Stephen F. Austin Shuts Out Nicholls 56-0
Fourteen points in 61 seconds. That was the second quarter, 21-0 at 9:58 and 28-0 at 8:57, when Stephen F. Austin went from comfortable to finished. Gavin Rutherford threw a 30-yard touchdown to Mortimer, and the very next score was a 34-yarder to Kylon Harris.
Rutherford had already thrown a 21-yard score to Mortimer at 3:06 of the first quarter, after Preston Alford's 3-yard run opened the scoring at 4:24, and he added a 13-yarder to Mortimer at 1:26 of the second for 35-0 at the half. Alford ran in from 11 yards in the third for 42-0. JT Kitna broke a 94-yard run at 9:49 of the fourth, and Braden Lewis caught a 28-yard pass from Bryson Broadway at 6:38 for the final 56-0. Nicholls never scored and never led, which is the same sentence twice.
The yardage went the same way, and then some. Stephen F. Austin had 642 total yards (354 rushing on 40 carries, 288 passing) against 227 for Nicholls, which threw one interception and ran 36 times for 121 yards. Stephen F. Austin lost two fumbles and gave up nothing for them. It also had 3 sacks to Nicholls' none.
Stephen F. Austin is 6-0 now and Nicholls is 2-3. The fantasy takeaway is short. Rutherford had 34.4 points and Mortimer had 34.3, which means anyone holding that pair had a very good Saturday, and Kitna's 94-yard run was his best play of a short season. Add it up and the Nicholls offense needed a miracle it never got.