Box Score
PINEVILLE, La. - When the No. 24 Louisiana College Wildcats found themselves trailing East Texas Baptist University 24-14 at halftime here Saturday night, head coach Dennis Dunn did what any good coach from the South would do.

“I pitched a blue-screaming fit at halftime,” Dunn said. “I just challenged them – are we gonna play with passion? Are we gonna still have a dream?”

The Wildcats' answer – a resounding yes.

LC completely dominated the second half of the football game, outscoring ETBU 17-0 in the final two quarters to come away with a 31-24 victory. The Wildcats improved to 4-1 on the season, 2-1 in the American Southwest Conference. The Tigers dropped to 2-4/1-3.

The defense sealed the win when sophomore “Ram” Peter Ford recovered a fumble by ETBU quarterback Sed Harris at the LC 23-yard line with 1:36 left in the game. The Wildcats would run out the rest of the clock as they sealed the victory to keep the coveted “Border Claw”, the trophy that symbolizes the LC-ETBU rivalry, for a fourth straight season.

“We had to keep that claw here. Had to” Ford said.

“It's gonna stay where it belongs – that's here in Louisiana College's hands,” junior offensive guard Darin Moore added.

Indicative of the team's turnaround in attitude, on the game's second play of the second half, LC junior cornerback Reggie Calhoun read perfectly a screen pass to ETBU's Elias Kawesa. Calhoun's jarring hit resulted in an incompletion and set the tone for the rest of the game. The Wildcats would give up only 111 yards in the second half, only 34 passing yards and most importantly for them, no points.

“I just saw it coming – I read it and I just jumped it.” Calhoun said.

“That's what he's there for,” Ford said of Calhoun's momentum-swinging play. “(Coach Dunn) said we were playing soft. We came out and started dominating.”

The same could not be said for the LC offense, at least not initially in the second half. Junior quarterback Jamie Bunting was intercepted for a second time in the game on LC's ensuing possession by ETBU's DeWayne Hamilton at the Tigers' 30-yard line.

But after another defensive stop, the Wildcats would get the ball at their own 9-yard line and proceed to drive 91 yards in 16 plays. Bunting completed six passes in the drive that was capped by a CerDerrick Tyson touchdown from two yards out. The Wildcats cut the lead to just three points, 24-21.

After another defensive stop gave the Wildcats the ball at the ETBU 43-yard line early in the fourth quarter, LC took the lead for good when Bunting hit senior Darnell Williams for a 41-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline that made the score 28-24.

Freshman kicker Adan Olivares would add a 24-yard field goal with 5:45 left to play to give LC its final margin of victory.

All of that erased what seemed to be a negative carry-over in the first half from LC's 36-10 loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor the previous week.

Although the Wildcats jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Bunting to senior wide receiver D'Mario Parker at the 7:30 mark of the first quarter, the Tigers would control most of the rest of the first half.

ETBU would out-gain LC 284 yards to 205, including 171 of those yards on the ground. The Tigers also dominated possession time as they held the ball for 19:26 in the first half compared to just 10:34 for LC.

Running back Jair Stover, who finished with 97 yards on 28 carries, gave ETBU a 14-7 lead following consecutive one-yard touchdown runs at 3:14 of the first quarter and 10:04 of the second.

Harris, who finished with 98 yards rushing on 13 carries and 10-for-20 for 147 yards through the air, was the latest running/throwing quarterback to keep the LC defense off-balance, especially working the read option against the Wildcats.

One of LC's few bright spots of the first half came on a dazzling trick play – Bunting handed off to junior running back Daron Bartholomew who then flipped the ball back to Bunting who hit Williams for a 37-yard touchdown pass. That tied the score at 14-14 with 8:16 left in the second quarter.

But, ETBU would regain the lead when Trevan Johnson scored from three yards out with 4:07 left. . Kicker Brett Peddicord added a 23-yard field goal as time expired and gave ETBU its 24-14 lead at halftime.

“We just didn't have that thing about us in the first half,” Moore said. “But we definitely had it in the second half.”

In the final statistics, LC won the battle of yards with 441 total yards to 395 for ETBU. The Wildcats gained 167 yards on the ground to 248 for the Tigers, but LC had the edge through the air with 274 yards to 147.

Bunting finished 21-of-32 for 274 and three touchdowns but did throw two interceptions. Williams led LC's receivers with seven catches for 106 yards and two scores. Parker finished with six catches for 82 yards while senior Dayne Reeves had six catches for 61 yards.

On the ground, Ryan Montague led LC with 60 yards on 11 carries. Bartholomew finished with 55 yards on 11 carries and Tyson had 39 yards on seven carries.

On defense, senior linebacker Taylor Cottano led LC with 10.5 tackles. Ford finished with eight tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss and the one fumble recovery. Junior linebackers Richard Logan and Nate Janzen added 5.5 and five tackles respectively.

The Wildcats will be on the road for their next game, an Oct. 15 date at Brownwood, Texas against Howard Payne University.

Based on his strategy to turn things around in this win, Dunn said he might have to do some “blue screaming” a bit earlier.

“Maybe I need to pitch more fits before the game,” he said.