Cowboy Football

By Mason Griffin

The Poke Press

McNeese football held off a late Northwestern State rally to secure a 24-21 victory on Oct. 17 at Turpin Stadium in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

The Cowboys built a 24-7 lead early in the fourth quarter before the Demons scored twice to make it a three-point game. McNeese’s early second-half surge proved to be the difference as the Cowboys earned a conference win on the road.

After kicker Deaglan Camron’s 20-yard field goal gave McNeese a 3-0 lead in the second quarter, Northwestern State responded with a 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Zach Wilcke to wide receiver Amaaz Eugene to take a 7-3 advantage.

McNeese took control in the third quarter with two quick touchdowns. Running back Omiri Wiggins scored on a 6-yard run to put the Cowboys back in front, and quarterback Jake Strong connected with wide receiver Kevin Rideau for a 37-yard touchdown pass less than two minutes later. The two scores gave McNeese a 17-7 lead entering the fourth quarter.

The Cowboys extended their advantage on the opening drive of the fourth quarter when running back Hutch Swilley powered into the end zone from 2 yards out, capping a 91-yard drive to make it 24-7.

Northwestern State refused to go away. Wilcke scored on a 12-yard run to cut the deficit to 10, and the Demons added a 28-yard touchdown pass from Wilcke to wide receiver Camryn Davis with 17 seconds remaining, bringing the score to 24-21. However, McNeese held on in the final seconds to secure the victory.

“Yeah, we won a road conference which is never easy, we’re 2-2 in the league, which at least we got back to .500” McNeese head coach Matt Viator said.

Strong led the Cowboys through the air, completing 18 of 28 passes for 282 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Rideau finished with two receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown, while Swilley led the rushing attack with 71 yards and a score on 14 carries. Wiggins added 66 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Despite being outgained in first downs, 25-18, McNeese finished with 428 total offensive yards compared with Northwestern State’s 399. The Cowboys also benefited from four Northwestern State fumbles, recovering one of their own two lost fumbles and limiting the Demons’ opportunities.

The win improved McNeese to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in Southland Conference play, while Northwestern State fell to 0-7 overall and 0-4 in conference play.

Cowgirl Soccer

By Wyatt Junkmann

The Poke Press

The Cowgirls continue to make a push to the postseason, but a slight hiccup this week puts them at a slight disadvantage in the standings.

Starting with a draw against Houston Christian on Oct 11, the Cowgirls and the Huskies drew even at one point a piece. Both sides had a similar score in terms of total shots taken by both parties, along with the same amount of saves and corner kicks, but McNeese drew 10 total fouls and a yellow card early into the second half that brought the aggression down from the Cowgirls and started to hinder the results. Nevertheless, ties still pay points, and the tie against Houston Christian put McNeese 5th entering their match against Incarnate Word, just two points out from the #1 seed.

The matchup between the UIW Cardinals and the McNeese Cowgirls carried weight, as a win would vault either team to the No. 1 seed, or at least put them in contention for it. But the Cowgirls were not really able to get anything going on either side of the game, with the defense being tested against a very athletic Cardinals group and a shutdown offense not able to make much happen. When the Cardinals jumped out to a two-score lead early, the Cowgirls needed to up the aggression to find their way back in this match.

After a goal in the 71st minute by senior forward Morgan Fiedler, the shot in the arm that the Cowgirls needed had arrived, as they played a much cleaner, but more aggressive ball in an attempt to get back into the matchup.

However, the momentum faded away, and the Cowgirls started to make a lot more mistakes, drawing themselves back into a stretch where they struggled to have anything going for them. Two yellow cards to Rebecca Romero and Coach Alexis Cable within two minutes of each other nearing five minutes to play brought the energy in their attack down.

The Cowgirls fell to 8-6-2 overall, and 3-2-2 in conference play after the draw with HCU and the loss to UIW. The Cowgirls are currently sitting in the final spot to make it to the conference tournament with tough matches ahead against East Texas A&M who is just behind the Cowgirls in the transfer spot, and last year’s conference champion and the No. 5 seed in Northwestern State. McNeese will then wrap up conference play against the current No. 1 seed Lamar. With the tournament approaching, McNeese needs to find itself a cushion on the bubble to make the push to the playoffs.

Cowgirl Volleyball

By Wyatt Junkmann

The Poke Press

A clean sweep over the Northwestern State Demons and a close match against the UIW Cardinals are proving critical in keeping the Cowgirls’ playoff hopes alive.

Against Northwestern State on Saturday, the Cowgirls put together a much more dominant show of force, as they scored 22 more points than the Demons, and held them below the double-digit point total in one set. Opposite Gabbie Maldonado had herself an impactful day, scoring 15 of McNeese’s 43 total kills with a .560 hitting percentage and scoring 2 blocks for the Cowgirls.

“Megan (Grose) will feed Gabbie 100 times in a row if she can but it’s because Gabbie produces,” said McNeese Volleyball Head Coach Tayler Gray. “Gabbie produces in practices and in matches… (she) is someone who is a pillar for this program, so when we’re in tight situations or if the match is on the line, we are going to feed the ball to her.”

The three-game win streak, however, was broken against the Cardinals, however, the Cowgirls were very close to pulling off the upset victory on the road. The Cowgirls took the Cardinals to a five set-match, but the Cardinals were more offensively consistent allowing Incarnate Word to hold off the upset. Gaby Santiago had herself a career day and led the Cowgirls defensively, recording 28 total digs in the match, a career high.

Although the Cowgirls took a loss, they head to Houston Christian on Saturday to end the Texas trip against the Huskies at 11 a.m.

They will then head back home to face off against Southeastern, a team that has beaten the Cowgirls before, but with a new look on how this program has been executing, could another upset be on the cards for Coach Gray and her group?

Find out next week at Townsley Law Arena, Oct 29 at 6 pm. All games will also be streamed on ESPN+.

Bayou Bandits and Women’s Basketball

By Wyatt Junkmann

The Poke Press

The Southland Conference released their preseason ranking for both men’s and women’s basketball, with McNeese holding the top spot in men’s basketball and women’s slotting in at the 5th position.

The Cowgirls enter the season under a new regime, as Coach Ashton Feldhaus took over the program after Coach Ayla Guzzardo left following the departure of former McNeese Athletic Director Heath Schroyer. Feldhaus took her former program, the Morehead State Eagles, to an 18-win season and a WNIT appearance last year.

While this roster looks a lot different than just the year prior, the McNeese Cowgirls still received a first-place vote in the rankings. Feldhaus takes over a 29-6 team that had made the WBIT’s second round and was the dominant force in the Southland Conference, falling just short to the SFA Ladyjacks in the conference championship.

The Bayou Bandits, led by Bill Armstrong, spends another year at the No. 1 preseason spot, with every eligible voter except McNeese, which could not vote for itself, picking the Cowboys to win the conference championship. Armstrong looks to continue from his 28-6 record from the year prior, which produced a third straight conference title and a bid to the NCAA Men’s March Madness, resulting in a 10-point loss over Vanderbilt.

With former high-major talent all over this roster, how far will Armstrong lead the Bandits this year?

Cowboy Baseball

By Wyatt Junkmann

The Poke Press

While most fall ball events for the Cowboys are intrasquad battles, there are two games against other teams, starting with McNeese traveling west to College Station to face off against Texas A&M.

In a scheduled 12-inning game between the Cowboys and the Aggies, things looked to be going in McNeese’s favor as they led Texas A&M in the middle of the 5th inning by two scores after sophomore catcher Connor Walker hit a two-run home run at the top of the second inning. Very quickly, however, did the Aggies took back the lead as just two innings later, McNeese trailed 3-4.

The Cowboys scored three runs over the next two innings, putting themselves up 6-5 against the Aggies while transitioning to the bottom of the ninth inning. Texas A&M then tied the game, and each put up a total of 10 runs, bringing the game to a twelfth inning. The Aggies finally broke the tie, defeating McNeese 13-10.

The Cowboys will travel to UL Lafayette Saturday, Oct. 24, to play their final scrimmage. Following that game, there will be three more intrasquad events Oct. 29 and Oct 30 before a different type of baseball is played on Nov. 5: a “Banana Ball.”

In Southland Conference baseball news, Kendall Rogers reported on X that the Southland Conference has approved the experimental use of the Automated Ball-Strike, or ABS, challenge system within conference play in the regular season, starting this upcoming year. Schools will have to handle the costs of the system during the regular season, while the conference will then have to cover the cost during the conference tournament.

The ABS system was introduced within the Major League Baseball to help eliminate human error when calling balls and strikes. Major conferences within the collegiate level such as the Southeastern Conference (SEC) experimented with the system last year.

Using the system, if a batter or catcher disagrees with the umpire’s call, they can challenge it with the computer technology tracking the position of the ball to determine if the ball was in or out of a batter’s strike zone. Most schools within the Southland already have the infrastructure needed for the system, as similar technology is used to track a ball’s velocity, distance traveled, and other data.

Batters and catches do not have an unlimited number of challenges. In the Major League Baseball, teams only have two total challenges. A challenge can remain if the challenge is successful in overturning the call, but if the umpire’s call stands, the team will lose the challenge. It is not yet confirmed how many challenges the Southland schools will have.

With new rules coming into play and an optimistic result against a high-major Division 1 school, there are a lot of signs pointing to a very interesting season for the Cowboys.