Panthers hold late to edge Ragin’ Cajuns, 20-17

LAFAYETTE – Another potential epic Homecoming comeback came up just short for the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in its Sun Belt Conference contest against East Division rival Georgia State.

Gavin Pringle’s interception in the end zone with 30 seconds remaining halted a potential game-winning drive and helped the Panthers stave off a furious rally and claim a 20-17 victory Saturday night at Cajun Field.

Louisiana (4-3, 1-2 SBC) trailed 20-0 in the second quarter before Jacob Kibodi scored on a 3-yard run to cut the GSU lead to 20-7 at intermission.

The Ragin’ Cajuns added a 23-yard field goal midway through the third quarter by Kenneth Almendares before Zeon Chriss connected with Terrance Carter for a 2-yard scoring pass with 2:01 remaining in the third to cut the deficit to 20-17.

Georgia State (6-1, 3-1 SBC), which accumulated 298 yards of total offense in the first half, punted in three of its five possessions in the second and was limited to 45 yards of total offense after halftime.

Louisiana, which rallied from homecoming deficits of 26 (1982, vs. then-Northeast Louisiana) and 21 points (2013, vs. New Mexico State), forced GSU to punt with 6:56 remaining and was ready for its third 20-point comeback. Chriss, who rushed for a game-high 119 yards, gained 34 yards on third-and-6 to the GSU 42 before later connecting with Robert Williams for a 10-yard pass to the Panther 23.

A pair of penalties forced Louisiana into a first-and-25 at the GSU 38, but after a 12-yard pass to Williams, Chriss would convert a third-and-13 with a 13-yard scramble to the Panther 13.

Jacob Kibodi’s 7-yard run put the ball on the GSU 6 before the Panthers stopped Kibodi for a 1-yard loss on the following play and Pringle would pick off Chriss to seal the game.

Louisiana, which finished with a season-low 289 yards of total offense, struggled in the first half, going 3-and-out on four of its first five drives. A 16-play, first-quarter drive which consumed nearly seven minutes off the clock failed to produce points as Kenneth Almendares’ 42-yard field goal attempt sailed right – his first miss of the season and ending a school-record tying streak of 18 consecutive field goals made dating back to last season.

GSU would take a 6-0 lead in the second quarter when Darren Grainger connected with Ahmon Green on a 24-yard pass and one play after Kendre’ Gant’s 16-yard sack and intentional grounding penalty.

Gant, who had four tackles with a pair of sacks, helped Louisiana stop an opening drive by the Panthers when he scooped up Marcus Carroll’s fumble at the UL 1 and raced 29 yards on the return.

Grainger, who was 17-for-22 for 211 yards in the game, found Green for a second TD in the second quarter as the duo connected on a 3-yard score. Grainger went to the bench on the first play of the Panther’s following drive with an apparent injury and Mikale Colasurdo led the team downfield and capping a 10-play, 68-yard drive with a 3-yard rush for a 20-0 lead with 4:23 left in the half.

Gant would give Louisiana solid field position late in the half when his forced fumble on Colasurdo was recovered by Marcus Wiser at the GSU 27.

Five plays later, Kibodi capped off the drive with a 3-yard run up the middle for his fifth rushing TD of the season.

Chriss, who was 6-for-17 in the air in the opening half, finished 8-for-11 after intermission to finish 14-for-28 for 106 yards. Courtline Flowers led Louisiana with seven tackles with Cameron Whitfield, Keyon Martin and Jasper Williams adding six each.

Louisiana will play its next two games on the road beginning with a SBC West battle at South Alabama (Oct. 28) followed by an Nov. 4 contest at Arkansas State.

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Head Coach Michael Desormeaux Quotes
Opening statement…
“So obviously a tough one tonight, you know you can look back at this one and there’s going to be a bunch of things that you wish that you could get back. I’m always proud of these guys, and the way they fight and they play to the end and they believe that they’re going to find a way to win and we got the ball down there inside of 10 and a chance to win. You know with under a minute left, and we talked about it at half time, you just got to believe and come out. You know the first half we didn’t play well on offense, we were just one off. When you have a guy open, no protection, a little bit off on a throw a little high a little low whatever the case may be. On the run game, get behind the sticks and just couldn’t get a rhythm. In the first half, the two drives that we got a first down and got the ball moving were good drives and then the rest of it was three and out. Just really weren’t clicking in the first half which is disappointing. You felt like coming into it you had a good plan coming off of a bye week and reality is the second half we didn’t do. We just got to practice some stuff and coach it up a little bit in the locker room and make sure we got it when we got back out there. Just a little bit too late there.”

On if it any more frustrating of a loss where you get down there, have the opportunity, and doesn’t go in your favor…
“I think no matter how you lost that game it’d be frustrating. It never comes down to one play or one person, we shouldn’t have been in the situation where we had to score with under a minute left in the football game. It’d have been disappointing regardless.”

On what he saw on the final offensive play…
“It was a play that we had a lot of faith in, I think Pete’s (Peter LeBlanc) coming open in the corner probably just a little bit low on the throw. It’s a play that we’ve repped. It’s a good play for us and it’s one we felt really good about in the past two weeks. It felt like we had a chance there, just didn’t connect.”