Cowboys Grab Win #500

It wasn't easy, but the McNeese Cowboys picked up the 500th win in school history Saturday evening, 24-21 over Abilene Christian. The Pokes improved to 5-1 overall and 4-0 in the Southland Conference.

The Wildcats out-gained the Cowboys 315-292 in total yards, well under each team's game average. The Cowboy defense was lead by Chris Livings. Returning from an early season injury, Livings recorded a school-tying record 5 sacks. B J Blunt had 20 total tackles. Meanwhile, the ACU defense picked off 2 James Tabery passes.

McNeese scored on a David Hamm 1 yards run, and a 42-yard pass from Tabery to Kylon Highshaw. The most exciting play of the evening came on a 73-yard punt return for a touchdown by Cyron Sutton. That gave the Cowboys a 24-14 lead after trailing 14-10 at the half. Gunnar Raborn added a 29-yard field goal in the 2nd quarter.

ACU QB Luke Anthony completed 43 passes on 61 attempts. ACU ran 81 plays, only 20 were running plays for a net of 1 yard on the ground. Both defenses shut down the running game as the Cowboys only had 49 yards on 33 rushing attempts.

McNeese takes the week off and will return to play on the 20th in San Antonio to face the surprising Cardinals of Incarnate Word.