HOUSTON – HBU answered Northwestern State's late touchdown with the tying score with just over a minute remaining, but the Demons' Eric Piccione hit a field goal as time expired for a 10-7 victory over the Huskies in Southland Conference football Saturday night at Husky Stadium.
Senior running back
Terrance Peters carried 24 times for 85 yards and caught four passes for 14 yards, including the touchdown for HBU (1-7, 0-6 SLC). Freshman quarterback
Bailey Zappe completed 16-of-24 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown. Freshman receiver
Dennis Houston made three catches for 34 yards and
Ethan Fry had three for 30 yards.
Senior linebacker
Garrett Dolan made 11 tackles, while senior linebacker
Cody Moncure had seven and junior cornerback
Raphael Lewis and senior cornerback
Dominique Barnett made six apiece. Sophomore safety
Nicholas Smith recorded his third interception of the season for the Huskies and senior cornerback
La'Travien Gee forced a fumble and recovered another.
Clay Holgorsen completed 23-of-33 passes for 244 yards and a interception for NSU (2-6, 2-4). Jaylen Watson caught seven passes for 97 yards and Cameron Lazare had six for 66 yards. Chris Jones rushed 11 times for 33 yards and the Demons' touchdown.
Peyton Guidry was in on 14 tackles, made two sacks and forced two fumbles for the Demons. Nick Pierotti had 10 tackles and Chrisihard Buhl made nine. Ryan Reed, Christian Bluiett, Jalon Sangster and Hayden Bourgeois each recovered a fumble for NSU. Zak Krolczyk had 2.5 of the Demons' nine sacks.
NSU outgained HBU in total yards, 368-259, with the Huskies holding a slight advantage on the ground, 127-124, but the Demons' doing the most damage through the air, 244-132. The Huskies had the ball for 31:04, compared to 28:56 for the Demons. Each team fumbled five times, but HBU lost four and NSU only two, and the Demons threw the game's only interception. The Demons committed four penalties to the Huskies' two.
After an HBU punt, NSU took over at its own 36 with 6:57 to go in the game. Marquis Chapman started the drive with a 21-yard rush and a Holgorson pass to Watson for 12 yards gave the Demons a first down at the HBU 30. After a Kaleb Fletcher eight-yard gain on the ground, Jones broke free for a 22-yard touchdown to break the scoreless tie and give NSU a 7-0 lead with 4:55 left.
HBU began its drive at its own 29 and Zappe hit Houston for a 12-yard gain, then Peters busted a 17-yard run into NSU territory. On fourth-and-four, Zappe and Houston once again connected for a 12-yard completion to the Demons' 11. After Zappe was sacked to set up a fourth-and-12 at the 13, NSU's Xavier Bell was called for pass interference on Houston in the end zone to give HBU a first-and-goal at the 2. Zappe then sprinted out to his left and hit a sliding Peters inside the front pylon for the tying score with 1:05 remaining.
Beourgeois took a short kickoff and returned it 35 yards to the HBU 48 to give NSU good field position with 57 seconds on the clock. Holgorsen completed back-to-back passes to Lazare of 12 and 15 yards down to the 21. NSU called timeout with three seconds left and Piccione, who had missed his first three field goal attempts of the game, hit from 36 yards out for the game-winner.
The Huskies will hit the road next week to face 20
th-ranked Nicholls Saturday, Nov. 4 at 3:30 p.m. in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
