Louisiana Football Cruises Past Ohio, 49-14

Montrell Johnson scores four rushing touchdowns in dominant prime-time victory

LAFAYETTE – Powered by a ruthless ground attack that accounted for 310 of Louisiana’s 564 yards of total offense, the Ragin’ Cajuns cruised past the Ohio Bobcats, 49-14, on Thursday night.

True freshman Montrell Johnson played a major role in the team’s production, becoming the first Ragin’ Cajun to rush for four touchdowns in a single game since Alonzo Harris and Elijah McGuire each had four scores against Arkansas State on Oct. 21, 2014. Johnson finished the night with 13 carries for 84 yards.

Fellow running backs Emani Bailey and Chris Smith were also strong on Saturday, with Bailey contributing a career-high 89 yards on 11 carries and Smith contributing 68 yards on 11 touches.

Senior quarterback Levi Lewis had another impressive outing, throwing for more than 200 yards for a third consecutive game after completing 21 of his 29 attempts for 214 yards and touchdown. Lewis has now thrown a touchdown pass in 21-straight games.

Five different receivers caught three passes in the game, with Kaleb Carter leading the way with a career-best 51 receiving yards. John Stephens, Jr., had a big night as well, adding 37 yards and hauling in two receiving scores from both Lewis and Chandler Fields.

Defensively, Louisiana held Ohio to just 14 points and only 104 yards on the ground. Lorenzo McCaskill led the charge with 10 tackles, the sixth double-digit tackle performance of the season. Sonny Hazard was credited with three tackles and recorded his first-career sack in the contest, while Bralen Trahan scooped up a fumble.

Louisiana got off to a hot start with touchdown drives on its first two possessions when Lewis found Stephens from two yards out and Johnson found the end zone early in the second quarter to go up 14-0.

After Ohio scored late in the second period to cut the lead in half, the Ragin’ Cajuns rolled the dice on fourth down with three seconds to play and watch Johnson barrel his way across the goal line as time expired in the half to take a 21-7 lead into the locker room.

The team wasted no time extending their advantage in the third quarter, marching the ball down the field in 4:48 and allowing Johnson to punch in his third score of the game to go ahead 28-7.

Ohio answered later in the third to cut the deficit to 28-14, but that is as close as the Bobcats were able to get.

Johnson tacked on his fourth score with 11:51 on the clock before Smith got into the action with his first rushing touchdown of the season, extending the lead to 42-14 with 6:04 remaining.

Stephens capped off the big win with a 13-yard reception from Fields, who finished the night 4-for-5 for 40 yards, to seal the 49-14 victory.

Louisiana Football returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 25, when it opens Sun Belt Conference play on the road at Georgia Southern. Kickoff from Statesboro is slated for 5 p.m. CST and will be broadcast on ESPN�.

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