Henry tied All-America defensive lineman Michael Bankston's individual school mark with four sacks. Bankston, who played eight years in the NFL for the Cardinals, totaled four sacks against Angelo State in 1991. J. T. Cleveland accounted for three sacks and Eric Fieilo posted two and Kenneth Jenkins and E. J. Nduka had one sack apiece.

The 12 sacks tied the Southland Conference record for most in a game set by Northwestern State against Stephen F. Austin in 1997. The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision single game sack record is 14 set by Alcorn State against Misssissippi Valley in 2007.

The Kat defense limited the Colonels to 97 total yards, creating three turnovers including a pair of interceptions by Jenkins. And the specials teams units picked up their first punt block of the 2010 season.

The victory marked the first back-to-back road wins for Sam Houston since Brett Hicks quarterback the Bearkats to consecutive wins at Southeastern Louisiana and Texas State in 2007.  The Bearkats now stand 3-2 for the 2010 season, having won their last three games in a row.

"I told the guys after the game that the last two weeks were kind of easy," SHSU head coach Willie Fritz said. "We started fast and everything went our way. This game it didn't go our way and we had to fight through some adversity. I thought we did a tremendous job of fighting.

"Besides the one touchdown, we did a great job of keeping them between the tackles," Fritz said. "I felt that if we could get one more score that they would have to start throwing the ball and they didn't want to do that. Coach (Scott) Stoker and his guys did a great job of dialing up some blitzes and we got a lot of pressure. We did a great job of not letting their quarterback get away under the pressure."

Running back Tim Flanders ended the game with 105 yards on 22 carries. He becomes only the third Sam Houston running back to string together four consecutive 100-plus rushing performances. The other two were Roger Wiley in 1982 and D.D. Terry in 2006. Going into the fourth quarter, Flanders had carried for only 18 yards on 14 carries.

Flanders had gained only 18 yards rushing on 14 carries at the end of the fourth quarter but got rolling during two long TD drives in the final period.

Defensive back Robert Shaw had a hand in both of Sam Houston's first half touchdowns. The sophomore from Converse Judson recovered a muffed punt late in the first quarter. The turnover set up a 32-yard field goal by Miguel Antonio that gave the Kats a 3-0 lead with 14:57 to play in the second quarter.

LaQuintin Caston completed a five-play 49-yard scoring drive with a 13-yard touchdown run to put Nicholls up 7-3 with 8:02 left in the first half. The Nicholls took possession to start the drive on an interception by Siega Vergenal.

With the Colonels punting from their own 27-yard line, Shaw broke through to block the kick and fell on the ball in the end zone to put Sam Houston up 10-7 with 2:17 to play in the half.

The block was the first of the 2010 season, but marked the return of the "block party" on special teams originated in 1991 when new head coach Willie Fritz was special teams coach as an assistant at Sam Houston. The "block party" tradition saw Sam Houston special teams block 80 punts, field goals and extra points in the 14 seasons between 1991 and 2004.

A bad snap on a fourth down punt gave the Colonels a third quarter scoring opportunity at the Bearkat 32. On third and 12 at the SHSU 15, sophomore safety Kenneth Jenkins picked off a pass in the end zone and returned it out to the 49-yard line. A personal foul penalty on the Colonels gave the Kats a first down at the Colonel 36.

Nine plays later, Miguel Antonio booted a 26-yard field goal to give Sam Houston a 13-7 lead with 1:58 to play in the third period.

Bottled up for the first three quarters, the Bearkat offense finally got on track in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Brian Bell scored on a seven-yard run to complete a 10-play 74-yard drive with 9:55 to play. Tim Flanders added a four-yard scoring run with 5:40 remaining after a four-play 44-yard drive.

Sam Houston ended the day out-gaining Nicholls 249 total yards to 97.

Next week, Sam Houston returns home for its annual homecoming celebration as the Bearkats play host to Southeastern Louisiana at 2 p.m. in Bowers Stadium. Then, in two weeks, its the long awaited "Battle of the Piney Woods" matchup with Stephen F. Austin at Reliant Stadium in Houston, also a 2 p.m. encounter.

Tickets for both games now are on .sale online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets . Tickets also may be purchased at the SHSU athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ticket office telephone number is (936) 294-1729.