By Brad Welborn, Northwestern State Assistant Sports Information Director; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
NATCHITOCHES – For the second straight week, Northwestern State found itself digging out of an early hole. And for the second straight week, the Demons showed enough flashes that they are closer than the final score may indicate.
The Demons (0-5, 0-2) fell behind 21-0 after the first quarter and 28-0 before a pair of explosive scoring drives sparked a response, but the early advantage built on the heels of the Southeastern Louisiana (3-2, 1-1) running game proved too much to overcome in a 52-21 loss Saturday night.
“I think we played close to the exact same football game two weeks in a row,” head coach Blaine McCorkle said. “Found ourselves down in a hurry with some mistakes and proved to ourselves we can play with a lot of people at this level in this country. We’re proving on a down-by-down basis that we can play with people, we’ve just got to be more consistent to give ourselves a chance. The little things are killing us right now.”
The Lions scored on each of their first five possessions of the game, four touchdowns and a field goal, and put points on the board on six of their seven first-half drives.
The Demons missed a field goal on their opening possession before Southeastern began pulling away. The Lions went down the field in nine plays to get on the board first, recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff return, and added to the lead four plays later to make it 14-0 just over 10 minutes into the game.
A big play late in the first half got the Demons on the board when quarterback Zach Wilcke found Brendan Webb for a 43-yard touchdown. Wilcke took advantage of a free play after the Lions were flagged for being offside and lofted the ball down the field to Webb.
After a Lion field goal to answer Webb’s touchdown brad, the Demons needed just five plays to travel 75 yards on the ensuing possession. Back-to-back explosive plays, an 18-yard end-around by Webb and a 39-yard completion to Zay Davis, helped set up Camryn Davis for the first of his two highlight-reel touchdown catches.
Davis made a spectacular diving grab in the back corner of the end zone to put NSU on the board again.
It was the first two-touchdown game of Davis’ career and the first time a Demon receiver had caught two touchdown passes in a game since Javon Antonio in 2022.
“Those are two talented, young players that are getting better, just like a lot of guys on our team,” McCorkle said. “Happy for Cam getting two touchdowns today and Brendan is a big play guy. We’ve got a lot of guys in that room that can make plays.”
Davis finished with five catches, including two touchdowns, while Webb had four catches for a team-high 72 yards.
Northwestern State generated a single-game season high 11 explosive plays during the game, including six pass plays of at least 15 yards and five runs of at least 10 yards.
Camryn Davis added his second touchdown on another diving catch in the back corner of the end zone on the Demons’ final drive of the second half, but the Demons entered halftime trailing 31-14.
The defense showed improvement coming out of the break, forcing a punt and a missed field goal on Southeastern’s first two possessions of the second half.
The Demons were unable to capitalize, however, as two costly turnovers kept them from cutting into the deficit.
The second turnover came in Southeastern territory and eventually resulted in a Lion touchdown after an 11-play, 50-yard drive. Southeastern then needed just one play on its next possession to extend the lead, with Chad Elzy breaking a 50-yard touchdown run.
Dkhai Joseph added a 68-yard punt return touchdown between the two scoring drives as the Lions pulled away.
Southeastern finished with 300 rushing yards, led by 100-yard performances from Deantre Jackson and Elzy. Both backs broke runs of at least 50 yards.
The Lions also converted three of six third downs in the first half as the rushing attack helped keep the offense on schedule. Southeastern went 2-for-7 on third down after halftime.
Despite the result, McCorkle said the continued development inside the Northwestern State locker room gives him reason for optimism.
“They want to work. They want to get better. They want to play good football,” McCorkle said. “I get the sense that this team understands why they are where they are and they’re just going to work to get better. There’s something special in that locker room.
“That’s why the thing that I’m the most frustrated with in a good way, is that I don’t think we’ve ever been as close to turning the corner as we are right now.”