JACKSON, Miss. – The Louisiana College football team roared back from a 20-3 fourth quarter deficit with 21 straight points to take the lead with four minutes remaining, but Belhaven struck twice in the final 30 seconds to drop the Wildcats to their first defeat of the season, falling 33-24 to the Blazers Saturday afternoon at the Belhaven Bowl Stadium.

A fourth down stop by the Wildcat defense shortly after the start of the fourth quarter seemed to get the offense in motion as Sal Palermo III started to connect with his receivers and move the ball down the field, with the drive resulting in an eight-yard touchdown pass to Canaan Leon to pull the deficit down to 20-10 with 9:41 left in the game.

After a quick three and out forced by the defense, it only took one play for the Wildcats to strike as Palermo found Micah Dunn down the sideline for a 60-yard touchdown pass, and suddenly all momentum was on LC's side. That was furthered by a successful two-point conversion as Palermo found Devin Briscoe cutting inside on a slant for the conversion and a 20-17 score.

Another quick three-and-out by Belhaven set up the Wildcats on the Blazers side of the field, and again LC took advantage. Palermo found Glenn White for a 28-yard gain on a third and ten play, and then three plays later Palermo found Leon for a 23-yard score to give the Wildcats the lead with 4:01 to play.

The Wildcats seemed to have everything where they wanted it with Belhaven facing third and 20 at the LC 41 with less than 45 seconds left in the game, but a wide receiver got loose on the left side for the touchdown to put the Blazers back ahead. With just 17 second to work with, a desperation pass was intercepted and returned all the way for another Blazer score to put the game out of reach.

Sal Palermo III went 18 of 39 throwing the ball for 214 yards, three touchdowns, and the one interception. His favorite target was Canaan Leon, who had 11 catches for 91 yard and two scores. Micah Dunn caught three passes for 72 yards and a score. The LC rushing attack struggled to get going, as Devin Briscoe led the team with 12 rushes for 28 yards.

The Wildcats (1-1, 1-1 ASC) hope home cooking brings back the wins next Saturday as LC hosts the weather postponed contest against Southwestern. Kickoff against the Pirates (0-2, 0-2 ASC) is set for 1:00 P.M. at Wildcat Field.