HOUSTON – HCU football closed out its 2024 campaign with a dominating 62-24 Southland Conference win over Northwestern State on Saturday afternoon at Husky Stadium, rolling up over 600 yards of offense in the process.
HCU (5-7, 3-4 SLC) made a fourth down stop on the first Northwestern State (0-12, 0-7 SLC) possession of the game, taking over at the NSU 43-yard line. Six play later,
Dillon Fedor booted a 23-yard field goal to go up by three. The Huskies scored on each of their next three drives with touchdowns coming on a 32-yard pass from
Cutter Stewart to
AJ Wilson, a two-yard
Calvin Hill rush and a 47-yard touchdown run by
Darryle Evans for a 24-7 lead with more than 14 minutes to go in the second quarter.
The Demons cut their deficit down to just 10 later in the half following an eight-play, 51-yard drive that ended on a nine-yard pass from JT Fayard to Zay Davis with 3:20 left on the clock. The Huskies moved the ball into Demon territory on their next possession but a Stewart pass was picked off at the NSU 20 and the two teams went into the break with the score 24-14.
The Huskies took control in the third quarter, receiving the kickoff to start the quarter and swiftly moving the ball downfield with Hill breaking a 25-yard touchdown run to finish off a four-play, 79-yard drive. The first play of the next NSU possession was picked off by
D.J. Harris at the NSU 33 and returned down to the 15 to set HCU up with a short field. Three plays later, Stewart connected with
Deuce McMillan on an 11-yard touchdown pass and the Huskies were up by 24, 38-14, less than three minutes into the half.
Following a three-and-out on the next possession, HCU needed just four plays to move 41 yards with
Champ Dozier running it in from three yards out. The Demons got an 87-yard kickoff return from Myles Kitt-Denton for a short field before settling on a 21-yard field goal.
Jesse Valenzuela then returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a score and a 52-17 lead with 8:39 to go in the third.
The Huskies made it 59-17 late in the quarter with Stewart finding
Ismael Fuller on a short pass that the senior receiver broke for a 36-yard touchdown score. The Demons engineered a six-play, 56-yard drive early in the fourth quarter to make it a 59-24 game. On the next HCU possession, the Huskies used the legs of Hill and
Nakia Holmes to chew up 65 yards on 15 plays while taking 8:30 off the clock and putting three more points on the board after a 27-yard Fedor field goal.
HCU's 617 yards of total offense is the fourth-highest total in a single game program history while the team's 332 yards rushing ranks third. Valenzuela finished the game with 174 all-purpose yards thanks to 117 kickoff returns yards, 52 yards on punt returns and five yards on the ground. He became the Huskies' third player this season to return a kickoff for a touchdown.
Hill surpassed 100 yards rushing for the second time this season, finishing with 109 and two touchdowns on 20 carries. Dozier had 74 yards on the ground while Evans finished with 56 and Holmes rushed for 51. Wilson ended the game with three catches for 123 yards for his fourth-consecutive 100-yard receiving game and will wrap up his season averaging 28.45 yards per reception. Fuller caught three passes for a season-high 69 yards and a score. Stewart was 17-of-25 throwing the ball for 296 yards and with three touchdowns.
Defensively, the Huskies limited the Demons to just 10 first downs and 211 yards of total offense. Harris finished with a team-high nine tackles while also recording his first career interception.
Joe Cadette totaled six tackles with a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Zae Smith and
Sincere Littles also had one sack each.
