NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State couldn't slow one of the nation's hottest teams Thursday night, falling to No. 14 Stephen F. Austin, 62-14, at Turpin Stadium.

The Lumberjacks (10-2, 8-0) stormed out to a 20-0 lead in the first quarter on three explosive plays. Return specialist Bugs Mortimer set the tone with a 79-yard punt return for a touchdown, and quarterback Sam Vidlak followed with scoring throws of 26 and 65 yards on SFA's next two possessions.

SFA's up-tempo attack kept rolling in the second quarter, producing four more touchdown drives, none lasting longer than three minutes, to build a 48-0 halftime advantage.

"I've been blessed in my career to go to the NCAA playoffs four times, so I know what that level of a team looks like, and they've got a good football team," head coach Blaine McCorkle said. "Very deserving of being our conference champion. I'll be pulling for Coach (Colby) Carthel and his group over the next few weeks."

Despite the early onslaught, the Demons (1-11, 0-8) showed sparks against the nation's second-ranked defense. NSU surpassed SFA's season average for rushing yards allowed (74.1) before halftime, getting multiple chunk gains from a group of true and redshirt freshmen.

That momentum carried into the second half. Senior quarterback Eli Anderson, who played the majority of the game, guided back-to-back touchdown drives of 75-plus yards. He found Camryn Davis for an 8-yard score late in the third quarter, then connected with fellow senior Ty Moore on an 11-play march in the fourth. Moore finished the night as NSU's leader in both receiving yards and touchdowns this season.

"It's exciting for them and you want guys to finish their career making a play and a memory there," McCorkle said. "But what's unique about both of those guys is they'd rather win the game than make that play. That's the beauty of those two guys and a lot of guys in our senior class."

NSU limited SFA to 14 second-half points and fewer than 200 yards after the break, matching the Lumberjacks 14-14 over the final 30 minutes. The Demons went 4-for-6 on third down in the half and continued their balanced approach.

"The score of the second half was 14-14," McCorkle said. "They called off the dogs, I would have too, they're a playoff team and want to stay healthy. So they put all their freshmen in to play against ours and it's a tie ballgame. I'm a bit of a dreamer so as I see that unfold I'm picturing them being back here in two years and us playing for a conference championship in front of a packed Turpin Stadium. If our guys can keep developing, they'll play against those same guys for a couple years and we'll see what happens."
 
The Demons totaled 146 rushing yards, the most allowed by SFA to an FCS opponent this season, including a 44-yard burst from redshirt freshman Jeremiah James that set up Anderson's touchdown to Moore.

"We've said all year that from the preseason talks that we have the youngest roster in America and we played the toughest schedule in school history," McCorkle said. "That's what we just did. And those guys grew unbelievably from it and it gives us a lot to work with moving forward."