Box Score
ABILENE, Texas – In a season of late-game theatrics, it was appropriate that the Louisiana College Wildcats would secure their third-consecutive winning season with a last minute touchdown in a 35-32 win over McMurry.

LC, which improved to 6-3 overall and 6-1 in the American Southwest Conference, trailed by four with just over two minutes to play in the game but Wildcats quarterback Ben McLaughlin orchestrated a 10-play, 83-yard drive that ended with an 18-yard touchdown pass to D'Mario Parker with 54 seconds to play.

And, although McMurry drove the ball to the LC five and had an opportunity to reclaim the lead with 10 seconds to play, junior Darnell Williams, a wide receiver installed at safety, intercepted a fade pass in the endzone to ice the game for LC and set up a week 10 battle for second place in the ASC, and potential playoff berth, against Hardin-Simmons at 1 p.m. in Wildcat Stadium this Saturday.

“We run a two-minute offense throughout the game, so when it gets down to the last few minutes, we feel like we are in our element,” McLaughlin said. “Our defense gave us a stop inside the red zone and got us the ball back with enough time to put a nice drive together. Coach Dunn sent in some great plays, we got a few completions and gave ourselves a chance to get the win.”

“It was another big day for us,” LC coach Dennis Dunn said. “We showed a lot of poise under pressure and Ben ran our two minute offense like we do every day in practice. I'm so proud of these young men. We battled through and got a win.”

It's a win that opens the door for LC to possibly earn its first berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs, although to do so they'll have to beat a ranked opponent in Hardin-Simmons and hope to impress the selection committee.

“We just excited to have a chance,” McLaughlin said. “The fact that we are going into week 10 with the knowledge that we still have a shot to play in the postseason is wonderful, but we want to keep everything in perspective. Our first priority is to try to beat Hardin-Simmons. Then, whatever happens, happens.”

McMurry took the early lead, 3-0, thanks to a 23-yard field goal by Jessie Garcia on the opening drive of the game but the Wildcats scored 14 unanswered points, a four-yard touchdown run by Chad Hindman and a six-yard touchdown pass from Ben McLauhglin to Jordan RIdeaux, to claim a multiple-possession lead by the midway point of the second quarter.

RJ Long caught a seven-yard pass from McMurry quarterback Stephen Warren to pull the home team to within 14-10 of the lead at the half.

The Wildcats would build on their lead to 21-10 early in the third quarter with a 75-yard touchdown pass from McLaughlin to Williams.

Long would catch a second touchdown pass, this a 45 -yard completion from Landry Gunter, to bring the score to 21-17.

McLaughlin would find Williams in the end zone from 20 yards out early in the fourth quarter to rebuild LC's 11-point lead at 28-17.

Gunter, however, put together an 11-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Franklin, a subsequent two-point conversion pass, also to Franklin, and a 28-25 deficit for McMurry.

On the ensuing LC possession McMurry's Will Morris intercepted a pass and raced 77 yards for the score and a 32-28 advantage with 7:55 to play and set up the Wildcats' late-game heroics.