Louisiana Christian drops opener at Southwestern Assemblies of God

WAXAHACHIE, Texas – The Louisiana Christian University football team got a stellar performance from its defense Saturday night at Stuart B. Lumpkins Stadium.

In particular, the Wildcats held the NAIA’s third-best rusher from 2021 to just 19 yards on 18 carries, but LCU couldn’t get anything else going in the season opener against Southwestern Assemblies of God University, falling to the conference foe Lions, 27-0.

The Wildcats defense held the Lions in check for the most part, keeping it just a two-possession game at 13-0 heading to the fourth quarter before the Lions busted the game open with a pair of late scores. They also intercepted the Lions starting quarterback three times.

For its part, the LCU offense was stuck in neutral for the night, finishing with 72 total yards of offense, even with 85 passing yards accounted for. LCU’s best scoring chance of the evening ended as a field goal attempt that would’ve put the Wildcats on top in the 2nd quarter was bobbled, resulting in a loss of rushing yards.

Sal Palermo III threw for 85 yards on the night, completing 11 of his 38 pass attempts. Three of them were caught by Terrence Williams, Jr. for a team high 37 receiving yards. Daylon Charles led the rushing attack with 21 yards on six rush attempts.

Bennie Clark III came up with two of LCU’s three interceptions on the evening while Cole Jones had the other. D’Mario Weathersby led the Wildcats with six tackles while Micah Latin and Andre Reed each had five.

Mason Ingram punted 11 times in the game, including a booming 69-yard effort which completely flipped the field position early while standing in the back of his own end zone.

The Wildcats (0-1, 0-1 SAC) look to rebound on the road next weekend for the annual contest against a NCAA Division I foe, heading to DeLand, Fla. To take on FCS school Stetson University. Kickoff of Saturday’s game against the Hatters (1-0) is set for 6:00 P.M. EDT, 5:00 P.M. CDT at Spec. Martin Memorial Stadium