Cajuns Hold On To 21-18 Win Over ASU

Lance Kelley’s interception with 2:52 left stopped Arkansas State’s comeback and saved Louisiana’s Ragin’Cajuns 21-18 victory Saturday.

The Ragin’ Cajuns (5-4, 3-2 Sun Belt) led 21-3 until the Red Wolves (2-6, 1-3) rallied behind redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Alpin led the team to 15 fourth-quarter points. Both touchdowns were by Reggie Arnold, who scored on runs of 2 and 5 yards.

Aplin, who passed for 147 yards, scored the two-point conversion with 10:10 left to cut it to 21-18.

The Ragin' Cajuns led 14-3 at halftime on runs of 1 yard by quarterback Blaine Gautier and 7 yards by starting quarterback Chris Masson. Masson, who passed for 229 yards and ran for 30, added a 2-yard scoring run in the third quarter. Arkansas State got on the board with a 36-yard field goal from senior Josh Arauco with 36 seconds to play before halftime to make it 14-3 at the break.

The Cajun defense held the Arkansas State offense to 68 total yards in the first half. Louisiana extended its lead to 21-3 when Masson scored on a two-yard run with 5:48 to play in the third.

With the Red Wolves trailing 21-3, Aplin directed a 16-play, 68-yard drive that ended with senior tailback Reggie Arnold's two-yard touchdown run with 12:39 remaining to cut the Cajun lead to 21-10.

Just over two minutes later, Aplin had the Red Wolves in the end zone again when he hooked up with freshman wideout Taylor Stockemer on a 64-yard completion to set up a five-yard scoring run from Arnold. Aplin scrambled in for the two-point conversion to put the Red Wolves within a field goal at 21-18 with 10:10 remaining.

Arkansas State took over again at the Red Wolves' 33 with 5:07 to play and drove to the Ragin' Cajun 39 before Kelley stepped in front of Aplin's pass for the interception with 2:52 remaining, and UL was able to run out the clock to preserve the win.