THIBODAUX — By the end, Southeastern’s season played out like “Groundhog Day” - the same movie, over and over again.

On Saturday at Nicholls State, the Lions followed a familiar script - a lackluster beginning leading to a daunting second-half deficit, followed by a stirring rally to give themselves a chance to win.

This time the Lions trailed 35-7 with 14:11 to play in the game before their offense finally showed signs of life.

But in the end the Lions’ rally fell short as Brian Babin was sacked for the sixth time on 4th-and-5 from the Colonels’ 40 with 49 seconds remaining, allowing Nicholls to run out the clock on a 35-28 Southland Conference victory.

The loss cost the Lions (5-7, 2-5) a chance at a break-even season and an opportunity to avoid the SLC basement.

“It takes a while for us to get going, and we can’t do that,” Lions senior RB Jay Lucas said. “We made a lot of steps this year going 5-7, but we have to start from the get-go, not wait until the second half to start making plays.”

Down by four touchdowns after the Colonels (3-6, 3-4) scored on quarterback Chris Bunch’s three-yard keeper with 14:11 remaining, the Lions roared downfield as Babin hit six consecutive throws in an 80-yard drive.

Babin hit Andre Cryer for 32 yards, then caught the Colonels blitzing with the perfect play, flipping a screen pass to Lucas for an 18-yard touchdown play.

Then Quinton Pierre delivered his fourth huge fumble recovery return of the day, scooping a bad pitch muffed by the Colonels’ Isa Hines and returning it 20 yards for a score less than a minute later to pull the Lions within 35-21 with 10:14 still to play.

Earlier, Pierre had set up Southeastern’s first score when he collected A.J. Williams’ fumble and returned it 65 yards to the one. That set up Mike Neville’s 1-yard sneak to pull the Lions within 14-7 in the first quarter.

“I wasn’t responsible for none of that,” Pierre said. “I had the dive, and when you continue on to play hard and get to the ball, great things will happen.”

Lions acting head coach Tommy Condell knew they would.

“Running that offense, you know that sometimes you’re going to have turnovers,” Condell said of the Colonels’ veer option offense. “We just had to be patient and just wait for those turnovers to happen and hope our offense got back on track.”

Pierre’s big play fueled the Lions’ fire. Stops by Walter Vaughn, then Pierre, then Vaughn and Steven Honore forced a three-and-out and the Lions got the ball back with 8:03 to play, but at their own 13 following a 48-yard Patrick Dolan punt.

But Babin, who was 29-for-37 for 253 yards and one TD, whipped them 87 yards in eight plays. An 18-yard throw to Brock DeLong and a pass interference penalty in the end zone against the Colonels’ Dominique Daniels set the Lions up for Neville’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Cole Wardell to pull within 38-28 with 5:08 still to play.

And the defense did its job again, forcing a three-and-out as the Lions took over at their own 34 with 3:07 remaining. Babin took a sack, but then hit Lucas for 20 yards on a shovel pass to the Nicholls State 46 and Jasper Ducksworth for seven more to the Colonel 39.

But Kory Theodore dropped Babin’s 3rd-and-1 pass, then Jorden Nevels got to Babin on fourth down to seal the win for the Colonels.

“Our defense played so hard and they played good, getting those turnovers,” said Lucas, limited to just 19 net rushing yards on eight carries in his final game as a Lion, though he did have eight receptions for 62 yards.

“We just have to make plays. We made some plays, but we came up short. We waited too late.”

“That’s nothing new,” Condell said. “We knew we were going to be able to come back. The big thing right now is to be able to finish things.”

But starting them the right way is also important, and the Lions did not accomplish that on Saturday. Nicholls figured something out against the Lions’ defensive scheme, rushing for 263 yards and averaging 4.5 yards per carry.

Buchanan led the way with 18 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown, and Trey Hopson massaged the Lions’ middle defense with 90 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns.

The Colonels drove 72 yards on nine plays on their first possession, taking a 7-0 lead on Hopson’s 17-yard bust up the middle.

Southeastern tried to get even, but Babin’s fade pass to Neville in the end zone was intercepted by Bobby Felder. And the Colonels responded with a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive to make it 14-0 on Chris Bunch’s 12-yard TD strike to Patrick Gordon on 3rd-and-10.

The Lions seemed to get it going with Pierre’s huge return and Neville’s TD to make it 14-7. But a personal foul on the kickoff return gave the Colonels field position, and Hopson blasted up the middle for a 35-yard touchdown run and a 21-7 lead.

The Lions had a chance to cut into that when Pierre recovered a third fumble - he recovered four in all, forced one of them and had a game-high 14 tackles for the Lions - at the NSU 38. But Jeff Turner missed a 43-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the half.

Nicholls then tried to break it open, scoring on its opening possession of the second half with a 61-yard scoring drive capped by Buchanan’s 1-yard TD plunge, and later marching 71 yards to score on Bunch’s 2-yard keeper three plays into the fourth quarter.

That 35-7 deficit signaled it was time for the Lions to get rolling — but they couldn’t come back that far, that fast.

“The formula is to be so focused when you come out and not wait to see what the other team is doing,” Condell said of the Lions’ missing ingredient early.

“Make them be reactive to you. We’re still at that stage we’re waiting and seeing, and you can’t do that. We’ve got to go take it.”