PLAINVIEW, Texas – The reigning Sooner Athletic Conference champion, RV/#19 Louisiana Christian University football team scored three-straight touchdowns to end the third and start the fourth quarters to open up what was a three-point game in a 44-27 win over the Wayland Baptist Pioneers Saturday night at the Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium.
RV/#19 Louisiana Christian moved to 3-0 overall for the first time since the 2023 season. That year, LCU started 7-0 on its way to winning the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship for the first time and clinched a spot in the NAIA Football Championship Series. The win also moved the Wildcats to 2-0 in SAC play.
After allowing Wayland Baptist (1-2, 0-2 SAC) to score a field goal on the game's opening possession for a 3-0 lead, Louisiana Christian needed less than two minutes to take the lead for good as
Jaterrius Johnson capped a seven-play drive with a one-yard plunge to put the Wildcats up 7-0.
The LCU defense forced a three-and-out, and the offense needed just three plays to extend the lead. It was Johnson who set up the score as he busted loose for a 36-yard scamper before going out of bounds at the two-yard line.
Datlan Cunningham cleaned it up on the next play, getting into the end zone for a 14-3 LCU lead.
With the turn of the field to start the second quarter, the game seemed to turn towards Wayland Baptist a bit as the Pioneers scored the next 10 points to make it a one-point game at 14-13. LCU answered the challenge with an eight-play, 75-yard drive which saw
Bryce Perkins connect with
EJ Scott for 25 yards to get the drive in motion, and then Perkins connected with
Omarius Davis from 17 yards out to end it with a touchdown and a 21-13 Wildcat lead, which would be the halftime score.
LCU took the kickoff to start the third quarter and, on the first play from scrimmage, got a 30-yard gain from
Phillip Jones II to get the Wildcats into Pioneer territory. LCU got inside the 10, but the drive would stall and
Preston Baker knocked in a field goal from 25 yards out to make it 24-13 Wildcats.
WBU tightened things up late in the third quarter with a touchdown, tacking on a two-point conversion to cut LCU's lead down to just a field goal at 24-21.
But that's where the game turned solely into Louisiana Christian's favor. On the first play following the kickoff, Johnson broke free for a 41-yard gainer. Right after that, Scott went over a defender to grab a pass from Perkins in the end zone for a 34-yard score and a 30-21 lead.
After a three-and-out got the Wildcats the ball back, Perkins went to Scott to pick up a 3
rd-and-8 play with a gain of 16 yards and, on the very next play, Johnson broke free for a 62-yard rumble to the end zone to extend the lead to 37-21.
Backing up Wayland Baptist almost all the way to its own end zone, with a stiff wind now blowing in the faces of the Pioneers, helped make things almost easy for LCU as a 12-yard punt set up the Wildcats already inside the Pioneer red zone at the 18-yard line. Just two plays later,
Darius Washington took in a pass from Perkins, made three WBU defenders miss tackles, and sauntered into the end zone for a 16-yard score and a 44-21 lead.
The Pioneers added a touchdown on their ensuing drive but got no closer after the Wildcats stopped the two-point conversion attempt.
Johnson had himself a night on the ground, rushing 15 times for a career-high 196 yards and a pair of touchdowns, averaging 13.1 yards per rush.
Ashontis Brooks Jr. carried the ball 13 times for 75 yards.
Perkins finished the evening 14-of-25 through the air for 232 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception.
Scott was his top target, catching five passes for 102 yards and a score.
Davis also caught five passes, gaining 75 yards and a touchdown.
Washington made three catches for 39 yards and a touchdown as well.
The Wildcats had 590 yards of total offense, 341 on the ground and 249 through the air.
Trace McHugh collected LCU's lone turnover of the game with a full-stretch diving interception late in the contest to snuff out a WBU drive deep in Wildcat territory.
Brandon Johnson II had seven tackles to lead the defense, two behind the line of scrimmage.
Marques Hampton,
Jonathan Moore-LeDay, and
Jermarian Jackson all sacked the Pioneer quarterback once.
LCU's defense held Wayland Baptist to 333 total yards of offense and made 17 tackles behind the line of scrimmage for losses.
The RV/#19 Wildcats step out of SAC play for their second game of the year against a NCAA D1 program next Saturday, heading down to Baton Rouge to take on Southern. Kickoff of Saturday's contest against the Jaguars (1-2) is set for 6 p.m. at A.W. Mumford Stadium.
