Box Score
PINEVILLE, La. -  It should not have been a surprise that it came down to this for the Louisiana College football team.

A nine lead point with two minutes left in the game cut by Hardin-Simmons to two points with just seven seconds left, and the Cowboys lining up to kick a potentially game-winning field goal after recovering an onside kick.

In season's past, that kick sends the Wildcats down to another heartbreaking loss. Not this year.

Scott Newberry's 39-yard attempt was marred by a poor snap and fluttered weakly to the ground as the Wildcats' bench exploded with joy. The Wildcats had knocked off the No. 7 team in Division III by a final score of 44-42 before 3,500 fans in a win that LC, 7-1 in the ASC, 7-3 overall, hopes will earn them a berth in the 16-team playoffs.

"I'm just so proud of our kids," an emotional LC coach Dennis Dunn said right after the game. "They never, never, never quit and what and awesome way to finish this out and beat a great Hardin-Simmons team. They have a great program, but I think we established ourselves as I believe one of the top ten teams in the country."

Whether those who select the field for the Division III playoffs agree will be determined Sunday when the pairings for those playoffs are released. LC winds up as the second place team in the ASC, their lone conference loss coming by just four points to No. 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor who finished as conference champions at 8-0. It was LC's best finish since joining the ASC in 2000.

The Wildcats closed the season with six-straight wins after the UMHB loss and knew their only shot at still making the playoffs was to run the table while figuring this game with Hardin-Simmons was likely to the be toughest - especially after shocking the Cowboys on their home field a year ago. It was a loss Hardin-Simmons certainly remembered, and the Cowboys took the field Saturday posturing as a team looking for a little payback. The Hardin-Simmons team remained in the LC end zone as the Wildcats took the field – a move that stirred plenty of emotion right from the start.

However, the Cowboys proved to be their own enemy early in the game when on their first possession, following a three-and-out, a bad snap sailed over the head of their punter who then kicked it out of the back of the end zone for a safety and a quick 2-0 LC lead.

The Wildcats got the ball back on the kickoff and proceeded to strike quickly with senior Ben McLaughlin launching the first of his five touchdown passes in the game as he hit D'Mario Parker with a 44-yard strike, and the Wildcats led 9-0 just four minutes into the game.

From there, the game took on the feel of a tennis match with back-and-forth scoring from both teams despite it being a day of steady rain and cold wind. Hardin-Simmons would get its first touchdown with 3:39 left in the first quarter when Justin Feaster hit Derrick Grant with a 20-yard touchdown pass to cut the LC lead to 9-7.

The Wildcats came right back with a 10-play, 57-yard drive capped by McLaughlin finding Darnell Williams from 14 yards out to make it 16-7 LC after one quarter.

Hardin-Simmons would strike first in the second quarter. Again it would be Feaster to Grant, this time from five yards out to bring the Cowboys within two again, 16-14. LC answered with a McLaughlin to Chad Hindman 12-yard pass play making it 23-14. The Cowboys cut it to two again as Feaster found Thomas Labian for a 28-yard strike.
The half would end with two more touchdown plays. First, McLaughlin found Williams for a 27-yard touchdown that put LC up by nine again, 30-21, but before the half would end, Feaster and Labian hooked up for another big play, a 33-yard score that cut LC's lead to 30-28 at the half.

The second half would settle into a much tighter game defensively as the two teams combined for just two touchdowns in the third quarter. The Cowboys would take their first lead of the game with 12:18 left as ZaVious Robinson from the Wildcat formation would carry the ball 19 yards for a score to put Hardin-Simmons up 35-30.

LC would take the lead right back. An eight-play, 59-yard drive would be capped by CerDerrick Tyson's two-yard run and the Wildcats led again, 37-35.

As the fourth quarter began, the LC defense came up huge again. Freshman Peter Ford would intercept Feaster at the HSU 16. McLaughlin made the Cowboys' mistake hurt even more when he found Dayne Reeves for a four-yard touchdown pass, and the Wildcats again had a nine-point lead, 44-35 with 10:01 left in the game. That's when things got interesting.

It appeared the Wildcats would finish off Hardin-Simmons when the LC defense rose up to stop a crucial 4th-and-one attempt from the LC 22-yard line. Seniors Charles Cloman and Robert Wilson combined to stuff Grant's rushing attempt for a one-yard loss.

LC then went on a solid nine-play drive that would eat up nearly five minutes of clock and more importantly HSU's remaining time outs. By the time the Wildcats punted, Hardin-Simmons would have to start from their own 20-yard line with just 2:53 left in the game, down by nine, with no timeouts left.

Feaster then led the Cowboys on a masterful drive down the field, 80 yards in 11 plays in 2:25 ending with a touchdown pass to Robbins from eight yards out. The extra point cut LC's lead to 44-42 with just 29 seconds left.

Knowing an onside kick was coming, the Wildcats loaded their best ball handlers along the front line, but Newberry's kick bounced high enough in the air that Parker never had a chance to handle it. The Cowboys would recover at their own 40-yard line with 28 seconds to go.

Despite having no time outs to work with, Feaster moved his team deep into LC territory, hitting Chance McCoy for 17 yards and Robbins for 21 more to put the Cowboys at the LC 22 as he then spiked the ball with just seven seconds to go.

Out came Newberry for the field goal attempt from the 29, but for the second time in the game, a bad snap on special teams would hurt the Cowboys. The missed field goal relieved fears of the worst on the LC sideline. McLaughlin then ran out the clock from the victory formation as LC celebrated the win.

“My heart was beating, beating like a drum,” the senior Cloman said after the game. “We hit the B-gap and I saw when he kicked it, it was low and I knew once it was that low and it was wobbling, I knew it wasn't going. I took my helmet off and went running down the field.”

One player who didn't take off his helmet was McLaughlin. As the team met to pray in traditional fashion after the game, the ASC's all-time passing leader who finished this game with 303 more yards fielded hug after hug as the tears flowed. Unlike the Mary Hardin-Baylor game, these were tears of joy.

“It's a good chance this might be the last game we ever play,” McLaughlin said. “That's why I don't want to take my helmet off because you never know if it's going to be the last time you take it off.”

As players posed with each other, family and friends one final time for the season, and in some cases, in their career, McLaughlin, as has been the case of every game this season, was the the last to come off the field. Helmet still on. He and everyone else hoping it won't be the last time.

But even if it is, all were agreed, this LC team and this LC win was one to remember.

“It's in the committee's hand,” Cloman said. “If we make it, we make it and I'll be happy. But the finish we had today, I'll be happy no matter what.”