NATCHITOCHES, La. – Senior wide receiver
Jamaal Hall II had a day to remember, setting a new HCU program record for receiving yards in a game as the Huskies earned a 28-21 road win over the Northwestern State Demons on Saturday at Turpin Stadium in Southland Conference football action.
Hall finished the day with nine catches for 258 yards, breaking Josh Sterns' record of 209 yards against Texas Tech on Sept. 12, 2020. That's the highest single-game total by an FCS player since Nov. 9, 2024 when Eastern Illinois' Cooper Willman put up 291 yards against Gardner-Webb. Hall fell just 10 yards shy of the Southland Conference record held by Sam Houston's Nathan Stewart from a game in 2016 and Hall's total now ranks third all-time in SLC history. He had six catches go for more than 20 yards with four of those going for at least 32 yards.
The Huskies (5-6, 4-4 SLC) forced the Demons (0-11, 0-8 SLC) to punt after a three-and-out on each of the hosts first two possessions. On HCU's second possession, the Huskies moved the ball into the red zone, in large part due to a 48-yard completion from
Cutter Stewart to
Jamaal Hall II, but stalled and a 23-yard
Julian Maceri field goal try missed wide left.
Northwestern State took over at their own 20-yard line and marched downfield for a score with an eight-play, 80-yard drive punctuated by a 32-yard touchdown run by Zay Davis with 4:23 left in the first quarter. The Huskies answered with a 10-play, 67-yard drive of their own that ended with a brilliant catch by
Ja'Ryan Wallace as he was falling down in the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown completion from Stewart, tying things up at 7-7.
HCU forced a punt on the next NSU possession and then moved the ball across midfield to the Demons' 47 before bringing out the punt team. A mishandled snap resulted in a blocked punt, giving NSU the ball at the HCU 43. Northwestern State moved the ball down to the 23 for a fourth-and-three try but
Hope Tita came up with a big sack to get the turnover on downs for the Huskies. Following a penalty on third down that pushed HCU back for a third-and-13 form their own 25, Stewart connected with Hall on a 75-yard touchdown pass to put the Huskies ahead, 14-7.
After another three-and-out, HCU took over at its own 14 with 3:38 left in the half. The Huskies' drive included completions of 32 yards and 36 yards from Stewart to Hall and ended with
Elijah Harris scampering to the left for a five-yard touchdown run and a 21-7 HCU lead with just over a minute left in the half, taking that 14-point lead into the intermission.
The Huskies pushed their lead to 28-7 midway through the third quarter on a 21-yard pass to
Keith Wheeler in the end zone, capping a seven-play, 58-yard drive. The Demons put together a pair of touchdown drives early in the fourth quarter to make it a one-score game but the HCU defense rose to the occasion. The Huskies made fourth down stands on three of Northwestern State's final four drives and on the fourth,
Jeremiah Queen hauled in an interception at the NSU 37-yard line to seal the win as the Huskies took a knee twice to run out the clock.
In total, the HCU defense made six stops in seven tries on fourth down to force a turnover on downs by the hosts.
Trent Zappe led the Huskies with 12 tackles while
Jayven Anderson added two more tackles for loss, bringing his season total to 17.5 TFLs. The HCU defense totaled seven sacks in the win, tying the program record for a single game set earlier this season against Arkansas Baptist, with
Daniel Amasha and
Hope Tita each registering 1.5 sacks. Queen's interception to seal the game was his first career pick.
Stewart finished the game with 407 yards passing for a new career-high and the fifth-most single-game passing yards in program history. He completed 25-of-44 passes and threw three touchdowns.
Trayjen Llanas-Wilcox also had nine catches for the Huskies, totaling 69 yards.
The Huskies will close out the 2026 campaign next Saturday, Nov. 21, against the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros on Senior Day at Husky Stadium with kickoff set for 4:00 p.m.
