Southeastern Louisiana holds off Idaho 45-42 in FCS playoffs

HAMMOND, La. (AP) — Cephus Johnson III ran for 2 touchdowns, Zy Alexander had a late pick-6 and Southeastern Louisiana held off Idaho 45-42 within the first spherical of the FCS playoffs on Saturday evening.

Southeast Louisiana (9-3), ranked twenty third within the FCS coaches ballot, picked up its sixth straight win and advances to play sixth-ranked Samford on Dec. 3.

Jermaine Jackson ended a 21-point run by the Lions when he returned a kickoff 95 yards for a landing with 14:03 left. Idaho received the ball proper again and Gevani McCoy hit Hayden Hatten for a 34-yard landing and the Vandals led 35-31 with 9:15 remaining.

SELU reclaimed the lead on its subsequent possession when Johnson scored on a 1-yard run. Alexander picked off McCoy on first down and turned it right into a 48-yard pick-6 and the Lions led 45-35. Alexander intercepted McCoy’s subsequent go, however a roughing-the-passer penalty negated it. McCoy fired a 70-yard scoring strike to Jackson two performs later and the Vandals trailed by three with 3:23 left.

Idaho received the ball again at its personal 42-yard line with 1:35 to go. McCoy drove the Vandals to the Lions’ 22, however Ricardo Chavez missed a 39-yard subject objective with six seconds left.

McCoy accomplished 19 of 26 passes for 343 yards with two expensive picks for Idaho, ranked twenty fourth within the FCS coaches ballot. Hayden Hatten completed with 9 catches and a career-high 209 yards.

Johnson completed with 208 yards on 18-of-28 passing for SELU.

It was Idaho’s first FCS playoff sport in 27 years. The Vandals (7-5) spent 22 of these seasons as a FBS program.

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