Box Score

The Louisiana College Wildcats picked up their first conference victory of the season on Saturday as they took down the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets 35-7, behind an exceptional performance from the LC defense.  The Wildcats moves to 3-1 overall on the season and 1-0 in ASC play with the victory.

The Wildcats came into the game averaging 52.0 points per game, which ranked third in the ASC and sixth in the NCAA, but against Howard Payne Saturday, the offense struggled through the first few quarters.  The high flying Wildcat offense first three drives of the game ended with a turnover on downs, a punt, and a fumble after each one began in or near Howard Payne territory. 

It wasn't until one minute remained in the first quarter when Easton Melancon, who struggled with accuracy throughout the entire game, found Farron Jones for a 13-yard touchdown to give LC a 7-0 lead. After a Howard Payne punt pinned the Wildcats inside their own 5-yard line, LC got their first of two long touchdown scores in the game when Shed Davis caught the ball along the sideline, broke a tackle, and raced in for a 70-yard touchdown, the longest touchdown pass this season.

After the Wildcat defense forced their second turnover of the game, a fumble recovered by Lecorey Demease, the offense turned the ball over on downs again at the HPU 40-yard line that led to the Yellow Jackets only touchdown drive of the game ending with a 6-yard rush by Shannon Warren to cut the LC lead in half at 14-7.

In the second half the Wildcat defense continued to dominate the game only allowing Howard Payne to gain 47 yards of offense. The defense continued their trend of takeaways, adding three more to their ASC leading 15 on the season. Lecorey Demease led the charge with an interception, his second of the year, and a fumble recovery.  Anthony Hargrave also picked off third pass of the season in the game.

Defensive coordinator Justin Charles said, "We played a great game, we were able to execute out gameplan how we wanted.  Our kids came out with some intensity and played through a lull there in the middle of the game but overall it was the best game we've played thus far.  That's the best thing about it because every game should be our best game."

While the defense controlled the second half, the offense was able to find ways to extend their seven point half time lead over the final quarters. With just 35 seconds left in the third quarter, after a Yellow Jacket missed field goal, Aurren Cooksey took the first play 80 yards for his longest rush of the season and his fifth touchdown of the year.  Cooksey added another score mid-way through the fourth quarter to give extend the Wildcats lead to 28-7.  The senior from North DeSoto High School, rushed for a career high 201 yards on 24 carries, and moved into third place in Wildcats football history in career rushing attempts.

Cooksey said, "Great game from the o-line, I couldn't have run for that much with out them. I had a really good feeling about how we would do this week, our preparation in practice was great and what we saw on film, I just thought we would be able to play well. All the glory goes to God and thanks for the coaches for believing in me when I messed up and I can't wait to play Hardin Simmons next week."

Coach Dennis Dunn said after the game, "You win the first conference game, that's the most important thing. You've got a great opponent coming in next Saturday, and a lot to look forward to, this was a good win for us.  We started off slow and could not get into a rhythm offensively, but when you have almost 600 yards of offense and win 35-7 and you're frustrated that tells you something about how good this football team can be."

"Thought the defense played great, I've been saying it since I've been here, to win a championship you've got to play great defense and our defense is really playing at a high level and we just have to keep getting better and keep playing hard.  We're really excited about where they are right now. We'll be clicking offensively, Easton had one of those game where he was just off. He missed some throws, and he knows that, but Cooksey stepped up and rushed for 200, we put the ball in his hands and let him win the game for us."

The Wildcats will take on #12 ranked Hardin-Simmons next Saturday night at 6pm at Wildcat Field. It will also serve as Church Youth Group Night as Louisiana College football welcomes youth groups from across central Louisiana to see the Wildcats in action. Keep up with Louisiana College football news at lcwildcats.net and for the latest follow LC__Football on Twitter.