Stephen F. Austin
Northwestern St*
'Jacks Fall To Northwestern State, 37-16
11/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 20, 2004
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (6-5, 1-4) played an inspired first half and built a 13-0 halftime lead before seeing it slip away in falling to Northwestern State (8-3,4-1) Saturday night in the season finale.
SFA stretched its lead to 16-0 at the 10:13 mark fo the third quarter on a 28-yard Ryan Rossner field goal, his third of the game. Rossner had earlier kick field goals from 42 and 54 yards. The 54-yarder tied his career best and was his longest of the season.
Northwestern State got on the board for the first time with 6:02 remaining in the third quarter to cut the lead to 16-8. The Demons faked a punt on fourth and eight from their own 35-yard line when linebacker Jamall Johnson rushed for 35 yards to the SFA 30-yard line to keep the drive alive. Derrick johnese went in from nine yards out and Davon Vinson passed for Mark Morris for the two-point conversion to make it 16-8.
The Demons tied the score with :59 left in the quarter on a one yard plunge by Vinson on a two-play 46-yard drive. Toby Ziegler set the Demons up with good field position following a 41-yard return. Northwestern State was again succesful on the two-point conversion to knot the score at 16-16.
The Demons got three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to break open the game, the first coming with 9:39 left to play to break the tie and put them up 23-16. The Demons went 55-yards in 10 plays for the go ahead score.
SFA scored its only touchdown of the night with four seconds remaining in the first quarter when Michael Williams connected with Tony Tompkins on an 82-yard touchdown pass. Tompkins moved into second place on the all-time all-purpose yaradage list at SFA with the catch. The score put SFA ahead 7-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The 'Jacks ended the night with 408 yards of offense, with Williams and Zeke Dixon combining to throw for 299 yards. SFA managed 109 yards on the ground on 33 rushing attempts.
Northwestern State rolled up 477 yards of offense, rushing for 208 and passing for 269 yards. The Demons had 275 yards of offense after halftime.
The loss leaves the 'Jacks with a 6-5 record overall and a 1-4 record in Southland Conference play. SFA lost five of its last seven games after a 4-0 start.
