It was a beautiful day for football out at Cajun Field on Saturday as the fans were sent home happy as the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns defeated the Arkansas State Red Wolves 47-43.

This was a match-up between two teams who do not like each other very much, Sun Belt Conference West rivals as the Cajuns welcomed in the Arkansas State Red Wolves for what we all knew was a huge game.

The first quarter would not disappoint as both teams came out swinging, scoring a combined 35 points, luckily 21 of them would belong to the Cajuns as they would get out to a 21-14 lead.

They used a bunch of explosive plays to get out to that seven-point lead. It was two big plays by Elijah Mitchell, a 64-yard touchdown swing pass from Nunez and a 65-yard run for a score. The final score came from Raymond Calais on a one play drive that resulted in a 72-yard score by the very speedy junior running back.

The second quarter was a little tamer than the first as we saw just one touchdown by each team and it would come via each quarterback. Andre Nunez finally held onto a zone read for a one-yard score and Justice Hanson scored on a quarterback rush of two yards. Right before the half, Kyle Pfau was able to knock down a 52-yard field goal to give us a halftime score of 31-21 in favor of Louisiana.

As the third quarter got underway it would be Arkansas State closing the gap just a little bit, the Cajuns came away with another Kyle Pfau field goal and the Red Wolves got a Marcel Murray touchdown to close the quarter at 34-28.

You knew the fourth quarter was going to be exciting as both teams exchanged blows, it was a big stop by the Cajuns to start the quarter and then an Andre Nunez interception that was a killer. On the very next play, Justice Hanson found Kirk Merritt for a 73-yard touchdown pass that gave them the lead 35-34. That was their first lead of the game but it would be short-lived as Louisiana engineered a touchdown drive of their own as Nunez nailed Bam Jackson for a 53-yard score but failed on the two-point conversion so they now lead 40-35.

On the next possession, the Cajuns defense would offer little resistance as Marcel Murray scored his third rushing touchdown of the game plus a successful two-point conversion to give them a 43-40 lead with 5:48 remaining.

The Ragin' Cajuns needed a good long drive to get back into this one and they would be able to push the ball down the field to the two-yard line and from there it was Trey Ragas who would plunge into the end-zone for the score, 47-43 UL.

The defense got a stop on the final drive and that was all she wrote, huge win for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns as they defeat the Arkansas State Red Wolves 47-43.

With the win, the Cajuns move to 4-4 on the season, 2-2 in the Sun Belt and a share of the Sun Belt West least with ULM.

Next week Louisiana travels to Troy to take on the Trojans at 2:30 pm on Saturday, November 3rd.

 

 

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