Demons hang tough in opening loss at Tulsa

By: Jason Pugh, Assistant AD for Media Relations

Box Score TULSA, Oklahoma – The first drive of the Blaine McCorkle era of Northwestern State football delivered.

And so did most of the first half of Thursday night’s season opener at Tulsa.

A late first-half surge, though, put the homestanding Golden Hurricane in the driver’s seat and Tulsa cruised to a 62-28 victory at Skelly Field at HA Chapman Field. The result, however, was not the most important takeaway from the Demons’ first game since October.

“The first thing people need to recognize and remember is Northwestern State just completed a Division I football game today,” said McCorkle, who made his debut as the Demons’ head coach after being hired in November. “I’ve said it many times, a lot of people thought this program was going to be dead and gone, but that’s not true. We’re alive and well, and we have a lot of good football ahead of us. We don ‘t believe in moral victories – that’s not who we are – but there is an awful lot for our whole university and the city of Natchitoches to be proud of tonight.”

Northwestern (0-1) wasted little time putting the first points of the season on the board as Kennieth Lacy he broke free for a 75-yard touchdown run on the second play of the game to put the Demons in front.

It was a career-long run for Lacy, a senior from Kilgore, Texas, and the longest rush for the Demons since Aubrey Scott’s 80-yard touchdown run against Nicholls on March 6, 2021.

“My offensive line blocked amazingly,” said Lacy, whose previous long run was 55 yards. “Once they freed me up, I knew I could make the safety miss and take it to the house. The O-line played amazingly. They played their butts off today.”

The early-game battle of momentum-shifting continued plays with both special teams units producing touchdowns.

Tulsa (1-0) started the special-teams fireworks with Kamdyn Benjamin’s 66-yard punt return score snapping a 7-all tie.

After the Northwestern offense couldn’t get anything going, Tulsa moved into the red zone and was threatening to build a two-score lead as Seth Morgan trotted out for a 32-yard field goal attempt.

Cam Hardy came through the middle of the line and blocked the kick before Antonio Hall scooped up the loose ball and returned it 74 yards for a game-tying touchdown.

Both teams traded long drives in the opening quarter with Tulsa outgaining the Demons, 128-107. The first was the most productive quarter of the night for Northwestern, which totaled 119 yards in the final three quarters.

While the Demons struggled to string together consistent offense, Tulsa took advantage – none more so than in the final eight minutes of the first half.

In that span, the Golden Hurricane produced three touchdown drives to turn a one-score game into a 27-point halftime advantage.

“In these (Football Bowl Subdivision) games, sometimes the attrition gets to you,” McCorkle said. “You wear down on bodies, and that’s the difference in the scholarships. They fought and played hard, and I’m very proud of them.”

Tulsa extended its lead to 48-14 after the third quarter before Northwestern took advantage of the game’s first turnover.

It took the Demons just two plays to convert after Isaiah Robinson recovered a fumbled punt at the Tulsa 12-yard line. From there, senior quarterback Quaterius Hawkins connected with Myles Kitt-Denton a 12-yard scoring pass 21 seconds into the final quarter.

That score started another flurry of back-and-forth scores to close out the game.

Tulsa’s Lloyd Avant’s 100-yard kick return score answered Kitt-Denton’s grab before Chance Newman capped the Demons’ longest drive of the game in terms of plays and production with a 4-yard keeper.

Newman’s third score in his last four games was the last of a seven-play, 76-yard drive.

It also marked the second quarter of the game where the teams were even on the scoreboard, giving the Demons a springboard into their Sept. 7 home opener against Prairie View A&M.

“We found our identity, and we’re going to go back to the drawing board and back to work,” said junior linebacker Cadillac Rhonewho recorded six tackles. “We’re going to get better. Like coach McCorkle said, we’re going to make our biggest improvement from Game 1 to Game 2.”