Lions stun McNeese

HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana’s Brandon Acker hauled in a Jermaine Antoine tipped pass near the 35-yard line then sprinted the rest of the way to cap an 82-yard scoring play with eight seconds to play as the Lions dealt McNeese a heartbreaking 31-24 Southland Conference loss here Saturday night.

It appeared the game was heading to overtime with the scored tied at 24-24 and the Cowboys punting the ball away with the Lions taking over at their own 15-yard line with 47 seconds to play.

SLU ran on the first play for a gain of three yards and looked like it was ready to run the clock out to send it into overtime. But Justin Alo’s pass down the sideline just got by a leaping Antoine, who put his hands on the ball but jumped a tad too early. The ball fell into Acker’s hands in stride and he ran it in for the game winner.

“I thought we played real well at times,” said head coach Lance Guidry. “You have to give them (SLU) credit. They made plays when they had to.

“Defensively we forced three turnovers in the first half then nothing in the second. Offensively we sputtered all night long. Defensively we played well enough to win at times but they made some plays when needed especially in the third.”

In the third quarter, the Lions scored two touchdowns in the first four minutes of the quarter to take a 21-14 lead. One of those coming off an interception.

“Our guys battled back and it we had a chance to win the ball game late,” said Guidry. “Then it looked like we were going into overtime. They took a shot at the end. Jermaine just mistimed his jump.”

McNeese tied the game at 24-24 on a Lawayne Ross 19-yard highlight reel run. Ross took the ball up the middle and was stuffed then bounced back out of the scrum and kicked it to the left side where he sprinted for the score with 7:42 to play.

The defense held the Lions to back-to-back 3-and-out possessions as McNeese got the ball back with 2:46 to play.

McNeese moved the ball to the SLU side of the field but would be stopped short of getting a first down and was forced to punt away with 47 seconds left.

That set up the game-winner for the Lions.

“They didn’t surprise us by going for it all,” said junior linebacker Ashari Goins. “Anytime you’re in a position like that, you’re going to take a shot at it.”

SLU (2-3, 2-1) scored the game’s first points when Max Lyons recovered a fumbled snap on a punt in the end zone less than five minutes into the game.

McNeese followed with 14 unanswered points in the second quarter, both off turnovers, to take a 14-7 lead into the half.

Trailing 7-0, Jammerio Gross caused and recovered a fumble by SLU’s Julius Maracalin at the Lions’ 31-yard line. Nine plays later Tabary hit Nick Edwards all alone from 11 yards out to tie the game at 7-7 with 14:55 to play in the second quarter.

On SLU’s next possession, a busted double-reverse resulted in another fumble by the Lions and Gross was there once again to corral the ball.

With the ball at midfield, Tabary flared one out to Damon Gladney who turned it into a 30-yard gain. The next play, Tabary connected with Parker Orgeron to get the ball to the 9-yard line. After an offsides call against the Lions, Dylan Long ran it in from 4 yards out to put the Cowboys up 14-7with 6:41 to play in the half.

Offensively, McNeese (3-3, 2-2 SLC) managed just 304 yards – 196 passing and 108 rushing. James Tabary has his streak of consecutive games throwing for 200 yards or more halted after he completed 25 of 41 passes for all 196, two touchdowns and an interception.

Parker Orgeron led 10 McNeese receivers who caught a pass with five receptions for 67 yards. Orgeron also returned three punts for 44 yards and finished the night with 111 all-purpose yards.

Ryan Ross led the rushing attack with 83 yards on 13 carries including a season-long 54-yard scamper.

The Lions rolled up 396 offensive yards – 339 through the air and 57 on the ground.

Alo completed 17 of 37 for 339 with three TDs and an interception. Acker brought in five of those passes for 168 yards, including the game-winning 82-yard score.

On defense, Chris Livings led the way with nine tackles, 2 ½-tackles for a loss and a sack while Gross added seven stops, a sack, two TFLs and recovered two fumbles.

McNeese returns home next Saturday when it hosts Central Arkansas at 6 in Cowboy Stadium.