Box Score Nov. 13, 2010
Box Score
BEAUMONT - When Lamar University's football team finally came to life Saturday night, the Cardinals became the life of the party in frigid and windy Provost Umphrey Stadium.
Not once but twice in the wild fourth quarter, the Cardinals wiped out deficits to reward their delirious fans with a clutch 24-20 victory over South Dakota.
Cornerback Branden Thomas intercepted two passes; quarterback Doug Prewitt completed a whopping 24 of 29 attempts for a career-high 286 yards, and the Cardinals' talented receiving corps came up with big catch after big catch to put an end to their season-long, three-game losing streak.
Oh, then there was the gritty, 14-play, 98-yard touchdown drive that ignited the Cardinals' impressive comeback.
"This was a win we desperately needed," said head coach Ray Woodard, who saw his team improve to 4-6 going into next week's season finale. "You like to think you're making progress as team, and we had been, but you still need to see it on the scoreboard.
"Earlier this season, they (the Coyotes) beat a Big 10 team (Minnesota), so a win like this over a team of South Carolina's proven ability can do nothing but help make us a more experienced and more confident team next season."
J.J. Hayes, Lamar's leading receiver in catches, did so again with seven grabs for 80 yards, including a sliding 21-yarder on the Cardinals' game-opening touchdown drive. Marcus Jackson, who snared a difficult one-handed catch deep in the end zone for the Cards' first comeback touchdown, and Kendrick Prejean, who made a 53-yard circus catch on the winning drive, hauled in five passes each.
Barry Ford made only two catches, but the first got the Cardinals out of a third-down-and-10 hole from the 2-yard line to keep the 98-yard drive alive, and the second was a falling, 14-yarder in the end zone for the winning touchdown.
"My mindset was just to get out of the third quarter and get the wind at our backs," said Woodard of his strategy to help set up the dramatic, final 15 minutes. "We wanted to make them (the Coyotes) throw into the wind in the fourth quarter.
"Believe me, the wind was a huge factor in this game. Everything worked out the way I hoped it would, but we had to make a lot of big plays to make it work out. These players played their hearts out for the full 60 minutes, and I couldn't be more proud of them."
Jackson, who also had a 4-yard TD catch in the first quarter, made his brilliant 2-yarder in back left corner of the end zone to put the Cardinals up 14-13 early in the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals then padded the lead with Justin Stout's 38-yard field goal that followed Thomas' second interception, but the Coyotes fought back to retake the lead at 20-17 on a breakaway, 37-yard run by backup running back Marcus Sims.
It came with 2:30 left, and the Coyotes promptly sacked Prewitt twice before he and Prejean combined on a drive-saving, 53-yard catch. Prewitt then hit Hayes for 3 and 10 yards before finding Ford open in the right corner of the end zone for the winning score that came with 43 seconds remaining.
Prewitt put the Cardinals efficiently on the go from the get go, guiding them 77 yards on 12 brisk plays to score on the game's first possession. He completed three passes each to Hayes and Jackson and one to Prejean along the way.
The payoff was a quick pass from Prewitt to Jackson on third down from the 4-yard line with 9:16 left in the first quarter. Prewitt went 7-for-8 for 73 yards on the drive.
Just like their offensive teammates, the Cardinal defenders answered the bell during their first stint of the field. They allowed the Coyotes to reach the red zone but stiffened and eventually forced a fourth-and-14 from the 29. Coyote quarterback Dante Warren then threw incomplete deep.
The Cardinal defense also held the Coyotes out of the end zone on their second possession, but they got close enough for Kevin Robb to kick a 20-yard field goal to cut Lamar's lead to 7-3 with 12:46 left in the second quarter.
Cornerback Dametrious Turner's interception of a Prewitt pass near midfield set up the Coyotes' first touchdown drive. It covered 45 yards on 10 plays, and backup quarterback Tyler Wilhelm capped it by rolling around right end for the 1-yard TD.
Robb's conversion kick made it South Dakota 10, Lamar 7 with 7:11 left in the second quarter.
After their game-opening drive, the Cardinals managed only one more first down and 31 yards of offense during the rest of the first half. The Coyotes had 10 first downs to Lamar's five and 149 total yards to the Cardinals' 108 at halftime.
The Coyotes continued their control of the game by driving 46 yards on 12 plays after the second-half kickoff to set up Robb's 46-yard field goal that padded their lead to 13-7 with 8:29 left in the third quarter.
Lamar's first first down since late in the opening quarter came on the next-to-last play of the third period on Ford's spectacular, over-to-shoulder catch of a Prewitt pass that gained 33 yards and got the Cardinals out of the third-and-10 hole from their 2-yard line.
Buoyed by this play, the Cardinals went on to complete the clutch, 14-play, 98-yard drive to the go-ahead touchdown. Jackson was in the back, left corner of the end zone when he made the 2-yard catch just before stepping out of bounds.
Stout's second conversion of the evening returned the lead to the Cardinals at 14-13 with 9:59 left in the final quarter.
After Thomas' second interception, Prewitt directed the Cardinals on a seven-play, 44-yard drive that moved them into position for Stout's 38-yard field goal to increase their lead to 17-13 with 3:39 remaining.
The Cardinals will now close their 2010 season next Saturday with a 6 p.m. game against Oklahoma Panhandle State in Provost Umphrey Stadium.
LAMAR
