Bad breaks lead to 17-10 McNeese loss to ACU

ABILENE, Texas – Abilene Christian has waited a long time for its first-ever victory over McNeese.

On Saturday night, the Wildcats took advantage of some bad McNeese breaks late in the fourth quarter to top the Cowboys 17-10.

A muffed punt by Cyron Sutton after calling for a fair catch and being knocked into by a teammate was recovered by the Wildcats at the McNeese 37-yard line with 53 seconds to play in the fourth quarter. Then on a third-and-3 at the McNeese 18, ACU’s James Tracy pulled in a ball that bounced off of McNeese linebacker Carlos Scott’s hands, and ran 18 yards to the Cowboys’ 1. On the next play, James punched it in from 1 yard out with 13 seconds to play to give the Wildcats the lead.

Newcomer running back Elijah Mack became McNeese’s first 100-yard rusher on the season with 125 yards on 18 carries and a 6.9 yards per carry average. He had a 21-yard run to set up McNeese’s first score, a 23-yard field goal by Noah Anderson to tie the game at 3-3 early.

Cody Orgeron completed 17 of 33 for 189 yards, an interception and a touchdown. His 28-yard catch-and-run to Cyron Sutton with 1:53 to play in the fourth quarter tied the game at 10-10, and at the time, was the only scoring in the second half by either team.

The loss dropped McNeese to 2-2 on the year and 0-1 in Southland Conference play while ACU improved to 2-2 and 1-1. McNeese will return home next Saturday when it hosts Sam Houston State, a 45-6 winner over Incarnate Word on Saturday night.

The Cowboys’ defense dominated much of the game, especially in the second half when it held ACU to four three-and-outs and seven punts in the second half.

The offense had several opportunities that came up empty.

In its first series of the third quarter, a 33-yard run by Mack on the first play of the series moved the Cowboys from their own 13 to the 46. Orgeron followed with back-to-back completions, then a scramble for a couple of yards to get to the ACU 24. But a sack by the Wildcats moved the ball back to the 30, and with a stiff wind blowing in their face, the Cowboys punted it away, downing the ball at the 10.

Two series later, Orgeron moved the offense from the McNeese 20 to the ACU 18 behind a 30-yard completion to Sutton, a 9-yard completion to Rhashid Bonnette, and rushing gains by Orgeron and Justin Pratt. That led to a 38-yard field goal attempt by Noah Anderson against the wind that missed wide right with 3:00 to play in the third.

The Wildcats missed on a 38-yard field goal in their first series of the fourth quarter but McNeese was held to a three-and-out on the ensuing possession.

The Cowboys got a break when ACU punter Simon Laryea’s punt from his own 31, was shanked and went for negative-1 yard to the 30 and setting the Cowboys up in good field position.

McNeese moved the ball to the ACU 11 and opted to attempt a 28-yard field goal on fourth-and-3 instead of going for it, and the kick by Anderson was missed just to the left with 6:18 to play.

“I wanted to get points on the board,” said head coach Sterlin Gilbert. “There was still plenty of time left on the clock.”

Despite the miss, the decision was the correct one as the defense held again and ACU shanked another punt, this one going for just 9 yards to give the ball to the Cowboys at the McNeese 38.

Orgeron drove the Cowboys down the field in nine plays, capping off the drive with his flare out to Sutton who stepped by a defender and sprinted down the sideline for the game-tying score with 1:53 to play.

The Cowboys had their best offensive output of the season with 383 yards – 194 rushing and 189 passing. ACU finished with 330 passing and 84 rushing for 415 total.

Sutton reeled in five passes for 101 yards and a score while Trevor Begue caught four passes for 43 yards.

Defensively, Scott recorded 11 tackles for his second straight double-digit tackles game while Calum Foster added 10 stops.

Wildcat quarterback Luke Anthony completed 26 of 44 passes for 313 yards and a touchdown. Josh Fink was his favorite target catching 9 passes for 123 yards.

ACU scored first on a 25-yard field goal by Blair Zepeda to make it 3-0 with 4:50 to play in the first quarter.

The Cowboys moved the ball well on the ensuing drive behind a pounding running attack by Justin Pratt and Elijah Mack as the two combined to gain 51 yards on the ground in the drive.

A 21-yard pickup by Mack on a third-and-8 moved the ball to the ACU 6-yard line, but the Cowboys were only able to get one more yard after a yard pickup by Mack then back-to-back incomplete passes. The Cowboys had to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Noah Anderson against a stiff wind to tie the game 3-3 with 16 seconds to play in the first quarter.

McNeese moved the ball into Wildcat territory on its next possession but was stalled at the ACU 39 where it had to punt it away.

ACU made good on the McNeese stop on its next drive when on a third-and-4 at its own 41, quarterback Luke Anthony found a wide open James on the opposing sideline and then sprinted 59 yards for the only touchdown of the first half and giving ACU a 10-3 lead with 7:33 to play in the