LAKE CHARLES – Chris Livings returned to action after missing the previous two games to injury and tied a single-game school record with five sacks while B.J. Blunt recorded a career-high 20 tackles as the 9^th-ranked McNeese Cowboys grinded out a 24-21 Southland Conference victory over Abilene Christian on Saturday night.
 
The victory kept the Cowboys undefeated in conference play at 4-0 while improving to 5-1 on the season as they'll entertain the open date the coming weekend. It also marked the 500^th win in school history on a night where the All-75^th Anniversary Football team was being recognized.
 
"I was a part of a lot of those victories as a player and a coach," said head coach Lance Guidry. "It was great to be able to get that win on the same night we recognized the 75^th Anniversary team."
 
The game was a battle from start to finish as the Cowboys' stout defense rose to the occasion against Abilene Christian's (2-4, 1-3) high-octane offense that ranked No. 1 in the conference total offense.
 
The Cowboys held the Wildcats to nearly 200 yards below their season average.
 
"It was another win," said Guidry. "A lot of the same. It was tough all the way to the end. We found a way to win. The special teams came through big."
 
McNeese led it 17-14 after a 1-yard touchdown run by David Hamm with 9:41 to play in the third quarter on a play that was setup by a 42-yard completion by James Tabary to Kylon Highshaw.
 
After the Cowboys forced the Wildcats to punt the ball away on their following five possessions, including two three-and-out series, Cowboy returner Cyron Sutton fielded the fifth punt on his own 27-yard line, broke a couple of tackles, and weaved his way to the end zone for a 73-yard score to put McNeese up 24-14 with 4:50 to play.
 
ACU responded quickly by scoring on a 75-yard drive in 2:48 to cut the gap to 24-21.
 
Blunt recovered the ensuing on-side kick and McNeese was able to run the clock down to under a minute to play as punter Alex Kjellsten forced the Wildcats to go nearly the entire distance of the field after his 38-yard punt was downed at the 1-yard line.
 
ACU's Luke Anthony drove the Wildcats to the 25 before taking a fifth sack by Livings on the last play of the game.
 
Livings was initially expected to just play on third downs in the game but when Christian Robinson left the game with an ankle sprain, Livings was called on for more snaps.
 
"When I was coming in on third downs, I was watching their offensive line and watching their tendencies and seeing what their weaknesses were. I just put it all together and went after their weaknesses."
 
McNeese trailed 14-10 at the half, marking just the second time this season to be behind at the break with the other coming against BYU, then took the lead for good after Hamm's 1-yard dive in the third.
 
But there were some missed opportunities for the offense.
 
In their third series of the second quarter, the Cowboys drove from their own 36 and had a 1^st-and-goal at the ACU 8 but had to settle for a 29-yard by Gunnar Raborn to make it a 10-7 game.
 
ACU then went ahead 14-10 on its next series when Anthony connected with Billy McCrary from 16 yards out with 1:16 to play.
 
Benjamin Jones then set up the Cowboys in decent field position to start their next drive after a 28-yard kickoff return, but on the third play from scrimmage and after a 21-yard completion to Hamm to get the ball to the ACU 35, Tabary would throw his first of two interceptions on the night at the 15-yard line.
 
The Cowboys got a break early in the third when a hand-off exchange was fumble by ACU's Anthony and McNeese's Ronell Burbank pounced on the loose ball to give McNeese the pigskin at the Wildcat 16. Tabary would then be sacked and two plays later, threw an interception in the end zone as what appeared to be a flag for defensive pass interference was upheld allowing the Wildcats to take over possession.
 
ACU outgained the Cowboys 315-292 in total offensive yards but managed just one net rushing yard on the night and averaged 0.1 yards per carry. McNeese held ACU to negative-31 yards rushing in the second half.
 
"A lot of times when you play high-powered offenses, people think you have to get into shoot-outs," said Blunt. "But the thing is, if they can't score, they can't win. Holding those guys to 10 points then 14 points and still leading in the game, that's a compliment to the defense."
 
Sutton caught three passes for 82 yards on the night with his grabs going for 46, 20 and 16 yards.
 
"We knew their DBs where smaller and we have some fast guys," said Sutton about the Cowboys throwing it down the field more. "We felt like we had an advantage on them."
 
Kjellsten not only had the punt of the game towards the end of the fourth quarter, he averaged 45.1 yards per punt on nine kicks, had three downed inside the 20 and also had four of his five kickoffs recorded as touchbacks.
 
"We worked really hard all week on special teams," said Kjellsten. "Coach (Dennis) Smith said we're not getting the respect we deserve so we wanted to change that."
 
Kjellsten flipped the field on all nine of his punts with the average starting yard line for ACU being its own 21.
 
Tabary finished the night completing 16 of 29 for 244 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Trevor Begue led the team with four catches and 45 yards with a score in getting his first start. On the ground, Mac Briscoe led the way with 37 yards on five carries for a 7.4 average.
 
Anthony paced the Wildcats by completing 43 of 61 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns. Josh Fink was his favorite target who hauled in nine catches for 59 yards.
 
McNeese will not return to action until Oct. 20 when it visits Incarnate Word who beat Southeastern Louisiana 52-34 on Saturday night to improve to 3-0 in conference play.