NATCHITOCHES, La. (AP) _ Tony Taylor ran for 218 yards and three touchdowns as Northwestern State rallied to beat Southwest Texas State, 36-21, on Saturday.

The Demons defense set up two decisive touchdowns in the third period.

The victory by Northwestern (3-5, 2-2 Southland Football League) snapped a two-game losing streak and kept alive the Demons' slim hopes for a third straight conference championship. Southwest Texas' third straight loss dropped the Bobcats to 2-6, 1-4.

Taylor had two one-yard touchdown runs and one of 80 yards on 36 carries. That 218-yard day took him to 1,029 yards for the season as coach Sam Goodwin became the school's most successful football coach with 101 victories.

Northwestern rolled to 314 rushing yards on 62 carries against a Southwest Texas defense that had held previous opponents to an average of 85.4 yards on the ground _ fifth best in Division I-AA. The awesome running show gave the Bobcats' offense just 18:02 of possession time.

Southwest Texas built a 21-12 lead in the first period before Northwestern's defense stiffened.

Northwestern recovered a fumble at the Southwest Texas 9 and, three plays later, Chris Pritchett caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Brad Spangler to narrow Southwest Texas' lead to 21-19 with 11:42 left in the third period. Just 1:01 later, Mike Green returned a Spurgeon Wynn interception 37 yards to give Northwestern a 26-21 lead it would never relinquish.