Box Score NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The short-handed Northwestern State football team hoped to get off to a quick start in its Southland Conference opener Saturday night against rival Stephen F. Austin.
 
Instead, it was the homestanding Lumberjacks who broke quickly and cruised to a 59-17 victory at Homer Bryce Stadium in the first conference game between the schools since the 2019 season.
 
Two early turnovers allowed Stephen F. Austin (3-2, 1-1) to build a 24-point lead after the first quarter, and the Lumberjacks extended the lead to 35 by halftime.
 
"I'm really disappointed in how we started a game like this – first conference game and a rivalry game," first-year head coach Blaine McCorkle said. "To come out slow is really disappointing, and we're in a place where we have to do some real soul searching. There are some people who have to decide what they want to do with this football team. It's inexcusable the way we started. I appreciate the way we responded for two quarters after that, but the first quarter was a real kick in the pants that we never recovered from."
 
After a sluggish start, the Northwestern (0-6, 0-1) offense awakened in the second quarter.
 
The Demons were held to negative yardage in the first quarter before putting up one of its most productive quarters of the season in the second. Redshirt freshman quarterback JT Fayard threw for 119 yards in the second quarter, but turnovers continued to haunt the Demons, who were missing a bevy of typical starters.
 
Twice after Reed Honshtein's 24-yard field goal put Northwestern on the board with 10:25 to play in the half, Fayard marched the Demons deep into SFA territory before an interception ended the threat.
 
Both picks came at or near the end zone, including one that bounced off tight end Joseph Moreland as he nearly completed a leaping grab at the goal line. Instead, the ball popped free as Moreland hit the ground and found its way into the hands of SFA's Jaheim Mullen for a drive-halting interception.
 
"That was a frustrating play," McCorkle  said. "We had the right call at the right time. He hits him right in the chest, and it gets knocked out and they make a fluke play to intercept it. You have to secure it when it's in your hands. Those are part of those growing pains. He's throwing it to a redshirt freshman who is trying to find his way. We put a lot of true freshmen in the game as the injuries caught up to us. We had 10 starters out with injuries and let two guys go this week who weren't living up to the standards of our program. That's part of the growing pains of building this, but myself and my staff aren't going to flinch through this thing."
 
Following SFA quarterback Sam Vidlak's fourth touchdown pass of the game – a 9-yarder to Kylon Harris with 12:07 to play in the third quarter – the Demons finally paid of their surging offense as Fayard connected with Myles Kitt-Denton for a 74-yard touchdown pass.
 
It was Kitt-Denton's third touchdown catch of at least 71 yards this season and his team-leading fourth scoring grab overall. It also helped Fayard throw for a career-high 322 yards, the Demons' first 300-yard passing game since Zachary Clement threw for 305 yards against Southeast Missouri State on Oct. 22, 2022.
 
"There were some things to build on, some things we haven't seen from our offense in a few weeks," McCorkle said. "They did find their rhythm. JT definitely found his rhythm, and I'm proud of him for that. Myles proved again he can make a play. We didn't know until gametime if we were going to have him because he was pretty banged up."
 
The Demons return to action when they host Texas A&M-Commerce on Oct. 12. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.