Box Score
PINEVILLE, La. – Louisiana College defeated Texas Lutheran University Saturday 38-21, but it was a win that left the Wildcats feeling less than satisfied.

Despite the fact the win kept LC, 5-3 overall and 5-1 in the American Southwest Conference, in the hunt for post-season play, the caliber of play for the Wildcats seemed much lower than it had been over the last several games – something LC coach Dennis Dunn took note of with his team.

“Three years ago we would've been celebrating,” Dunn said. “But our expectations are just a bit higher at this stage of our development. The other side of it is when you can win like that, having one of those days, that tells you that you have your program where the expectations need to be.

It wasn't that the Wildcats played terrible, just not as well as they have been accustomed to playing. Case in point, the LC offense which has been averaging over 500 yards per game was held to just 399.
Senior quarterback Ben McLaughlin had an “off-game” by previous standard throwing for 302 yards on two touchdowns. He did complete 31 of his 43 attempts but also admitted his game was off.

“We were fighting against ourselves,” McLaughlin said. “ We had some receivers open but it seemed like it was one of those days where I was a foot off one way or the other. We just couldn't connect.”

The Wildcats' running game, which has been depleted by injuries, managed 97 yards, 91 of which came from freshman CerDerrick Tyson who had 18 of the team's 24 rushing attempts. Tyson also scored three times, twice with short runs and once on a pass from McLaughlin.

Texas Lutheran struck first in the game on a 25-yard touchdown pass by quarterback Mitchell Bunger, to Steven Thrash, but LC answered quickly with an 84-yard kickoff return by Darnell Williams for a touchdown tying the score at 7.

The rest of the first half would be dominated by LC on the offensive end with the Wildcats scoring 17 more points and the defense keeping TLU from scoring again.

Tyson capped a 12-play, 74-yard drive with a one-yard score to make it 14-7, LC with 11:06 left in the second quarter. Later, Tyson scored again, this time from two yards out. That 10-play, 85-yard drive gave the Wildcats a 21-7 lead.

LC would get one final drive in the half and settled for a 40-yard field goal from John Michiels to make the score 24-7 at the half.

The Wildcats returned to the field in the third quarter to a strange rash of penalties by TLU who couldn't seem to keep the ball inbounds on the kickoff. But, the TLU defense made quick work of the LC offense and got the ball back after a three-and-out.

LC continued to struggle throughout the remainder of the game allowing TLU to score two times. Bunger capped a drive with a one-yard run. Following a Tyson one-yard score on a pass from McLaughlin for LC, Bunger hit Thrash for a 10-yard pass to bring the Bulldogs within 10, 31-21 with 9:35 left to play in the game.

LC would cap the scoring when McLaughlin found senior Jordan Rideaux for a 3-yard pass to cap a 9-play, 62-yard drive with 6:08 left. Rideaux finished the game with 12 catches for 95 yards. Williams added 9 catches for 120 yards.

The Wildcat defense held TLU to 166-yards rushing, 199-yards passing and Rideaux had the lone interception of the day for LC after being substituted late in the first half on defense. TLU did manage two fourth down conversions.

Sophomore linebacker Nate Janzen led the Wildcats with 10.5 tackles while junior linebacker Taylor Cottano had six tackles and one sack on the LC defense. But, Cottano also agreed that the overall team effort was lacking.

“We're never happy on defense giving up any points,” Cottano said. “We came out this week looking at a team that was lowered down and I kind of think we took them for granted a little bit.”

“We played average,” added sophomore safety Reggie Calhoun. “We didn't play like we've been playing as far as offense at the top of our ability and on defense we had a couple mental breakdowns. The next couple weeks that won't fly.”

Indeed, the Wildcats will need to play better in their final two games, one of which comes next Saturday at Abilene, Texas against McMurry in what will be a showdown of the league's two top quarterbacks, Jake Mullen of McMurry and McLaughlin for LC.

“They'll rebound,” Dunn said of his team. “Ben McLaughlin is a great leader, he'll respond, our offensive will respond. We'll have a much better week.”