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After an emotional victory over Wake Forest on the road, the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns opened Sun Belt Conference play in Hattiesburg, Mississippi as they battled with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Ragin Cajuns scored on their first drive of the game, moving the ball 75 yards in 5:08 before a Southern Miss stand forced a 21-yard field goal from Kenneth Almendares that gave Louisiana the early 3-0 lead.
Early in the second, Louisiana extended their lead to 10 with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Ben Wooldridge to Lance Legendre, capping a 10-play, 66-yard scoring drive. Southern Miss answered two minutes later with an 80-yard drive in six plays before Kenyon Clay punched it in from a yard out to make it 10-7.
The Cajuns responded with another touchdown drive as Dre’Lyn Washington ran it in from 21 yards out to make it a 17-7 score halfway in the second quarter. Later in the frame, Clay found the endzone yet again for the Golden Eagles as Southern Miss once again trimmed the lead to 17-13 at the halftime break.
Late in the third quarter, Louisiana capped an eight-minute drive that took 15 plays with a 30-yard field goal from Almendares to make it a 20-13 lead after another red zone stop from the Eagles. 12 minutes later, Louisiana moved down the field once again before getting stopped inside the five and forced another Almendares field goal, this time from 19 yards out to make it 23-13 with 5:29 left.
Louisiana continued to control time of possession as they ran the clock out to a 23-13 victory over the Golden Eagles.
BIG NUMBER: 183
Louisiana’s defense, the best in the Sun Belt in terms of yards allowed, gave up just 183 total yards of offense to Southern Miss on the road, improving to 4-1.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Dre’Lyn Washington
Washington looked fantastic on the road tonight after battling injuries as the junior running back rushed for 89 yards on 11 carries, including a 21-yard touchdown run.
UP NEXT: Louisiana will return home to welcome App State to Cajun Country on Saturday, October 12. Kickoff from Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium is set for 6:30 p.m.