LC vs Texas College

After last week’s heartbreaking 52-49 home loss to #24 Huntingdon, the Louisiana College football team is headed out on the road for the first time in 2016.  This week the Wildcats will take on NAIA opponent Texas College from the Central State Football League.  Saturday’s game will be the first meeting ever between the two schools.

 

In an offensive shootout that saw both the Wildcats and visiting Hawks each gain over 600 yards of offense, LC would have an opportunity to tie or win the game in the final minutes until an interception at the Huntingdon 35-yard line ended those plans.

 

Quarterback Easton Melancon had the best game of his college career in terms of passing yards, throwing for 431 yards and five touchdowns in the game.  The performance moved him into second place in school history in both completions (553) and passing yards (7,340).  Also moving up the LC record books was Aurren Cooksey who passed Thurston Williams in career rushes and yards, moving Cooksey into 4^th all-time in both of those categories.

 

This week the Wildcats will take on the Texas College Steers, who also lost their season opener last week to Lane College, 44-6.  The Steers took an early 6-0 lead in that game but were shut down by the Dragons defense the remainder of the game, totaling 185 yards of offense for the contest.  Defensively they allowed Lane College to gain 324 rushing yards of their 484 total output.

 

With the experienced offensive line LC has and the power and speed combination of Aurren Cooksey, the Wildcats should have an advantage in the ground game going into this week two match up.  If LC can establish the running game early that will only open things up for receivers like Shedrick Davis, Farron Jones, and Lawrence Williams to have another big day this week as well.

 

For the Wildcat defense the biggest concern will be containing Steers quarterbacks Santonio Mapp and Sean Stell.  The dual quarterback system has one thing in common, escapability.  Both Mapp and Stell have the ability get outside of the pocket, extend plays, and take off down the field if the play calls for it.  In last week’s game Texas College threw for 160 yards and rushed for only 26.

 

The Wildcats secondary was tested last week against Huntingdon and made some key plays but also allowed some big plays to the Hawks.  The success of the LC defense will be determined by the front keeping the Steers quarterback in containment and the secondary covering the receivers down the field.

 

Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Tyler Rose Stadium in Tyler, TX.  Live stats will be available at lcwildcats.net and you can hear Rich Dupree and Al Quartemont with the call on 104.3 FM KEZP The Bridge, or online at 1043thebridge