LAKE CHARLES, La. - McNeese scored the first two touchdowns of the game and held HBU at bay for a 42-27 victory in Southland Conference football Saturday night at Cowboy Stadium.
Junior quarterback
Bailey Zappe completed 32-of-52 passes for 317 yards, four touchdowns and a interception for the Huskies (4-4, 1-3 SLC). Sophomore wide receiver
Jaylon Johnson made four catches for 90 yards and a touchdown, while sophomore wide receiver
Jerreth Sterns had nine catches for 56 yards. Junior
Ben Ratzlaff and senior
Trevor Larkin also made touchdown receptions. Sophomore
Ean Beek rushed for 52 yards and caught a touchdown pass.
Sophomore linebacker
Brennan Young led HBU with 17 tackles, while junior safety
Patrick Wolfe and sophomore safety
Colton Manning each made nine. Senior defensive end
Andre Walker recorded a sack, giving him 12.5 for the season and senior cornerback
Alfred King made an interception.
Cody Orgeron completed 24-of-31 passes for 303 yards, two touchdowns and an interception and rushed 10 times for 80 yards and a score. Trevor Begue had nine catches for 121 yards and a touchdown, while Cyron Sutton had six catches for 116 yards and a score. Justin Pratt rushed 11 times for 100 yards and a touchdown.
Jovon Burriss led the Cowboys (4-4, 2-3) with 10 tackles, recorded a sack and returned a fumble for a touchdown. Chris Livings had six tackles and a sack, with Andrew Hyacinth and Kody Fulp each making five tackles. Cory McCoy made an interception for McNeese.
HBU had 347 total yards, while McNeese rolled up 567. The Cowboys rushed for 264 yards, compared to 30 for the Huskies. McNeese had the ball for 34:52, with HBU totaling 25:08. The Cowboys committed 12 penalties for 94 yards, while the Huskies had nine for 84.
McNeese took the opening kickoff and Orgeron was picked off by Manning, but the play was wiped out by a roughing the passer penalty and the Cowboys finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run by Elijah Mack. After an HBU three-and-out, Orgeron threw a 31-yard touchdown to Begue to put McNeese ahead, 14-0.
The Huskies got on the board on Zappe's 5-yard touchdown pass to Larkin, but the Cowboys answered on Orgeron's 69-yard touchdown pass to Sutton.
Zappe threw another touchdown, a 15-yarder to Beek and the Huskies finally got a stop on defense. On the ensuing drive, Zappe appeared to spike a pass into the ground, but it was ruled a fumble that Burriss returned for an 11-yard touchdown as the Cowboys led, 28-14, with 6:03 remaining in the half.
After each team was forced to punt, HBU got the ball back with 2:50 left. Zappe engineered a 13-play, 80-yard drive in 2:37, capped by a 13-yard touchdown toss to Johnson to cut the deficit to 28-20 with 13 seconds left.
McNeese put the first score on the board of the second half when Justin Pratt capped an eight-play, 66-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown run to put the Cowboys ahead, 35-20, with just under two minutes remaining in the third.
Orgeron broke free for a 69-yard touchdown run with 2:56 left in the game, but the Huskies came right back and scored 45 seconds later on Zappe's two-yard touchdown pass to Ratzlaff.
The Huskies return to action when they host Southeastern Louisiana on Homecoming Saturday, Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. at Husky Stadium.
