UL Athletics
YPSILANTI, Mich. – Eastern Michigan’s Rudy Kessinger drilled a 42-yard field goal with three seconds left, and the Eagles claimed a back-and-forth 34-31 win over the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Saturday afternoon at Rynearson Stadium.
Kessinger added a 49-yard boot in the fourth quarter which bounced off the crossbar as Eastern Michigan (1-3) won its fifth straight Homecoming contest and evened the all-time series record against Louisiana (1-3) to 2-2.
Zylan Perry, who rushed for 110 yards and two touchdowns, opened the scoring for Louisiana with a 23-yard touchdown run, but EMU answered behind quarterback Noah Kim’s 3-yard score.
After a Tony Sterner field goal, Louisiana’s Bill Davis broke free for a 45-yard touchdown run to give the Ragin’ Cajuns a 17-14 lead only for Kim to find Joshua Long for a 15-yard strike that gave Eastern Michigan a 21-17 halftime lead.
The Cajuns regained momentum in the third when Courtline Flowers picked off Kim and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown.
But EMU controlled the fourth quarter, with Tavierre Dunlap’s 6-yard touchdown run and Kessinger’s first of two field goals pushing the Eagles ahead 31-24.
Perry capped a 65-yard drive for the Ragin’ Cajuns with a 10-yard rushing TD to tie the game with 47 seconds left. The drive was kept alive when EMU was called for roughing the passer on fourth-and-23 before Daniel Beale connected with Shelton Sampson Jr. for a 43-yard gain to the EMU 20.
EMU extended its final drive when Kim scrambled and found Long for a 27-yard gain to the UL 29 before Kessinger kicked his game-winner.
Beale set a career-high with 222 yards, completing 20 of 33 passes. Robert Williams caught seven passes for 71 yards for the Ragin’ Cajuns with Sampson catching three passes for 87 yards.
Louisiana will open Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday when it hosts Marshall in a rematch of last season’s SBC Championship Game.
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