PINEVILLE, La. — Southwestern surrendered three unanswered touchdowns to Louisiana College in the fourth quarter, giving up drives of 65, 62, and 18 yards to lose 34-31.
The Pirates started slow, surrendering a nine-play, 75-yard opening drive for a touchdown and 10-play, 58-yard drive ending in a Markaylin Milburn 12-yard touchdown run to open the second quarter to put Lousiana College up 13-0 after a failed two-point conversion.
Southwestern got rolling in the second quarter, putting together a five-play, 75-yard drive punctuated by Landry Gilpin hitting Joey Robinson for a nine-yard touchdown pass. After forcing a three-and-out on the ensuing defensive possession, Southwestern struck again with a six-play, 65-yard drive highlighted by a 21-yard run by Landry Gilpin followed by a 25-yard touchdown pass from Austin Castilleja to Anfernee Stephens for the 14-13 lead.
The Pirate defense put together a string of stops, setting up a Wil Herbst 33-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, giving Southwestern a 17-13 lead at the break. Southwestern scored two unanswered touchdowns in the third, scoring on a 17-yard pass from Gilpin to Ethan Powell and a 10-yard pass from Gilpin to Castilleja to put the Pirates up 31-13.
Louisiana College's defense kicked into high gear from there, holding Southwestern to four consecutive three-and-out possessions and a turnover on downs to end the game. The Wildcats turned their first fourth-quarter possession into a 14-play, 65-yard touchdown drive, making two huge plays on third-and-long and finishing with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Sal Palermo III to Jacob Ganote.
Palermo followed that up by finding Canaan Leon, who took it 62 yards for the touchdown. Louisiana College took the lead on a three-yard Palermo rushing touchdown.
Gilpin led the Southwestern offense, completing 15-of-28 passes for 118 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He also led the Pirates with 82 yards rushing on 15 attempts. Stephens had two receptions for 41 yards and a touchdown.
Palermo completed 14-of-34 passes for 238 yards with two touchdowns and an interception for Louisiana College. Devin Brisco had 86 yards on eight carries, and Milburn added 71 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns. Southwestern surrendered 434 total yards while gaining 270.
Southwestern drops to 0-2 with the loss while Louisiana College improves to 2-1. The Pirates will return home to host Belhaven on Saturday, March 20, at 1:00 p.m.