The recent trend of the series between the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns (4-4, 2-2 Sun Belt) and Arkansas State (4-4, 1-3 Sun Belt) continued on Saturday night with the Cajuns holding serve at home with a 47-43 win thanks to a late two-yard touchdown run from Trey Ragas.
It was a fast and furious first quarter with Andre Nunez wasting little time getting on the board with a 64-yard pass to Elijah Mitchell to take the early lead. However, the Red Wolves responded with a march down the field that ended with Warren Wand punching it in from one-yard out to knot it up at seven.
Things started to slow down for a few moments after Nunez was picked off on the next drive, but the defense for the Cajuns was able to force them to punt. Two plays later, Mitchell cruised down the field with a 65-yard touchdown run to take back the lead. However, Justice Hansen led Arkansas State down the field and capped off a seven-play drive with a seven-yard run from Marcel Murray.
It only took one play for the lead to go right back to the Cajuns when Raymond Calais turn on the jets for a 72-yard run. The frenetic pace slowed down with the Cajuns going on a 12-play drive that ate up almost five minutes of clock in the second quarter and was capped off by a one-yard run by Nunez to give Louisiana a 14-point lead.
The Red Wolves offense fired back late in the second quarter with a two-yard run from Hansen to cap off a 10-play drive and make it a one-touchdown ballgame. Kyle Pfau came up huge to end the half though with a 52-yard field goal to make it a ten-point lead as both teams headed into the locker room.
The Oklahoma transfer made it a 13-point ballgame midway through the third quarter when he got a 47-yarder through the uprights. It didn’t last long though as the Red Wolves put up 14 unanswered points, highlighted by a 73-yard pass to Kirk Merrit to give them the lead early in the fourth quarter.
The tug of war continued with Jarrod Jackson putting the afterburners on with a 53-yard pass to make it 40-35 after a failed two-point conversion. The Red Wolves wasted very little time to recapture the lead with a seven-play drive that only took 2:59 off the clock and finished it with a seven-yard touchdown run by Murray.
The Cajuns knew they needed to chew up some clock and did just that with an 11-play drive that ended with a two-yard run from Ragas. The Cajuns defense then responded with a huge fourth-down stop to put the game on ice.
The Cajuns will now travel to Alabama to take on the Troy Trojans (6-2, 4-0 Sun Belt) with kickoff set for 2:30 pm.
-Clint Domingue