McGowen Strikes for Team-Leading Fifth Touchdown During Homecoming Battle with McNeese

Saturday, October 26

Nacogdoches, Texas | Homer Bryce Stadium

3 P.M.

Stephen F. Austin

1-7 , 1-4

McNeese

5-4 , 3-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

McNeese

SFA

Photo by: Cody Derouen | SFA Athletics

McGowen Strikes for Team-Leading Fifth Touchdown During Homecoming Battle with McNeese

10/26/2019 7:34:00 PM | Football

Box Score

Junior running back registers first receiving touchdown of 2019

By: SFA Athletics

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Striking first with a 75-yard touchdown drive, the SFA football team held an early lead over McNeese and trailed 13-10 headed into the fourth quarter, but the Cowboys put the game away with a trio of fourth-quarter touchdowns to hand the 'Jacks a 33-10 homecoming setback Saturday at Homer Bryce Stadium.

FIRST QUARTER
• Intent on putting on a show for their hefty contingent of homecoming well-wishers, SFA marched down the field on the game's first possession to take the lead. Aided by a pair of McNeese penalties, SFA marched 75 yards down the field to put the game's first points on the board.
• The drive's biggest play came when Trae Self hit a wide-open Lawton Rikel on fourth-and-eight for a 22-yard gain that put the 'Jacks' at the Cowboys' 11-yard line.
• Junior running back Josh McGowen snagged a pass from Self with one hand and culminated the 'Jacks' scoring drive with an eight-yard touchdown.
• Threatening to tie the game on their second drive of the afternoon, McNeese got down to the 'Jacks' two-yard line after Cody Orgeron found a wide-open Trevor Begue for a 40-yard pickup.
• Facing their first challenge of the game, the 'Jacks' defense rose right up to it. Taaj Bakari stuffed McNeese's first run play from SFA's two before Trenton Gordon and Brevin Randle dropped Cowboy running back Elijah Mack for a two-yard loss. After an incomplete pass from Orgeron, McNeese was forced to settle for a 21-yard field goal from Bailey Raborn that kept SFA ahead 7-3.

SECOND QUARTER
• The defensive slugfest continued well into the second quarter before the Cowboys capitalized on the game's first turnover.
• Trying to find a receiver along the sideline, Self instead watched his pass get picked off by Darion Dunn at the 'Jacks' 38 yard line. With the ball in their hands, the Cowboys elected to keep it on the ground for most of their go-ahead scoring drive.
• All but three yards on the visitors' touchdown excursion came on the ground with Justin Pratt ripping off runs of 11 and 14 yards to put McNeese down on the 'Jacks' three. Facing a fourth-and-goal, Orgeron hit Cyron Sutton on a fade route to the corner of the end zone for a three-yard touchdown that put the visitors on top with 4:56 to go in the half.

THIRD QUARTER
• Points again proved hard to come by once the second half started up. Storm Ruiz pulled a 49-yard field goal try wide to the right on the 'Jacks' opening drive of the half but the Cowboys' special teams unit suffered no such misfortune on their first field goal try of the half.
• Getting the ball back with 10:33 to go, McNeese fed Pratt who raced 30 yards up the middle to the SFA 38 on the Cowboys' opening play of the drive. McNeese creeped inside the 'Jacks' 20 when Orgeron found Sutton for a six-yard gain on first-and-10 from SFA's 22.
• With the Cowboys still driving, Quin Jones put a stop to their dreams of a touchdown by sacking Orgeron back at the 'Jacks' 21. From there, Raborn split the uprights perfectly on a 39-yard field goal try that put McNeese up 13-10.
• Self did a lot of the work on SFA's ensuing drive with his legs, picking up 24 of the 42 yards on the 'Jacks' scoring drive with runs of five and 19 yards. On his third try of the afternoon, Ruiz finally banged home a field goal with a 40-yarder that cut the Cowboys' lead to 13-10 with 18 ticks left in the quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Chewing up nearly one-third of the time in the game's final quarter, McNeese opened up a double-digit lead. This time, it was Orgeron who did the work on the ground to extend his squad's lead.
• Orgeron sprung for runs of 12 and 10 yards to put the ball at SFA's 31 yard line before sprinting 30 yards into the end zone to put McNeese up 20-10 with 11:57 left.
• The Cowboys were not done, however, as they held SFA to only 85 yards through the game's final quarter while piling up 193 to put things out of reach. With McNeese facing a 4th-and-8 on their own 47, SFA committed a pair of ill-timed defensive offside miscues to give the visitors a fresh set of downs. McNeese wasted little time in taking advantage as Orgeron slung a 33-yard touchdown strike to Sutton that extended the visitors' edge to 26-10.
• On McNeese's final scoring drive, Pratt added another 45 yards to his rushing total and put a bow on the win with a 21-yard touchdown run that accounted for the final score with 2:16 to go.

KEY PERFORMANCES/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• Slowing the Cowboys' ground game proved to be a difficult thing to do for the 'Jacks who gave up 246 rushing yards to their Louisiana adversaries. Pratt finished with a game-high 133 yards and a score while Orgeron raced for 73 and
an additional touchdown. With his 162 passing yards and two passing touchdowns, the Cowboys' quarterback racked up 235 all-purpose yards and three of the team's four touchdowns.
• Self finished with 175 yards and a touchdown pass while McGowen led the way on the ground with his 46 yards. Xavier Gipson was Self's favorite target once again, hauling in a game-high six balls for a game-best 72 yards.
• The 'Jacks' defense finished with five tackles for loss with Quin Jones registering the team's lone sack of the night. He joined McKnight with a team-high 14 tackles. McKnight was stretchered off as a precautionary measure in late in the fourth quarter after a big hit.
• McNeese out-gained SFA 408-254 on the night as the Cowboys secured their third consecutive victory over the 'Jacks.

COMING UP NEXT
• Down to four games on its 2019 schedule, SFA hits the road for back-to-back contests beginning with next Saturday's showdown in Hammond, La. There, the 'Jacks will duke it out with league-leading Southeastern Louisiana at 4:00 p.m. from Strawberry Stadium.

-SFA-