Louisiana Tech scored 20 unanswered points Tuesday to turn a two-score halftime deficit into an overtime lead.
But Western Kentucky (6-2, 4-1) answered with touchdown run by Baton Rouge native George Hart III and a walk-off two-point conversion from Rodney Tisdale Jr. to K.D. Hutchinson to spoil the Bulldogs’ comeback, 28-27.
“There’s not a word or a message that I can say that’s going to ease the wound of this sting, because it hurts,” Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Cumbie said. “We have 108 guys that poured everything they could into a football game and a week of preparation, as well as belief and expectation from the standpoint of what we are going to do. Â At the end of the day, credit to Western Kentucky on the two-point conversion. Their quarterback did a great job of keeping the play alive and finding a backside drag.
“There’s a lot of bright spots tonight, but we just could not quite overcome some of the mistakes that we made against a good football team. I thought there were situations where we were able to overcome some of those mistakes throughout the night, but at the end of the day we just didn’t make enough plays. I think our defense played a great second half — shutting them out until we got to overtime. There’s a lot of bright spots from tonight, but ultimately, we want to win the football game, and we were not able to do that.”
The home-standing Bulldogs (4-3, 2-2) had fallen behind 20-7 by halftime managing just a 6-yard pass from Blake Baker to Tre Averhart onto the scoreboard before the break.
But Louisiana Tech received a special-teams spark right out of the locker room as Clay Thevenin returned the kickoff 7 yards up past the right hash before turning, pivoting and firing a lateral across the field to Devin Gandy for an 86-yard dash and final spin into the end zone.
The Bulldogs shut out the Hilltoppers the entire half and pulled back even with a pair of 24-yard John Hoyet Chance (Captain Shreve) field goals in the fourth to force overtime.
And senior running back Andrew Burnette provided the first lead since the first quarter with a 2-yard run to open the extra period.
Western Kentucky finally broke back through, though, as Hart, the former Catholic-Baton Rouge scored his second touchdown of the night and set up the game-winning conversion.
Baker finished 31-for-45 for a career-high 340 yards and the touchdown to Averhart and rushed 10 times for a team-high 49 yards. Junior Marlion Jackson led the Bulldogs’ receivers with five catches for 76 yards, and Gandy and Thevenin had 56 and 52 yards, respectively.
Thevenin’s six catches marked the sophomore’s season-high, and Averhart’s touchdown was his first reception with the program.
Junior defensive back Jacob Fields and senior safety Jakari Foster led the Louisiana Tech defense with 11 and 10 tackles, respectively — a career-high for Fields — and senior linebacker Sifa Leota had eight tackles, including three for loss. Junior Kameron Carter intercepted a pass.
Tisdale finished 21-for-34 for 227 yards and a 15-yard touchdown to La’Vell Wright and rushed 12 times for 73 yards, and Hutchinson led all receivers with six catches for 77 yards.
“We must talk to the guys,” veteran defensive back Cedric Woods (Carroll) said. “Like I’ve said in the past, this is probably one of the closer teams I have been a part of here in all my years at Tech. I know for a fact that this is something that is not going to splinter the team—if anything, it’s going to bring us closer together. Because after coming in from that game, I see a lot of guys that care, and they were hurt by this loss. This is just something that’s going to help us grow.”
Louisiana Tech remains home in Week 10 for a Halloween homecoming matchup against Sam Houston on Friday, Oct. 31.
