Weber State football survives wild 4th quarter for 42-41 win at McNeese
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- Weber State kicker Sloan Calder, right, steps into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown run past McNeese defender Cohen Charles (16) on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Lake Charles, La.
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- Weber State running back Davion Godley celebrates a rushing touchdown against McNeese on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Lake Charles, La.
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- Weber State safety BJ Carey (3) fights through holding by McNeese running back Bryce Strong (2) as tight end Logan Mauldin (21) advances the footbal on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Lake Charles, La.
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- Weber State running back Davion Godley (25) high steps toward the end zone past McNeese defender Landon Barrett (17) on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Lake Charles, La.
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- Weber State running back Davion Godley, center, is tackled by McNeese safety Shoes Brinkley (14) on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Lake Charles, La.
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- Weber State receiver Jayleen Record eases up after a 78-yard touchdown reception against McNeese on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Lake Charles, La.
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- Weber State safety Angel King, left, returns an interception against McNeese on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Lake Charles, La.
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- Weber State players celebrate after a touchdown against McNeese on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Lake Charles, La.
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- Weber State running back Davion Godley (25) finishes a touchdown run against McNeese defender Javon Davis on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Lake Charles, La.
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- Weber State quarterback Jackson Gilkey (2) rushes away from McNeese defenders Dominick Bolden (99) and Phillip Bradford (44) on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Lake Charles, La.
Having traveled almost 9,000 miles this season upon their return from a Week 3 game at McNeese, and facing the Cowboys in hot, humid Lake Charles, Louisana, it’s probably reasonable to expect Weber State football players might show some fatigue late in the contest.
But what the Wildcats survived Saturday was something else.
Weber State coughed up a three-touchdown lead in the final 9:45 only to see defensive tackle Matt Herron play the hero, breaking up a Jake Strong two-point pass attempt with 0:42 on the clock to help the Wildcats escape with a 42-41 win.
“We lost so many close games last year, so it’s good to see them make a play,” WSU head coach Mickey Mental said. “So that’s a good start, and now we finally get to go home.”
Jackson Gilkey led Weber State (1-2) in the air and on the ground. He threw 11 of 20 for 218 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions while rushing 15 times for 114 yards and a score. Davion Godley had 22 carries for 59 yards and two scores. Gilkey’s 11 completions went to seven receivers, with tight end Noah Bennee catching three for 32 yards.
WSU recorded 49 carries to 20 pass attempts.
Weber State seemed in control when the defense stacked a touchdown on top of a convincing offensive scoring drive.
Davion Godley punched in a well-earned, 12-yard touchdown run for a 35-21 lead with 11:05 left. That capped a 13-play, 78-yard drive that ate 6:11 off the clock.
Three plays later, Strong, the McNeese QB, delivered a ball to a crossing Jonathan Harris that glanced off his hands and into the air. WSU safety BJ Carey was there, hurdling Harris as he secured an interception, and returned the pick 42 yards for a touchdown.
Weber led 42-21 with 9:45 left.
From that moment and over just 9 minutes, however, McNeese (1-2) outgained Weber State by a margin almost unbelievable if not witnessed: 211 to 14. The Cowboys rushed for 190 yards in the second half.
“Our practice habits are starting to show up in the game, now we’ve just got to put a team away,” Mental said. “Really good learning moment to get a close win after all those last year, so I’m really proud of the guys.”
Two plays after the Carey pick-six, Tre’Vonte Citizen gashed Weber with a 79-yard touchdown run. He and Strong held the mesh point on a zone-read play for what felt like an eternity, and Strong gave to Citizen at the last moment. By that time, the defense had moved such that Citizen ran untouched up the middle for the long score.
Three plays after that, Gilkey threw his second interception of the game, a ball to Bennee over the middle that was a smidge behind Bennee and that McNeese defender Mason Edwards simply outmuscled Bennee to grab. That gave the Cowboys a 32-yard field.
Still, McNeese needed nine plays to convert. WSU cornerback Montae Pate had an interesting two-play sequence; he jumped a tight-end route on third-and-goal from the WSU 3 that forced McNeese into a fourth down, but then saw Jonathan Harris catch a toes-down touchdown pass in the back of the end zone without as much as a courtesy push to disrupt his landing.
That 3-yard TD pass made it 42-35 with 4:56 left.
Weber, which struggled to consistently provide rushing lanes on traditional handoffs, picked up a first down on a Zach Hrbacek 11-yarder and seemed to be on the move. A well-designed first-down throw fake had Gilkey taking off to an empty left side with tons of grass ahead, but he stumbled on the take-off and lost 4 yards. So McNeese expended two timeouts, forced a punt and got the ball back at its own 18 with 2:14 to play.
WSU got two breaks early in the possession: McNeese committed a holding penalty on a first-down rush, then the Cowboys let the clock reach the 2-minute timeout without running another play. But McNeese erased a first-and-19 from its own 9 with Strong completions of 16 and 17 yards in succession, suddenly moving the home team near midfield.
Two passing first-down conversions that went out of bounds got McNeese to the Weber 19, where Strong scrambled through the defense for a rushing touchdown. It was 42-41 with 0:42 on the clock.
McNeese’s two-point try saw Strong fire a pass toward tight end Logan Mauldin but it never got there; Herron added a hand up to his strong push into the McNeese backfield and batted Strong’s attempt, a sudden end to McNeese’s furious comeback.
WSU recovered the ensuing onside kick, kneeled down once and celebrated its first win.
Strong finished 20 of 39 for 278 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Citizen ran 11 times for 117 yards, and Bryce Strong added 96 yards on 12 carries. Harris caught seven balls for 114 yards. McNeese outgained WSU 537-447.
Weber State opened the game by ending a McNeese drive just past midfield when a high pass glanced up to Weber safety Angel King for an interception. The Wildcats had a 40-yard field but didn’t convert it into points after a Phillip Bradford sack dropped Gilkey for a loss of 7 and out of field goal range.
McNeese next drove to the WSU 21 but Fabrizio Pinton missed his 38-yard field goal attempt wide right.
Two plays later, Gilkey hit Jayleen Record on a route up the left sideline; he dropped the ball between two defenders to Record at the McNeese 40 and he raced the rest of the way for a 78-yard touchdown to make it 7-0 in the first quarter.
A Porter Small sack ended McNeese’s next drive and Weber State soon scored again. Gilkey kept a zone-read run play and beat a defender to the left edge, going 50 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
It was a big-play kind of day, however. Bryce Strong soon answered with a 68-yard touchdown on a basic off-tackle run play to make it 14-7, still early in the second quarter.
A 33-yard Gilkey to Noah Kjar wheel route had WSU in business near the red zone but Gilkey ended the drive with an ill-advised sideline throw on a rollout, easily picked off by Javon Davis.
WSU drove 13 plays into the McNeese red zone late in the first half, ultimately facing a fourth-and-2 at the Cowboys 10-yard line — lining up to go for it but, after a timeout, sending out the field goal unit for a try.
That proved to be a gutsy misdirection. Peyton Beck took the snap and pitched to kicker Sloan Calder, who put got hands up for the toss after feigning a kick approach. Calder scooted 10 yards untouched to the left side for a rushing touchdown and a WSU lead of 21-7 at the half.
“I’m thinking, there’s momentum on our side, we got the right look, Coach Rid (Skyler Ridley) does a great job putting guys in position,” Mental said. “We were running against the look we practice against and Sloan goes high-stepping into the end zone.”
McNeese kept pace in the third quarter, though.
Harris scored on a 57-yard, busted-coverage touchdown pass where he got 20 yards behind any WSU defender to make it 21-14. The Wildcats answered with a touchdown drive, keyed by a 42-yard pass to Kelton Wafer and capped with a 2-yard Godley touchdown rush, for a 28-14 score.
McNeese came back when Calder saved a kick-return touchdown at the McNeese 40, but did so with a horse-collar tackle penalty. McNeese used nine plays to convert its 46-yard field, scoring on a Jake Strong 5-yard run and taking the game to the fourth quarter with a 28-21 score.
Weber State finally makes its home debut on Sept. 20, hosting Butler. The game time has been changed to 7 p.m.
