App State secures bowl eligibility, Louisiana remains undefeated in conference in week 9 action

Published 11:25 am Monday, November 1, 2021

No. 24/24 Coastal Carolina got back in the win column with its third-straight one-possession win over Troy, 35-28, Thursday night. With the ball on its own 31-yard-line late in the fourth quarter, Chanticleers super senior defensive lineman C.J. Brewer executed a fake punt, rushing for 12 yards to help seal the one-possession win. Senior wide receiver Jaivon Heiligh showed out in front of a national television audience on ESPN2, recording his program-record 10th career 100-yard receiving performance. Heiligh hauled in five catches for 116 yards and a touchdown, while senior running back Shermari Jones paced the ground game with 95 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Louisiana maintained its unblemished conference record, delivering a 45-0 shutout of Texas State on homecoming weekend in Lafayette. Ragin’ Cajuns senior quarterback Levi Lewis connected on 22-of-32 passes for 228 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday’s nationally-televised contest, surpassing Jake Delhomme to become Louisiana’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns (65) in the process. With the win, Louisiana improved to 15-0 against Sun Belt West Division opposition under head coach Billy Napier.

App State led 49-7 at the break, en route to a 59-28 homecoming victory over ULM to clinch bowl eligibility for the seventh-straight season. Mountaineer senior linebacker Trey Cobb filled up the highlight reel in the first half—with a fumble recovery, an interception and a fourth-down stop to create a turnover on downs—and finished with a game-high 12 tackles.

Super seniors wide receiver Thomas Hennigan and kicker Chandler Staton also broke first-place ties for App State program records in front of the homecoming crowd of 29,321 fans. Hennigan took sole possession of App State’s career receptions record (212), while Staton snapped a tie for the Mountaineers’ career field goals high-water mark (56).

South Alabama jumped out to a 28-0 lead—including a pair of touchdown connections from senior quarterback Jake Bentley to junior wide receiver Jalen Tolbert—and held on for a 31-13 homecoming win over Arkansas State. Bentley had his third-straight game with 250-or-more passing yards, connecting on 29-of-39 attempts for 251 yards and four touchdowns. Jaguars junior running back Terrion Avery recorded his first career touchdown reception and first career 100-yard rushing game in the victory.

Arkansas State senior running back and return specialist Alan Lamar registered a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown in the losing effort, his second kickoff return touchdown of the season.

After Georgia Southern tied the game at 14-14 with 1:39 to play, Georgia State manufactured a seven-play, 73-yard drive to secure a 21-14 victory over the Eagles. The Panther running back duo of senior Tucker Gregg and redshirt senior Jamyest Williams combined for 184 rushing yards and all three Georgia State touchdowns in the victory.

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SUN BELT FOOTBALL – WEEK 9 RESULTS
No. 24/24 Coastal Carolina def. Troy, 35-28
Louisiana def. Texas State, 45-0
App State def. ULM, 59-28
South Alabama def. Arkansas State, 31-13
Georgia State def. Georgia Southern, 21-14

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