McNeese takes down Alcorn, 17-14

LAKE CHARLES – McNeese built a 17-0 halftime lead and has numerous opportunities to put the game away, but Alcorn hung around and made a game of it late before the Cowboys were able to take a knee to run the clock out in a 17-14 win here Saturday night.

Andre Sam recovered an onside kick with 1:21 to play as McNeese improved to 2-1 on the season and will next head into its Southland Conference opener at Abilene Christian next Saturday.

McNeese quarterback Cody Orgeron completed 10 of his first 11 passes and ended the night 19 of 29 for 191 yards and two touchdowns, and for the second game, did not throw an interception.

“Anytime you can get a win, that’s always a positive and that’s something we’ll be able to take away from this,” said head coach Sterlin Gilbert. “We just have to be cleaner and more consistent going forward. I love the effort our guys play with and the physicality that they play with.”

The Cowboys orchestrated a beautiful 6-play, 65-yard scoring drive that took just 1:12 off the clock for the first score of the night when Orgeron connected with Cyron Sutton from 19 yards out with 6:27 to play in the quarter.

That coming after the ball slipped out of Orgeron’s hand for a turnover on the game’s first play.

“We started off hot, obviously besides the first play with the ball slipping out of my hand but we got back in a rhythm right there and was able to tempo them a little bit and get them out of their zone and their game, and just play our game,” said Orgeron. “We went down and executed that whole drive and was able to punch it in.”

“We were able to do some things early on,” said Gilbert. “That drive was a really good one. We were able to execute and get first downs.”

Orgeron hit Begue on gains of 9 and 23 yards in the drive while J’Cobi Skinner picked up 14 yards on three carries before Orgeron’s TD strike to Sutton.

McNeese increased the lead to 14-0 when Orgeron found Trevor Begue on a 13-yard touchdown score with 13:42 to play in the second quarter, and five minutes later, Noah Anderson connected on a 37-yard field goal to make it a 17-0 lead.

The Cowboys looked to go up 24-0 on a 66-yard punt return by Cyron Sutton, but a holding called on McNeese at the Alcorn 16 nullified the score and the Cowboys were held scoreless in the series after Anderson missed right on a 44-yard field goal attempt with three minutes to play in the first half.

Alcorn starting quarterback Noah Johnson left the game early in the second quarter when he was sacked by Cody Roscoe and Damien DeGruy. That left backup Felix Harper to step in for the rest of the way. Right off the bat, the Cowboys rattled the new QB as Darion Dunn picked off passes in back-to-back drives late in the second quarter.

In the second half, Alcorn punted on its first four drives then missed a field goal on its fifth drive of the half before finding the end zone with less than five minutes to play in the game.

The Braves took advantage of a late punt block and personal foul penalty on the same play that resulted in a 13-yard touchdown pass by Harper to Chris Blair to ruin the Cowboys’ shutout with just 3:56 to play.

Alcorn capitalized on a short punt with 2:22 to play and scored 10 plays later to cut the margin to 17-14 then attempted an onside kick, which was recovered by the Cowboys.

McNeese finished the night with 324 yards off offense, 191 passing and 133 rushing.

Skinner led the Cowboys on the ground with 52 yards on 14 carries while Elijah Mack ran for 45 yards on four carries, that 45 coming on one play.

Begue caught eight passes for 94 yards and a touchdown to lead the way while Sutton and Draysean Hudson each caught four passes, Sutton with 66 yards receiving and a score and Hudson 19 yards receiving.

The Braves finished with 419 yards of offense with 111 of those in the fourth quarter.

De’Shawn Waller rushed for 77 yards while Harper completed 13 of 28 passes for 132 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Postgame Notes:
• Darion Dunn’s two interceptions is the first time a Cowboys picked off two passes since Oct. 27, 2018 (Cory McCoy at UIW).
• With 12 tackles, Jovon Burriss tied a career-high while recording his third career double-digit tackle game.
• Carlos Scott added 10 tackles for his first career double-digit tackle game.
• McNeese forced three turnovers to give it 10 on the season – 8 fumbles and 2 interceptions.
• The Cowboys improve to 14-0 all-time against members of the SWAC and 4-0 against Alcorn.