McNeese Cowboys fall to Tarleton State Texans in home opener

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - The McNeese Cowboys welcomed the Tarleton State Texans to Cowboy Stadium for week one of the college football season.

Early in the 1st Quarter Tarleton State struck first as running back Kayvon Britten found some room on the outside and made his way into the endzone to put the Texans up 7-0.

Moments later the Texans would kick off and Cam Thomas for the Cowboys turned on the jets and took it the house for a 91-yard kick-off return touchdown to knot things up at 7 apiece.

Later in the 1st quarter, the Cowboys continued to have trouble stopping the Texan’s offense as Tarleton added another touchdown on the day Jayden Smith came up with the grab.

The Cowboys were struggling to put any drives together on offense until quarterback Nate Glantz converted on 4th and long putting his squad right at the goal line, a few plays later running back D’Angelo Durham handled the rest and punched it in from 5 yards out.

Just before the half, the Texans threatened to score but Johnquai Lewis had other plans by intercepting the ball, and the Cowboys and Texans headed to the locker room knotted up at 17.

The second half of this one started off on a high note as Glantz used his legs once again but this time on a QB sneak from a yard out.

But things quickly got out of hand as Tarleton State ripped off 35 unanswered points to make it 52-24.

The Cowboys would add a field goal with two seconds left in the game but overall their efforts to get back into the game weren’t enough as the Texans ran away with this one 52-34.

Head Coach Gary Goff had high expectations for this year’s team but their performance in week one shows there are plenty of issues that need to be addressed.

“The bottom line is we didn’t play to our ability, and we have not had a practice that bad and I get it’s practice, but honestly I’m taken back by this,” said Coach Goff. “I really expected us to go out there and perform at a high level because we’ve been so sharp and our scrimmages and at practice, but there’s no excuse for it I just told the team this is one game, it’s not how we wanted, but we have to be a team and we weren’t tonight, we just were not locked in.”

The Cowboys have quite the challenge ahead of them as they head to Gainesville next Saturday to take on the Florida Gators.

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