PINEVILLE –The Louisiana Christian University football program posted its first three wins primarily running the ball but the unbeaten Wildcats took to the air on Saturday, racking up 360 passing yards and 46 points in the first half alone to put the game away within minutes in a 60-14 drubbing of Wayland Baptist.
LCU (4-0, 3-0 in the Sooner Athletic Conference) has won nine straight games dating back to last season. The visitors dipped to 1-3 overall, 0-2 in the SAC.
Sal Palermo III led the Wildcats in both passing (369) and rushing yards (39), putting up all but nine of his yards with his arm plus each of his team-high five touchdowns (3 passing, 2 rushing) in the first half alone.
Sammy Feaster must have seemed invisible to the Pioneers defenders in the first quarter because every time Palermo looked up, he was wide open deep downfield with nobody around him. His first quarter stat line ended up being his total, but it was video game worthy with a trio of catches for 195 yards plus a pair of scores to average an insane 65 yards per reception.
Taevion Cunningham received six touches for the evening, five rushes and one catch, scoring on four of them. The Tennessee-Martin transfer ran for three short TDs and his one reception going 25 yards for six points.
Andre Reed topped the Wildcat defense with seven tackles including five solos, registered two tackles for loss, and dropped the signal-caller 19 yards behind the line of scrimmage for a massive sack. D’Mario Weathersby was in on seemingly every play in the first half, cataloging six takedowns (five solo) to finish just behind Reed for the club lead.
Both Nate Sullivan and Jahiem Mitchell showed off acrobatic interception grabs with Sullivan nearly taking his to the house on a 35-yard return that set the Cats up at the WBU 5-yard-line.
Wildcats fans got a possible glimpse into the future late in the matchup as sophomore quarterback River Thompson put his skills on display, completing 3-of-4 passes for 28 yards on top of 30 rushing yards on just five carries.
Among other LCU players that stood out in the box score were Glenn White with 25 rushing yards and a touchdown, Jacob Ganote (4 catches for 66 yards) and Ethan Christman (2 catches for 57 yards) finding open space in the receiving game. Defensively, Logan Brimmer picked up a pair of tackles for lost yards including another sack, Ernest Simon and Jayden Davis tallied a sack and tackle for loss, respectively, and Kavin Touriac forced an incompletion with the game’s only QB hurry.
The reigning LSWA Special Teams Player of the Week, Mason Ingram, has a chance to repeat after connecting on four punts including a 50-yard blast and one downed inside the 20, adding up to another stellar average of 44 yards per punt.
The Wildcats play their next two games on the road in Oklahoma. First up will be Panhandle State at 6 p.m. on Saturday in Goodwell.