Box Score Box Score A week after a disappointing 38-32 loss to former ASC rival Texas Lutheran, the Louisiana College Wildcats showed no signs of a big-game hangover, as the Wildcats' "White Shirt" defense forced a season-high five turnovers in a 37-13 win over Bacone College.Â
Playing the Warriors for the first time since 2009, the Wildcats used a dominant defensive and special teams effort to jump out to a 16-0 lead at the half.Â
After an
Ira Jewitt interception gave LC the ball at the Warrior 30 yard line, the Wildcats drove the ball 30 yards in 2:57 for their first score of the game on a one yard touchdown plunge by sophomore running back
Aurren Cooksey.
After shutting down Bacone's offense on their ensuing possession, the Wildcats came up with another big play, this one via a blocked punt senior defensive back Shaq Lewis that was recovered by
Lecorey Demease at the Warrior 21 yard line.
That set up an
Adan Olivares 21 yard field goal that gave LC a 10-0 lead after the 1
st quarter.
The Wildcats' special teams would make two more big plays before the first half ended, as C.J. Hawkins blocked another Bacone punt and recovered it at the Warrior 11 yard line.
That blocked punt was Hawkins' was the third of his career, which moved him into a tie for first place on LC's all-time list with former Wildcat defensive tackle Robert Wilson.
Following the blocked punt, Olivares would add another field goal, this one from 40 yards out, to give LC a 13-0 lead heading into the locker room.
Bacone would show some signs of life in the second half, as they answered Olivares' third field goal of the game with a touchdown on a fumble recovery in the end zone by defensive lineman Corey Fletcher in the endzone to make the score 16-6.
A 43 yard passing touchdown from Warrior quarterback Omar Kharroub to David Chapman at the 10:46 mark of the 4
th quarter put Bacone within striking distance at 16-13, but that was as close as the Warriors would get, as the Wildcats answered with 21 straight unanswered points to close out the game.
The first came on a beautiful 47 yard touchdown pass from
Easton Melancon to junior receiver
Ladarius Gardner less than a minute after Chapman's touchdown.
Melancon would then strike again at the 6:29 mark of the 4
th quarter with a 4-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver
Kyle Galyon. It was Galyon's first touchdown grab of the year and put the Wildcats up 30-13.
LC would get their final score of the contest less than 30 seconds later when senior cornerback
Ira Jewitt returned a Kharroub pass 57 yards for a touchdown to bring the score to the eventual final of 37-13.
It was the third career interception return for a touchdown by Jewitt, tying him with current LC co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach
Justin Charles for first place on LC's career record list.
It also brought Jewitt's career interception return yardage total to 236, which makes him LC's all-time career record, breaking Reggie Calhoun's previous record of 234.
The Wildcats (2-2) will continue their rigorous 2014 schedule with a date against Top-10 ranked Wesley College next Saturday in Dover, Delaware as part of a home-and-home series between the two teams. The Wildcats are returning Wesley's visit to Pineville from 2012, in which the Wildcats fell 25-22 in one of the best games ever played at Wildcat Field.Â
That game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. eastern time in Dover (12 p.m. noon time in Pineville).Â
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