By Doug Gann | 446Sports
PLAINVIEW, Texas — Sometimes you need the whole box score to understand what happened in a football game.
Sometimes you need one number.
Minus-28.
Wayland Baptist finished Saturday night with minus-28 rushing yards against Louisiana Christian.
Not 28.
Minus 28.
While the LCU defense spent the night turning the Pioneers’ running game backward, the Wildcats were doing exactly the opposite on the other side of the football.
Louisiana Christian rushed for 341 yards, piled up 590 yards of total offense and walked out of Plainview with a 44-27 road victory to remain unbeaten.
The final score doesn’t completely tell this story.
341 to minus-28 does.
That’s a 369-yard difference in rushing production.
And for a Louisiana Christian team that has now beaten Northwestern State on the road, hung 70 on Langston and followed it with another road victory, this one gave us another piece of evidence about what these Wildcats may be capable of becoming.
LCU Started on the Ground
Wayland actually struck first.
The Pioneers took the opening possession 52 yards in 13 plays and kicked a 33-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
Then Louisiana Christian went to work.
Joe Johnson scored from one yard out to put the Wildcats ahead 7-3.
Less than three minutes later, Datlan Cunningham punched it in from two yards and suddenly LCU led 14-3.
Wayland wouldn’t go away.
A second-quarter field goal made it 14-6, and Aidan Crawford found Donte Hurt for a 36-yard touchdown to pull the Pioneers within one.
14-13.
LCU needed an answer.
Bryce Perkins provided it.
With 4:37 remaining before halftime, Perkins found Omarius Davis for a 17-yard touchdown, sending Louisiana Christian to the locker room with a 21-13 lead.
| First Half Scoring | Score |
|---|---|
| Wayland 33-yard FG | WBU 3-0 |
| Joe Johnson 1-yard TD run | LCU 7-3 |
| Datlan Cunningham 2-yard TD run | LCU 14-3 |
| Wayland 37-yard FG | LCU 14-6 |
| Wayland 36-yard TD pass | LCU 14-13 |
| Omarius Davis 17-yard TD catch | LCU 21-13 |
This wasn’t going to be another 70-14 Saturday night.
Wayland made LCU earn this one.
And the Wildcats did.
Joe Johnson Had Himself a Night
Remember the name.
Actually, remember the number:
196.
Joe Johnson carried 15 times for 196 yards and two touchdowns.
That’s 13.1 yards every time he touched the football on a running play.
And his biggest run came when LCU needed it most.
Wayland had pulled within 30-21 late in the third quarter.
The game was still very much alive.
Early in the fourth, Joe erased a whole bunch of doubt at once.
Sixty-two yards.
Touchdown.
37-21.
| LCU Rushing Leaders | Carries | Yards | Avg. | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Johnson | 15 | 196 | 13.1 | 2 |
| Ashontis Brooks Jr. | 13 | 75 | 5.8 | — |
| Phillip Jones II | 2 | 42 | 21.0 | — |
| Datlan Cunningham | 17 | 41 | 2.4 | 1 |
| Bryce Perkins | 4 | -13 | -3.3 | — |
Louisiana Christian finished with 341 rushing yards on 51 attempts, averaging 6.7 yards per carry.
But Joe was the hammer.
His 62-yard touchdown wasn’t just the biggest rushing play of the night.
It came at exactly the moment Wayland was trying to turn a football game into a fourth-quarter fight.
Joe basically said:
Nope.
Perkins Kept Finding Answers
Bryce Perkins didn’t have to carry the offense.
That’s becoming one of the dangerous things about this Louisiana Christian team.
He just had to make the throws when they were there.
Perkins finished 14-of-25 for 232 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception. Phillip Jones II added a 17-yard completion, giving LCU 249 passing yards for the night.
And Perkins spread those touchdowns around.
Omarius Davis got the first.
EJ Scott got the second.
Darius Washington got the third.
| LCU Receiving Leaders | Rec. | Yards | Avg. | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EJ Scott | 5 | 102 | 20.4 | 1 |
| Omarius Davis | 5 | 75 | 15.0 | 1 |
| Darius Washington | 3 | 39 | 13.0 | 1 |
| Xavion Butler | 2 | 33 | 16.5 | — |
Scott went over 100 receiving for the second consecutive game, finishing with five catches for 102 yards. Davis added 75, and Washington turned one of his three receptions into a fourth-quarter touchdown.
There was balance everywhere.
341 rushing.
249 passing.
That’s 590 yards of offense.
Pick your poison.
The Biggest Answer Came in 35 Seconds
This may have been the most important sequence of the night.
Wayland scored with 1:44 remaining in the third quarter, then converted the two-point attempt.
LCU’s lead was suddenly:
24-21.
A three-point game.
On the road.
Momentum swinging.
Thirty-five seconds later, Perkins hit EJ Scott for a 34-yard touchdown.
30-21.
That’s a response.
Then, early in the fourth quarter, Joe Johnson broke the 62-yarder.
37-21.
And with 7:40 remaining, Perkins hit Darius Washington from 16 yards out.
44-21.
| When Wayland Threatened | LCU’s Answer |
|---|---|
| Wayland cuts it to 14-13 | Perkins → Davis TD |
| Wayland cuts it to 24-21 | Perkins → Scott TD 35 seconds later |
| Fourth quarter begins | Joe Johnson 62-yard TD |
| LCU looking to finish it | Perkins → Washington TD |
Wayland eventually added a late touchdown.
By then, the Wildcats had already answered the question.
But Let’s Talk About Minus-28
Louisiana Christian allowed 361 passing yards.
Wayland completed 26 passes and threw it 59 times.
Those numbers are going to jump off the stat sheet.
There’s a reason.
They couldn’t run the football. At all.
| Wayland Baptist Rushing | Carries | Yards |
|---|---|---|
| Donte Hurt | 1 | 15 |
| Kye Callicoatte | 2 | 5 |
| Jayden Littles | 2 | 0 |
| Malik White | 3 | -5 |
| Aidan Crawford | 3 | -19 |
| Omarion Dumas | 11 | -24 |
| TEAM | 22 | -28 |
Wayland’s leading ball carrier, Omarion Dumas, carried 11 times for minus-24 yards.
Quarterback Aidan Crawford finished with minus-19.
The entire team averaged minus-1.3 yards per rushing attempt.
Read that again.
Every time Wayland ran the football, the average result was backward.
That’s not bending but not breaking.
That’s demolition.
LCU Lived in the Backfield
Now we know how Wayland got to minus-28.
Louisiana Christian finished with an eye-popping 17 tackles for loss totaling 59 yards, along with three sacks.
Seventeen.
| LCU Defensive Havoc | Production |
|---|---|
| Tackles for Loss | 17 |
| TFL Yardage | 59 |
| Sacks | 3 |
| Sack Yardage | 19 |
| Interceptions | 1 |
| Pass Breakups | 15 |
| QB Hurries | 20 |
And this wasn’t one guy wrecking the box score.
It came from everywhere.
Jonathan Moore-LeDay recorded three tackles for loss for 20 yards and a sack.
Brandon Johnson II had seven tackles and two TFL.
Cameron Leonard had two tackles for loss.
Jermarian Jackson had two TFL and a sack.
Marques Hampton recorded a sack and 1.5 TFL.
Kristian Doyle added 1.5 TFL.
Trace McHugh intercepted Crawford.
And then there’s another number worth circling:
20 quarterback hurries.
Wayland threw for 361 yards because it had to throw the football 59 times.
LCU knew it was coming.
And the Wildcats kept coming anyway.
The Numbers That Tell the Story
| Category | Louisiana Christian | Wayland Baptist |
|---|---|---|
| Final Score | 44 | 27 |
| First Downs | 29 | 19 |
| Total Offense | 590 | 333 |
| Rushing Yards | 341 | -28 |
| Passing Yards | 249 | 361 |
| Yards Per Play | 7.7 | 4.1 |
| Third Down | 6-of-13 | 6-of-19 |
| Sacks | 3 | 0 |
| Tackles for Loss | 17 | 3 |
The Wildcats outgained Wayland 590-333 despite the Pioneers running four more offensive plays and possessing the football for more than 32 minutes.
That’s efficiency.
LCU averaged 7.7 yards per play.
Wayland averaged 4.1.
Three Things We Learned
1. This LCU Front Can Wreck a Football Game
Forget the final score for a minute.
Look at this:
| Defensive Front | Number |
|---|---|
| Wayland Rush Attempts | 22 |
| Wayland Rush Yards | -28 |
| Average Per Carry | -1.3 |
| LCU Tackles for Loss | 17 |
| TFL Yardage | 59 |
| LCU Sacks | 3 |
We’ve seen good defensive performances.
Minus-28 rushing yards is something different.
LCU didn’t simply stop the run.
The Wildcats took it away.
Wayland became one-dimensional, attempted 59 passes and still finished with only 333 yards of total offense.
That’s the kind of defensive front that changes what an opposing coaching staff is willing to call.
2. Joe Johnson Just Added Another Weapon to the Conversation
| Joe Johnson | Number |
|---|---|
| Carries | 15 |
| Yards | 196 |
| Average | 13.1 |
| Touchdowns | 2 |
| Long | 62 |
Joe had 114 yards and two touchdowns against Langston.
Then he went to Plainview and nearly hit 200.
And this time, his biggest play came when the game was still in doubt.
Wayland had closed to within three late in the third.
By 12:57 of the fourth quarter, Joe was 62 yards down the field and standing in the end zone.
That’s not empty production.
That’s a game-changing run.
3. These Wildcats Keep Answering
This is becoming a personality trait.
Northwestern State punched.
LCU answered.
Langston tried.
LCU buried them.
Wayland cut Saturday’s game to one point in the second quarter.
LCU answered with a touchdown.
Wayland cut it to three late in the third.
Thirty-five seconds later, LCU was back in the end zone.
Then came Joe’s 62-yarder.
Then Washington’s touchdown.
There are more talented teams than Louisiana Christian will face this season.
There will be tougher environments.
There will be nights when things go wrong.
But through three games, we’ve learned something important:
These Cats don’t seem to panic.
Five Stats That Tell the Story
| Stat | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| -28 | Wayland’s net rushing total |
| 341 | LCU rushing yards |
| 590 | LCU total offense |
| 17 | LCU tackles for loss |
| 196 | Joe Johnson rushing yards |
You could probably stop at the first one.
But the combination is what makes this performance stand out.
Louisiana Christian didn’t just prevent Wayland from running the football.
LCU outrushed the Pioneers 341 to minus-28.
The Bottom Line
Three games.
Three very different tests.
At Northwestern State, Louisiana Christian had to survive.
Against Langston, the Wildcats had to handle success and dominate a team they were supposed to beat.
Saturday night in Plainview, they had to answer.
Wayland kept hanging around.
14-13.
24-21.
Every time the Pioneers got close, Louisiana Christian responded.
Perkins threw three touchdowns.
EJ Scott went over 100 receiving again.
The Wildcats rolled up 590 yards.
And Joe Johnson?
196 yards. Two touchdowns. Thirteen yards every time he carried it.
But years from now, when somebody opens this box score, there’s one number they’re going to stare at for a second because they’ll assume something must be wrong.
It isn’t.
Wayland Baptist rushing: 22 attempts, minus-28 yards.
Louisiana Christian walked into Texas and won 44-27.
The Cats are still unbeaten.
And after three weeks, this is starting to look like more than a hot start.
This is starting to look like an identity.
