NATCHITOCHES, La. – Lamar University entered Saturday's game at Northwestern State having lost three quarterbacks to injury in the past two games and despite the injuries the Cardinals put up a good fight but came up short to Northwestern State, 34-13, Saturday evening at Turpin Stadium. The Demons scored twice late in the contest for the final score.
 
The Cardinals finished the game with 200 yards of total offense behind redshirt freshman quarterback Marcellus Johnson who made the first start of his career. The amazing thing about Johnson is that he was pulled back over to quarterback earlier in the week after spending the whole season at receiver. He completed 5-of-20 passes for 71 yards and led the team with 15 carries for 57 yards.
 
The Demons held the ball for nearly seven minutes more than the LU offense and finished the night with 466 yards of total offense.
 
The Cardinals played a clean football game getting penalized just two times for 15 yards, while the Demons were victimized six times for 65 yards. The Cardinals were led defensively with two players in double figures, led by Michael Lawson's 15 tackles. Senior Daniel Crosley added 11.
 
"I'm not disappointed in our effort tonight," said LU head coach Mike Schultz. "The defense really played hard tonight. I think we wore down a bit toward the end of the game. Marcellus was playing receiver last week and hasn't taken a snap since last spring and he came in here tonight and fought hard. He was placed in a tough situation, but like I told the team it's going to take tough people to finish this thing.
 
"We knew coming in here tonight that their record didn't indicate how good they are. They hadn't won a lot of games but Northwestern State is a good football team. That's just the way this league is this year. It is tough from top to bottom," added Schultz.
 
After stopping Northwestern State on its opening drive, the Cardinals moved the ball down the field to convert a 37-yard field goal. The drive – the first orchestrated by Johnson – was 10 plays for 45 yards and took 5:28 off the clock. Unfortunately, the Demons were able to respond less than three minutes later to take their first lead of the game.
 
The score remained 7-3 until midway through the second quarter when the Demons tacked on another score. It appeared the Demons would take that advantage into the locker after the forcing Big Red to punt the ball away. Northwestern State took over from their own 10-yard line, but the on second play of the drive the Demons' Shelton Eppler was picked off by junior Michael Lawson on the 19 and he returned the ball for the score, trimming the deficit to four, 14-10, heading into the locker room.
 
Despite the fact that Northwestern State put up 224 yards of offense in the opening half they could manage just a four-point advantage at halftime. LU finished the half with 95 yards of offense. The Cardinals played clean football in the opening half not being called for a penalty in the opening 30 minutes, while the Demons were flagged five times for 50 yards.
 
Northwestern State's first drive of the second half came to an end due to a Cameron Hayes interception with 11:42 on the clock. Three plays later Johnson found Kirkland Banks open over the middle for 43 yards down to the one yard line. Unfortunately, the drive stalled in the red zone and the Cards settled for a 25-yard field goal to trim the deficit down to one, 14-13.
 
The Cardinals dodged a bullet on the ensuing possession as Northwestern State moved the ball down to the two yard line. The LU defense held forcing Northwestern State to attempt a 19-yard field goal but Daniel Justino pushed the kick wide left.
 
The Cardinals couldn't take advantage fumbling the ball on the third play of the very next drive as Northwestern State recovered the ball and returned it down to the LU one. The Demons took advantage of the miscue three plays later pushing the ball across the goal line. The Demons tacked on two touchdowns late in the game for the final score.
 
The Cardinals return to action Saturday when they travel to Houston, Texas to face Houston Baptist. The game against HBU will kick off at 2 p.m. from Husky Stadium and will serve as the final road game of the regular season for the Red and White.