| Photo by Kelly Richard |
| Cowboy Football By Mason Griffin The Poke Press McNeese football faced one of its toughest challenges of the season Saturday, traveling to Tiger Stadium to take on No. 11 LSU. The Cowboys fell 63-14 as the Tigers’ high-powered offense controlled the game from the opening kickoff. McNeese moved the ball on its opening possession, reaching the LSU 45-yard line before a Jake Strong interception ended the drive. The Tigers took advantage of the turnover to take an early 7-0 lead. LSU took control early, scoring twice in the opening quarter. Running back Dilin Jones scored on a 1-yard run, followed by a 1-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Sam Leavitt to tight end Roman Mothershed with 3:18 left in the quarter. The Tigers continued to build their lead in the second quarter. Landen Clark scored on a 3-yard run, before Corey Barber Jr. caught two touchdown passes from Leavitt. Barber’s first touchdown was scored on a 6-yard reception pass, and his second a 12-yard completion with 57 seconds left in the half. McNeese was unable to find the end zone and entered halftime trailing 35-0. LSU added two more touchdowns early in the third quarter. Defensive lineman Deuce Geralds scored on a 1-yard run and running back Harlem Berry followed with an 11-yard touchdown run to push the Tigers’ lead to 49-0. McNeese then found a spark when quarterback Brady Barrier connected with wide receiver Jamaal Levi on a 43-yard touchdown pass. About a minute later, Levi scored again, taking a reverse from running back Hutch Swilley 64 yards for another touchdown. “I grew up an LSU fan and just to do it myself was a big thing.” Jamaal Levi said after scoring two touchdowns against LSU. LSU put the game away with two more touchdowns from running back Stacy Gage. Gage broke a 46-yard touchdown run before adding a 39-yard touchdown run less than three minutes later. “You know I thought our kids played hard; we just couldn’t do enough on offense really to keep them off the field, but they’re really good on defense,” McNeese head coach Matt Viator said. McNeese finished with 196 total yards, while LSU totaled 731 yards on offense. The Cowboys recorded 102 rushing yards and 94 passing yards. McNeese fell to 2-4 overall while LSU improved to 4-1 for the season. The Cowboys will have a bye week before returning to Southland Conference play against Northwestern State on Oct. 17. |
| Cowgirl Soccer By Wyatt Junkmann The Poke Press A scoreless event against Nicholls State gave McNeese their first tie of the season last Friday night. Although the match was scoreless, it was not from a lack of effort, as the Cowgirls made 22 attempts to score, nine of which were on goal shots. Nicholls goalkeeper Aislinn Wright recorded nine saves against the Cowgirls, proving the be instrumental in keeping the game scoreless. McNeese freshman midfielder Isabella Baltov was a pivotal part of this offense with five of the 22 shots taken by her. Baltov tied most shots of the night with Sumayah Brown who also took five shots on the goal. McNeese moved to 7-5-1 for the season and 2-1-1 in conference play. The Cowgirls will travel to Edinburg to play UTRGV Thursday 6:30 p.m. where the Vaqueros are looking to turn their season around after going 0-2-1 in their first three conference games. Tune in on ESPN+ to watch how the Cowgirls fair on the road. Cowgirl Volleyball By Wyatt Junkmann The Poke Press A major bounce back victory for McNeese came in the Battle of the Border, as the Cowgirls swept Lamar 3-0 Saturday. McNeese has been on a three-game losing streak after facing the top three seeds in Southland Conference play, so when the Cardinals came to town, it was critical for the Cowgirls to make a turnaround to qualify for a post-season push. Set 1 was the closest battle against Lamar, as the set never had multi-score runs for either team to pull far ahead. It was more the opposite as the team down went on runs to close the gap. The Cowgirls finally caught a break with back-to-back attacking errors made by Lamar, as well as a kill by freshman outside hitter Gaby Santiago, putting McNeese up 1-0 in the match, winning 27-25. Set 2 was a true test for McNeese being down four scores early, but after multiple runs for the Cowgirls, they fought their way back, winning by four scores against Lamar, 25-21. It was a late comeback as the Cowgirls’ did not take the lead until they tied at 20 with Lamar. Senior outside hitter, Carli Banks, served the Cowgirls to a 4-0 scoring run to close out the set. Set 3 was much less of a battle between the Cardinals and the Cowgirls as McNeese led Lamar by six points, 15-9, at the media timeout. That level of success continued and the Cowgirls closed out the set 25-16. “For us, we kind of like the underdog mentality, we don’t mind a slow start.” coach Tayler Gray said in her post-game interview. “I get more nervous with a fast start, I just want us to stay mentally locked in the whole time. If we can pass, we’re lethal. We just have to continue to pass extremely well.” The Cowgirls improved to 5-10 overall and 1-3 in conference play. With more favorable matchups coming for the Cowgirls, facing Southeastern on the road, followed by New Orleans and East Texas A&M at home, the Cowgirls can use this win against Lamar to build momentum. The season is still young, but time is running out for the Cowgirls to prove themselves as contenders in the Southland. A win is always a good place to start building momentum. Keep watching the Cowgirls as they continue their quest to make an appearance in Corpus Christi for the Southland Conference Tournament. All games are streamed live on ESPN+. |
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