By BRAD WELBORN, Northwestern State Sports Information
Missed chances and the visitors’ relentless rushing ended in a frustrating and disappointing Homecoming night for Northwestern State in its 40-10 Southland Conference football loss to East Texas A&M Saturday at Turpin Stadum.
The theme of the night played out in the first two series. Antonio Hall returned the opening kickoff 65 yards, setting up the Demons (1-4, 0-1) in prime field position. Six plays later a missed field goal denied an early edge.
East Texas A&M (1-4, 1-0) responded with a nine-play touchdown drive, gaining 27 yards on the ground on seven rushing plays ending in a two-yard score by E.J. Oakmon leading to a 17-3 halftime advantage.
The Lions rushed for 261 yards on 52 attempts behind a trio of backs to control the clock and the line of scrimmage.
“Can’t say I saw that one coming,” Demons’ coach Blaine McCorkle said. “That was one we all thought and hoped we would have played a lot better and have a chance to win. We still have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of looking in the mirror to do as players, as coaches, with schemes, with how we practice, how we prepare our bodies.
“All we can do is go back to work. Nobody said this thing was going to be easy. We’re frustrated now but the beauty is you get another chance next week.”
Falling short on the opening series was the first of two major misses in the first half for the Demons.
A blocked punt by Ty Moore following a defensive 3-and-out set the Demons up in plus territory at the Lions’ 31-yard line. A sack on third down pushed the Demons back, leading to a field goal attempt that sailed wide left, leaving the drive empty and NSU trailing 10-0.
The Lions took the ensuing possession down the field on a 14-play drive, the longest of the night, gaining 50 of the 80 yards on the trip via the rushing attack, culminating in a 5-yard touchdown run stretching the lead to 17-0.
The Demons found a spark on its final possession of the half that started with a Fernando Washington interception, his first as a Demon, at his own six-yard line. Quarterback Abram Johnston, engineered a quick and clean scoring drive to get the Demons on the board just before half.
A long completion to Camryn Davis and a long run from Kolbe Burrell put the Demons in position to convert on a Cooper Evans 30-yard field goal as time expired.
Any momentum the Demons gained with the scoring drive was squelched by the Lions to open the third quarter when ET’s KJ Shankle went around the right side for a 24-yard scoring run.
The Lions rushed for 139 yards on 28 carries in the second half, and took control as they scored touchdowns on all three of their third-quarter possessions and produced scoring drives four times on their five total in the second half.
The youthful Demons saw a pair of freshmen help fuel NSU’s lone scoring drive in the second half. Trevor Allen and Brenden Webb accounted for 34 yards on an eight-play drive the ended with a Burrell rushing touchdown, his first of the season.
“You saw Brenden Webb get his first action touching the ball and he showed that he can make plays, and same thing with Jimmie Duncan,” McCorkle said. “Trevor Allen got his first action of the season tonight and showed his capabilities. We had some guys step in on defense in their who had not played a snap yet this year. Proud of all those guys for that and we saw some more young guys get a chance to grow and develop.”
NSU plays its next two games on the road beginning next Saturday at Houston Christian.
