BEAUMONT, Texas – On a night when Lamar University held No. 19 McNeese to just 13 points, the offense could only muster a 43-yard field goal off the leg of freshman kicker Elvin Martinez falling by a final score of 13-3. The Cardinals finished the season with a 2-9 overall record and a 1-7 mark in Southland Conference play. McNeese will learn of its postseason fate during the NCAA Selection Show Sunday morning.
“We got beat by an extremely good football team tonight,” said LU head coach Mike Schultz. “I thought our defense played extremely well. As a whole, I thought the team fought extremely hard tonight. We fought the whole game and never gave up. We had some opportunities but didn’t take advantage of them offensively. You just can’t do that against a team like McNeese.”
The Cardinals held McNeese to 351 yards of total offense, while being held to 207. The majority of LU’s offense came through the air as Big Red was held to just 12 yards rushing. Senior quarterback Blake McKenzie closed out his career by completing 23 passes for 195 yards. McKenzie’s favorite target was sophomore Case Robinson who hauled in five catches for 59 yards.
The gutsy performance by the Cardinals’ defense provided the offense with a couple of opportunities to put points on the board, but LU was unable to take advantage. The Cardinals finished the night with two interceptions, both of which gave LU the ball inside the red zone and both times the Cards came away empty handed.
The first big play came late in the first quarter when the game was still scoreless. Junior Chaston Brooks picked off a James Tabary pass on the McNeese 21 yard line and retuned it down to the 15. Unfortunately, a personal foul on the return moved the ball back to the McNeese 30 yard line. After a negative play on first down, McKenzie was picked off two plays later thwarting the attempt.
The Cowboys took advantage of the missed opportunity by moving the ball down the field 69 yards on four plays for the first score of the game. Tabary ended the drive with a 46-yard pass to Tavarious Battiste for the score. It was the first score of the game and it came with 13:22 remaining in the second quarter.
The Cardinals had a chance to tie the game up just over three minutes later as Tabary was once again picked off deep in Cowboy territory, this time by junior Nate Jones. It was Jones’ league leading sixth interception of the season – tying that of 2017 NFL third round draft choice Brendan Langley from last season. Jones picked off the pass on his own 41 and returned it 54 yards to the McNeese five.
The Cardinals were once again turned away as they gained just two yards on three plays. Martinez was called on to attempt a 20-yard field goal but it was blocked by McNeese’s Damion Morgan and recovered by the Cowboys.
McNeese would tack on three more points at the end of the half after some gamesmanship on the field. The Cowboys moved the ball 35 yard line and lined up to punt the ball before calling a timeout. Following the timeout, the Cowboys lined up to attempt a field goal prompting Schultz to call a timeout. The Cowboys would eventually line up to attempt a 52-yard field goal but not before McNeese called one more timeout and LU called two more timeouts. After five consecutive timeouts McNeese’s Gunnar Raborn converted the 52-yarder to give his squad a 10-0 advantage heading into the locker room.
The Cowboys added another field goal before the Cardinals got on the scoreboard midway through the fourth quarter. After forcing McNeese to punt the ball away, LU took over in good shape starting the drive from the McNeese 40. The Cardinals moved the ball down to the Cowboys 26 before the drive stalled forcing Martinez to come on an attempt a 43 yarder. He converted the kick to put LU on the scoreboard but it would be the only points for the Cardinals on senior night.
The Cardinals’ defense was led by juniors Davon Jernigan and Lane Taylor. Both players finished the night with 11 tackles. Jernigan was also credited with 2.5 tackles for losses. LU picked off two more passes Saturday night finishing the season with 13, one more than it had last season.
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