Bobcats Fall To Ragin’ Cajuns On Homecoming
SAN MARCOS, Texas – On a beautiful fall night for Homecoming, the Texas State football team jumped out to an early lead against Louisiana, but the Ragin’ Cajuns took advantage of a pair of turnovers and went on to win 27-3 on Jim Wacker Field at Bobcat Stadium on Saturday night.
Texas State began the game driving down the field 63 yards on 12 plays to take an early 3-0 lead after Marcus Ripley kicked a 29-yard field goal. The drive began with Tyler Jones completing a 21-yard pass to Elijah King and a 20-yard pass to Stedman Mayberry to give the Bobcats possession on UL’s 29-yard line. After gaining another first down at UL’s 18-yard line, the drive stalled, forcing Ripley to kick the field goal.
Javante O’Roy intercepted a pass by Anthony Jennings to stop UL’s first drive at Texas State’s 11-yard line.
After the Bobcats punted the ball away, the Cajuns tied the score with a 36-yard field goal by Stevie Artigue.
After both teams exchanged punts, Brandon McDowell fumbled the ball away after he returned UL’s punt to their 45-yard line. The Ragin’ Cajuns took advantage with a nine-play drive that led to a four-yard touchdown run by Elijah McGuire. Artigue added the extra point to give UL a 10-3 lead.
The Ragin’ Cajuns closed out the first half with Artigue’s second field goal after he connected on a 42-yard kick to make the halftime score, 13-3.
Louisiana took advantage of another turnover in the third quarter when Simeon Smith intercepted a pass by Jones at UL’s 44-yard line. McGuire capped off the 56-yard drive with a one-yard run and Artigue converted the PAT to extend the Cajuns’ advantage to 20-3.
Another Texas State drive stalled at UL’s 46-yard line with 10:14 left in the game when the Ragin’ Cajuns took over on downs. Louisiana added their final points in the game when Jennings completed an 18-yard touchdown pass and Artigue kicked the extra point to give the Cajuns a 27-3 victory.
Jones finished the game completing 20-of-28 passes for 142 yards and an interception. He also added 17 yards on the ground.
Mayberry led the team with 54 yards rushing on 17 carries and finished the game a team-high five receptions that accounted for 22 yards. Gabe Schrade added three catches for 29 yards and Elijah King led the Bobcats with 42 receiving yards on two catches.
Defensively, Bryan London and O’Roy recorded a game-high 10 tackles. Eight of London’s takedowns were solo tackles while O’Roy had six solo tackles. Five Bobcats had a tackle for loss with Teron Fitzgerald recorded the team’s lone sack of the night.
Lumi Kaba finished the game averaging 42.7 yards on six punts. He pinned the Ragin’ Cajuns twice inside the 20-yard line and had two kicks of over 50 yards, including a season-high 62-yard blast. He has 17 punts for over 50 yards this season.
The Bobcats, which fall to 2-5 this season and 0-3 in Sun Belt Conference play, will have a bye week before they play their next game at Appalachian State on November 5. The kickoff time for that game will be announced on Monday.
