Box Score

BELTON, TEXAS - For 13 years, Mary Hardin-Baylor has proven to be the unbeatable foe for Louisiana College. And, while the Cru's 45-34 victory over the Wildcats in Belton, Texas Saturday did not change that fact, a determined LC team showed that the gap has narrowed.
 
For four quarters, the Wildcats (4-2/2-1 in the American Southwest Conference) did things to the Cru (6-0/2-0) that no other teams had done this season. Perhaps the most impressive was 409-yard, four-touchdown effort from LC freshman quarterback Easton Melancon. That performance topped LC's previous best series passing performance by Ben McLaughlin of 368 yards in 2010.
 
Not to be outdone, senior running back Ryan Montague, who ran for 104 yards against a defense that had been giving up just 35 rushing yards per game and who burned the Cru pass defense with five catches for 135 yards and two scores. Montague's combined 239 yards were 15 more than UMHB had allowed per game all season, and LC's overall offensive effort of 476 yards more than doubled the 224 yards per game the Cru defense had averaged coming into the contest.
 
Unfortunately for LC, Mary Hardin-Baylor's offense was up to the challenge against the Wildcats' defense. LC had come into the contest yielding 326 yards and 23 points per game on defense, but saw the Cru offense rack up 540 yards in total offense on their way to 45 points.
 
The game had an eerily similar start to the Wildcats' last regular season game in Belton in 2011. LC jumped out to a 10- lead behind a 25-yard field goal from junior kicker Adan Olivares and a 69-yard touchdown pass from Melancon to Montague with5:17 left in the first quarter. For Olivares, it was his 21^st career field goal and eclipsed the previous Louisiana College record of 20 set by Nathan Furlow between 2001 and 2004.
 
LC's quick start was just as quickly countered by the Cru. Exploiting the middle of the LC defense, UMHB quarterback Zach Anderson hit wide receiver Marcus Wimby for a 66-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 10-7. On the Cru's next drive, Anderson scored on a keeper from nine yards out to give his team its first lead of the day, 14-10.
 
Just nine seconds into the second quarter, Mary Hardin-Baylor's defense added to the lead when safety Cody Jones intercepted a Melancon pass and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown. The Cru then capped their 28-point run with Elijah Hudson's four-yard touchdown to make the score 28-10.
 
Unlike 2011, however, the Wildcats fought their way back into the game. Late in the second quarter, Montague took another Melancon pass for a touchdown – this time from 34 yards out, and LC trailed 28-17 at halftime.
 
In the third quarter, Olivares added to his new record by hitting his second field goal of the game, this time from 44 yards out to cut the Cru lead to 28-20. The Wildcats looked as though they might have the chance to tie the game by stopping UMHB's next drive, but a roughing the punter penalty gave the Cru new life – which they then turned into a 10-yard touchdown run by Hudson to go up 35-20.
 
LC responded, however, with their own impressive drive. Going 65 yards in four plays, the Wildcats drew back to within eight when junior Kyle Galyon made a sensational catch on a 23-yard pass from Melancon to make the score 35-27.
 
The kicking game would become a major factor the rest of the way. The Cru opened an 11-point lead when Drew Owen connected from 28 yards out late in the third quarter. By contrast, the Wildcats missed an opportunity to draw back to within eight early in the fourth quarter when, after LC took a 10-yard loss on third and 10 from the Cru 15, Olivares missed to the left a 44-yard kick.
 
From that point on, the Wildcats could not close the two-score gap. The Cru seemed to seal the win on their ensuing drive when Anderson hit tight end Eric Nelson for a 37-yard touchdown pass to put UMHB up 45-27 with 9:38 left in the game. Anderson finished 22-of-31 for 359 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
 
The Wildcats made one final push on offense with a 13-play, 73-yard drive capped by Melancon's fourth touchdown throw of the game – a 32-yard strike to Jake Dunbar. It would get the Wildcats back to within 11, 34-24, but LC could get no closer.
 
Galyon finished as LC's leading receiver for the game with 10 catches for 93 yards. Sophomore Ladarius Gardner added five catches for 111.
 
Defensively, the Cats were led in tackles by junior Shaquille Lewis and senior Dominic Graham who each had seven. Junior Grayson Pyland recorded LC's only sack of Anderson and finished with six overall tackles.
 
The Wildcats find themselves in essentially the same situation they were a year ago after a 30-3 loss to UMHB. With four games left, if LC can win out, they will tie last season's record of 8-2. The Wildcats hope to start that streak next Saturday, Oct. 26, when they host Sul Ross State University in LC's Homecoming Game at 4 p.m. at Wildcat Stadium.