Copyright American Press
On a night when the Cowboys found their running game, Matt Viator reached a personal milestone. The McNeese head coach won his 100th career game as his Cowboys ran over Northwestern State 50-3 Saturday night inside Navarre Stadium. Viator, the all-time winningest coach in McNeese history, returned to the Cowboy sidelines after a nine-year absence this fall, needing three victories to reach the century mark. Viator is now 100-78 overall, 81-39 at McNeese. “I don’t think a lot about that,” said Viator. “I’ll have to trust you that’s the number. If it is, I’m glad it was done here.” The 47-point margin of victory is the largest by either team in the 74-game series. It also improved Viator’s record against the Demons to 11-0. The game had a bit of everything, as even the McNeese kicker got into the physical play. Fabrizio Pinton made a big hit, and the officials reviewed the play for targeting. The hit was ruled clean, but Pinton was hurt on the hit and did not return. “First time in my career I’ve seen targeting on a kicker,” said Viator. With the win, the Cowboys improved to 3-6 overall and 2-3 in the Southland Conference, winning their second in three games. The Demons fell to 1-8, 0-5, dropping their eighth straight. Jake Strong led a balanced McNeese attack that picked up 461 total yards, a season-high 313 on the ground. Strong ran for one score and threw for another as the Cowboys scored 50 for the second time this season. Strong bounced back from a tough game last week against Nicholls with 94 yards rushing on 11 carries and 121 on 11 of 17 passing. He scored on a 34-yard run up the middle and hit Jonathan Harris on a 23-yard TD pass. Coleby Hamm had 44 yards and two scores on eight carries. Hamm scored on a pair of one-yard runs. Tre’Vonte Citizen led the running backs with 63 yards on just six carries with a touchdown. Bryce Strong had 60 on nine. Six times, the Cowboys picked up 20 yards on runs with four different players doing it. “We all can play at a high level,” said Hamm. “The fact that we can all break open balances our attack.” Phillip Bradford, making his first start of the season for injured Masey Lewis, led the defense that has only given up a field goal in the last 10 quarters at home. Bradford, a junior defensive end, finished with six tackles, 4.5 of those for 21 yards in lost yards. He had two sacks in that, one quarterback hurry, and a fumble recovery. “I knew I had to step up,” said Bradford. “We get paid for sacks. The sacks got me smiling.” Sandy Lewis and AJ Thomas combine for the third sack as McNeese held the Demons to just 178 yards of total offense, a season low for a Cowboy opponent. “We ran the football and we stopped the run,” said Viator. “We did what we had to do.” With three games remaining, the Cowboys could still match last season’s 6-6 record. McNeese will travel to Commerce, Texas, next week for a 4 p.m. game against East Texas A&M (2-7, 2-3).
