THIBODAUX – A short-handed Southeastern football team found itself down, 35-7, early in the fourth quarter in its season-finale at arch-rival Nicholls State Saturday at John L. Guidry Stadium. And like it did through much of the second half of the season in Southland Conference games, the Lions failed to quit as they fought back with a chance to win.

With head coach Mike Lucas coaching from the press box in his first appearance since a heart valve procedure on Oct. 30, Southeastern scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter and was driving for a potential tying score. But Nicholls State stopped a late drive and held on for a 35-28 victory in re-claiming the River Bell before a crowd of 7,352 in the season-finale for both teams.

Minus four starters and a number of players on its two-deep roster, Southeastern (5-7, 2-5 SLC) got untracked after Chris Bunch's 2-yard touchdown run gave Nicholls State (3-6, 3-4 SLC) a 35-7 lead with 14:11 remaining in the game.

The Lions drove 80 yards in six plays with Brian Babin connecting with Jay Lucas on an 18-yard touchdown catch to cut the lead to 35-14. Babin, who finished 29-for-37 for 253 yards, threw passes of 12 yards to Mike Neville and 32 yards to Andre Cryer before throwing his 25th touchdown pass of the season four plays later.

Three plays and 1:27 later, the Southeastern defense got into the act as Quinten Pierre scooped up a botched pitch to Isa Hines and rumbled 20 yards to close the Lions to within 35-21 at the 10:14 mark.

Southeastern forced Nicholls State to punt on its next possession and drove 87 yards in eight plays with the Lions capitalizing on a pair of 15-yard penalties by the Colonels to continue the drive.

After Jasper Ducksworth gained 11 yards around right end to the SLU 24, the Lions added 15 yards on a face mask penalty and two plays later, Babin found Brock DeLong for an 18-yard gain to the Nicholls 33. A 9-yard run by Ducksworth and a 10-yard gain by Lucas moved the ball to the Nicholls 14 and a pass interference penalty by the Colonels in the end zone moved the ball to the Colonel 3.

Two plays later, Neville found Cole Wardell in the end zone to cut the Nicholls State lead to 35-28 with 5:08 remaining.

On the ensuing drive, the Lions again forced Nicholls State to punt and Bunch's 17-yard effort was downed at the SLU 34. After Babin was sacked for a 6-yard loss on second-and-3 at the SLU 41, the junior signal caller hit Lucas on a 20-yard pass down the left sideline for a first down at the Nicholls State 45.

But the Lions would not move the chains again after Chris Wilson caught a 5-yard pass, Ducksworth caught a pass for no gain and Kory Theodore dropped a pass on the right sideline. On fourth-and-5, Babin was sacked by Nicholls State's Jordan Nevels and the Colonels ran out the clock.

Nicholls State scored on its opening possession as it drove 72 yards in nine plays for a 7-0 lead. Trey Hopson capped the drive with an 18-yard touchdown run up the middle after earlier keeping the drive alive with an 8-yard burst on fourth-and-1 at the Nicholls 37.

Unable to get its offense untracked early, Southeastern got a break when Pierre recovered an Antonio Robinson fumble at the Nicholls State 30. The Lions drove to the Colonel 5 before a false start penalty moved the ball back and Bobby Felder intercepted Babin's pass intended for Wilson in the end zone to stop the Lion drive.

The Colonels took advantage of Southeastern's lone turnover of the game as they drove 80 yards in 10 plays for a 14-0 lead with 10:10 remaining in the second quarter. Bunch capped off the drive for the Colonels as he connected with Patrick Gordon on a 12-yard scoring play.

After forcing the Lions to punt on their next drive, the Colonels drove to the SLU 30 before A.J. Williams' fumble was picked up by Pierre and returned to the Nicholls State 1, where Neville scored his first career touchdown for the Lions on the following play to close the deficit to 14-7.

Nicholls State scored three plays later and capped off a 46-yard drive as Hopson broke a couple of tackles and rumbled 35 yards for his second touchdown of the game, putting the Colonels ahead, 21-7, with 3:51 remaining in the half.

Corey Buchanan, who led Nicholls State with 106 yards on the ground, gave the Colonels a 28-7 lead when he scored on a 2-yard run to cap an 11-play, 61-yard drive.

Lucas, playing in his final game in a Southeastern uniform, was held to 19 yards on eight carries while catching eight passes for 62 yards and a touchdown. Wilson caught six passes for Southeastern, finishing with 51 receptions on the season, joining Lucas (58) and Simmie Yarborough (51) as the first trio in school history to record 50-plus catches in a season.

Defensively, Pierre tallied a season-high 14 tackles for Southeastern while recovering four fumbles and forcing one. Re'Keem Wilson and Ryan Godare added eight stops each for the Lions, who forced five turnovers in the game and held Nicholls State to 135 yards total offense in the second half.

Score by Quarters – 1- 2- 3- 4- Score
Southeastern La.- 0 – 7 – 0 – 21 – 28 Record: (5-7,2-5)
Nicholls State – 7 – 14 – 7 – 7 – 35 Record: (3-6,3-4)

Scoring Summary:
First Quarter
NICH – Hopson 18 yd run (Shexnayder kick), 8:43

Second Quarter
NICH - Gordon 12 pass from Bunch (Shexnayderkick), 10:10
SLU – Neville 1 run (Turner kick), 5:14
NICH – Hopson 35 run (Shexnayderkick), 3:51

Third Quarter
NICH – Buchanan yd run (Shexnayder kick), 9:35

Fourth Quarter
NICH – Bunch 3 run (Shexnayder kick), 14:11
SLU - Lucas 18 pass from Babin (Turner kick), 11:41
SLU - Pierre 20 fumble recovery (Turner kick), 10:14
SLU – Wardell 3 pass from Neville (Turner kick), 5:08

A – 7,352

SLU NICH
FIRST DOWNS – 18 - 22
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) - 26-27 - 58-263
PASSING YDS (NET) – 256 - 101
Passes Att-Comp-Int - 38-30-1 - 9-7-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS - 64-283 - 67-364
Fumble Returns-Yards - 2-85 - 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards - 1—1 - 1-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards - 4-42 - 3-46
Interception Returns-Yards - 0-0 - 1-0
Punts (Number-Avg) - 5-34.4 - 3-34.0
Fumbles-Lost - 0-0 - 5-5
Penalties-Yards - 10-105 - 9-91
Possession Time - 28:46 - 31:14

RUSHING
Southeastern La.- Ducksworth 4-24; Lucas 8-19; Cryer 2-12; Theodore 1-5; Neville 2-4; Babin 9-minus 37. Nicholls State - Buchanan 18-106; Hopson 13-90; Bunch 11-26; Robinson 2-21; Montgomery 3-12; Gordon 1-9; Williams 4-8; Meeks 1-3; Hines 3-minus 6; Team 2-minus 6.

PASSING
Southeastern La. - Babin 29-37-1-253; Neville 1-1-0-3. Nicholls State - Bunch 6-7-0-97; Montgomery 1-2-0-4.

RECEIVING
Southeastern La. – Lucas 8-62; Wilson 6-55; Neville 6-38; Cryer 3-46; Theodore 3-26; Wardell 2-11; DeLong 1-18; Ducksworth 1-0. Nicholls State – Robinson 3-55; Gordon 3-23; Williams 1-23.