McNeese gives up lead late as they fall to Incarnate Word

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - The McNeese Cowboys fell 35-24 to the Incarnate Word Cardinals for their week eight matchup, making the loss their seventh in a row.

The Cowboys entered their homecoming game with a record of 0-6 and they had a tall task ahead of them as they faced the Incarnate Word Cardinals who sit second in the Southland Conference standings coming into this game.

Both teams were without their starting quarterbacks in this one, Cardinals’ Zach Calzada was out with a shoulder injury and Ryan Stubblefield got the start while McNeese’s Nate Glantz who has started all season long surprisingly didn’t see the field and it was Ryan Roberts who got the call instead.

The Cowboys went three and out on their first drive and their next drive but on their next possession, they compiled a nice drive that was finished off by running back Joshon Barbie who punched it in for a touchdown from 24 yards out.

To the start of the second quarter, Roberts was in shotgun near mid-field and connected with wide receiver Jon McCall on a 53-yard strike to make it 14-0 Cowboys.

Any offensive attack by the Cardinals was put to a halt by the Cowboys up to this point, until running back Timothy Carter broke off a massive run which led to a rushing touchdown by Isaiah Robinson just a few plays later.

Shortly after the Cardinals were threatening to score once again to possibly tie things up but Stubblefield coughed up the ball and it was recovered by McNeese defensive end Macey Lewis.

Off the Cardinals’ turnover Roberts would orchestrate a nice drive and cap it off with another Jon McCall touchdown who made an acrobatic play that put the Cowboys up 21-7.

The Cardinals to their credit though came out in the second half with a new quarterback in Freshman Richard Torres, and tallied 14 unanswered points in the third quarter to make it a 24-21 game.

In the fourth quarter, Torres connected with wide receiver Brandon Porter from 36 yards out to give Incarnate Word their first lead of the entire game, and from that point on they would hold the Cowboys scoreless as they went on to beat McNeese by 11.

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