catches while
Scrappy Osby had four receptions for 51 yards. On defense, Ennis added seven tackles and a sack.
UP NEXT
Nicholls will welcome McNeese for Homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 26. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.
