GAME STATS

NATCHITOCHES – McNeese built a 35-3 halftime lead only to see Northwestern State rally back with 25 unanswered late in the fourth quarter but the defense, that suffocated the Demons for much of the game, put together a four-down stop on the final drive of the game to secure the 8^th-ranked Cowboys with a 35-28 Southland Conference win here Saturday night.
 
The win moved the Cowboys to 6-2 on the season and 4-1 in league play where they remain in a first place tie with Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana. Northwestern State fell to 4-5 and 2-3 in the league and lost to McNeese for the 10^th consecutive time.
 
McNeese finished the game with 366 yards of offense but was held to just 88 in the second half, the same amount NSU totaled in the first half.
 
"There wasn't any conservatism and we threw the ball when I thought we needed to," said McNeese coach Matt Viator. "They started making some plays in the passing game. I thought we had a couple of chances. We had a guy open in the endzone that dropped the ball that would've made it 42-13. Unfortunately we didn't get it. But we came to win."
 
McNeese rolled up 242 yards rushing for the game behind 93 yards from Ryan Ross and 88 from Dylan Long, who also scored three touchdowns for the second straight game.
 
Tyler Bolfing, who got his first start since the season opener at Nebraska, completed 7 of 12 passes for 103 yards while Daniel Sams went 2 for 5 for 21 yards. Neither quarterback threw any interceptions.
 
The Cowboys got limited action from Kelvin Bennett who carried the ball five times for 17 yards in his first action in a couple games as he's recovering from an injury. McNeese also played without running back Derrick Milton and wide receiver Ernest Celestie.
 
"We were running out of players," said Viator. "We had a couple of offensive linemen come out the game and Bennett was still limping. We were just running out of guys to be honest with you."
 
Despite the injuries, the Cowboys put together perhaps its best first 30 minutes of play on the season as they put 35 points on the board and held NSU to 88 yards of offense, nine rushing yards, and three first downs.
 
"I think that's probably the best half we've played all year," said Viator. "Defensively, we've come out of the box fast in the past, but running and throwing, we came out with a lot of energy. We started Tyler because Daniel has been nursing a hip-pointer all week. Both of them were ready to go but we decided to give Tyler the start because he took a majority of the snaps during the week."
 
Both teams went three-and-out to start the game but the Cowboys got the first break when Jean Breaux's 35-yard punt was muffed by Demon returner Ed Eagan and recovered by Long at the NSU 24. After a personal foul penalty on the Demons put the ball at the 12, Long ran for two yards followed by a 10-yard touchdown run by Ross to make it 7-0 just three minutes into the game.
 
NSU, who went three-and-out on its first five possessions, didn't get its first first down of the game until its second possession of the second quarter. Meanwhile, McNeese got a 1-yard touchdown run by Long with 6:49 to play in the first quarter in a drive that started with a 39-yard completion from Bolfing to Jereon McGilvery. After the Demons punted the ball away on their next possession, another 39-yard Bolfing pass to Khalil Thomas set up a 2-yard score by Long to make it 21-0 with 3:44 to play in the first.
 
The score jumped to 28-0 after Sams ran in from four yards out early in the second quarter before a 35-yard field goal by Chris Moore put the Demons on the board with 6:16 to play in the first half and cut the lead to 28-3.
 
McNeese followed with an 11-play, 74-yard drive that took 5:51 off the clock that ended with another 2-yard touchdown run by Long to make it 35-3 with 28 seconds to play in the half.
 
NSU got a 43-yard field goal from Moore with 6:14 to play in the third quarter to cut the lead to 35-6. McNeese was set up to attempt a 46 yard field goal with less than a minute to play in the quarter but a substitute infraction pushed the ball back five yards and McNeese brought out the punt team instead.
 
The fourth quarter belonged to the Demons who scored on three straight possessions to cut the margin to 35-28 as the Cowboys' offense managed just 39 yards of offense in the quarter.
 
A 16 yard pass from NSU's Zach Adkins to Corey Simmons with 2:08 to play made it a one score game.
 
NSU's attempt for an onside kick would be recovered by the Cowboys but three straight runs came up short of the first down.
 
Breaux came up with perhaps the play of the game as his 32-yard punt would be downed at the NSU 5-yard line with 1:46 to play and forced the Demons to go 95 yards to get the tie.
 
Playing the series with no timeouts remaining, Adkins completed back-to-back passes to Eagan for 5 and 3 yards followed by consecutive incompletions to turn the back over the McNeese where Bolfing ran out the clock.
 
Adkins completed 21 of 32 passes for 338 yards, three touchdowns and an interception while Eagan caught 10 passes for 238 yards and a score.
 
The Cowboys finished the night with six sacks, two of those by Kevin Dorn, and seven tackles for a loss. Brent Spikes led the team with 10 tackles and Aaron Sam intercepted the team's only pass.
 
McNeese ends the two-game road trip with two wins and will return home next Saturday against Stephen F. Austin.
 
Postgame Notes:
• McNeese extends its winning streak over NSU to 10 straight games.
• The Cowboys recorded 6 sacks in the game, the most six getting 6 against Nicholls on Oct. 4.
• With the six sacks, McNeese now has 25 on the season and surpassing last year's total of 23.
• Dylan Long has scored 3 TDs in back-to-back games.
• With 242 rushing yards, McNeese has now rushed for 200 or more six times this season.
• Long now has 9 tds on the season and 19 in his career. He needs 2 more to move into 11^th on the school's career TDs scored list, tying him with Artie Shankle.
• Head coach Matt Viator won his 68^th career game.