Box Score
PINEVILLE, La. – You can say other Louisiana College football players wanted to win this game as much as Ben McLaughlin. You cannot say anyone wanted to win it more.

That was why the most heartbreaking loss in the modern era of LC football, a 42-38 defeat by No. 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor, left the senior quarterback from Dierks, Ark. completely devastated.

It was McLaughlin's pass with just 42 seconds in the game on a 4th and two from the Crusaders' 3-yard line that looked as though it would fall into the arms of a wide-open Austin Proctor, but at the last possible moment, UMHB's Bronson Shaw reached up to make the interception stealing what could have been the biggest win in recent LC football history.

In the swing of emotion to end the game, nobody took it harder than McLaughlin who, ironically enough, may have done more to win the game, completing 30 of 49 passes for 368 yards and five touchdowns. But it was the one interception he threw, the only turnover of the game for LC, that McLaughlin struggled to come to terms with afterward.

"Right now it's tough to reflect on the five touchdowns, because all that's sticking in my head is the one interception," a teary-eyed McLaughlin. "For three years I played on this team when we got beat by 40 points or more... that's why this is extremely tough."

As for the deciding play, it came after Mary Hardin-Baylor had regained control of a see-saw battle when LiDarral Bailey capped a 76-yard scoring drive with a 5-yard touchdown to give the Cru a 42-38 lead.

But as he had done the week before in the comeback win at Mississippi College, McLaughlin marched the Cats right down the field. He hit D'Mario Parker with a beautiful 31-yard pass on the near sideline to give LC a first down at the Cru's 11-yard line. McLaughlin's next two passes, to Dayne Reeves and Cortland Bell fell incomplete, and on third down, LC looked to run an option pass with wide receiver Jordan Rideaux, but when Parker was covered in the end zone, Rideaux ran with the ball instead. He was pushed out of bounds at the 3-yard line leaving LC with a 4th and two.

As the play clock ran down, the LC coaching staff opted not to take the team's final timeout. Instead, they lined up in their short-yardage formation and ran the play. For a moment, it appeared the strategy worked perfectly as McLaughlin faked the hand-off and boot-legged to the left side of the field with Proctor seemingly all alone. Later, McLaughlin admitted the mistake was all in the throw.

"He was open, I just wanted to get it to him easy," McLaughlin said. "I just didn't. I just kinda floated it, so it gave (Shaw) time to catch up and make the play."

The chance to win represented many things for LC. First and foremost, it would have move the Cats into possession of first place at 2-0. Instead, LC drops to 1-1 in the American Southwest Conference, 1-3 overall.

But more than that, it represented the chance for LC to show how far its program has come under head coach Dennis Dunn. LC's series record against UMHB was 0-9, and the opportunity to knock off the No. 4 team in Division III would have been a resounding first win. Now the loss leaves the Wildcats knowing they will likely need to win out to have any shot at the D-3 playoffs.

"There are no moral victories," Dunn said after the game. "We came in to win the game, and we should have won the game. I felt like we outplayed Mary Hardin-Baylor today. We just didn't finish it."

It would prove to be another wild day of offense both for and against the Wildcats. LC would finish the game with 481 yards in total offense, but once again gave up more than 500 combined yards.

McLaughlin's 368 passing yards were spread among only four receivers, two of whom, the senior Rideaux and junior receiver Darnell Williams combined for 18 catches and 267 yards receiving.

Rideaux, who caught 12 passed for 137 yards and two touchdowns (41 and three yards), became LC's all-time receiving yards record holder when his second catch of the day pushed him over the mark of 2,537 yards Dexter Falgoust produced from 2003-2006. 10 catches later, Rideaux's career total yardage stood at 2,674.

As for Williams, for the second time in as many weeks, he was responsible for three touchdowns in a game. Williams hauled in six passes for 130 yard and three touchdowns (53, 41 and 25 yards). He also made a huge play on defense near the end of the first half. With the Cru shredding through LC's defensive backfield through the air, the Wildcats put Williams in at cornerback. He promptly intercepted a pass from Bailey at the Wildcats' 1-yard line which preserved a 23-21 lead heading into the half.

After the loss, Williams was one of the players trying to console his quarterback whom he said had nothing to hand his head over.

"(Ben) said it crushed him," Williams said. "And I understand that."

Everyone did.

"For guys like me and Matt (Albrecht) and Big Rob (Robert Wilson) and (Charles) Cloman, it's our senior year... and they beat up on us for three years," McLaughlin said, trying to put the loss in context. "This was our next year... and that's what makes it hard to make it through."

Next up for LC will be a road game at East Texas Baptist next Saturday, Oct. 9 at 6 p.m. in Marshall, Texas.