Warhawks muzzle Red Wolves|College football

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, October 14, 2009

MONROE, La. — Louisiana-Monroe was ready for primetime, rain or no rain.

The Warhawks made a late stand in the final minute to beat Arkansas State 16-10 Tuesday night before a nationally televised audience on ESPN2 at Malone Stadium. The keeps ULM unbeaten in the Sun Belt Conference at 3-0. The Warhawks are 4-2 overall and have won three straight games.

That fact was not lost on former Warren Central and Hinds Community College defensive back Otis Stamps.

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“A real good win against a good team,” an elated Stamps said.

The ULM defense held Arkansas State (1-4, 0-2) to 29 yards rushing and forced three turnovers from quarterback Corey Leonard.

Ten days ago, Leonard helped the Red Wolves take No. 12 Iowa to the limit in a 24-21 loss.

“We saw what they did against Iowa and a couple of other teams. We knew what we were going against,” Stamps said.

Leonard, who completed 20-of-39 passes for 234 yards and one score, drove the Red Wolves to the ULM 21 in the game’s final minute. His first-down pass fell incomplete. After a 5-yard motion penalty, one of 16 penalties for 115 yards on the night for the Red Wolves, Leonard was sacked by Troy Evans for a 6-yard loss. On third down, he was sacked again, this time for 11 yards. On fourth down, his pass was broken up in the end zone.

“I just came off the edge and got him,”  Evans said.

Leonard had a first half he would like to forget. He slipped and fumbled back on his own 9 and that led to a 21-yard-field goal by Radi Jabour and a 10-0 lead just seconds into the second quarter.

Later in the quarter, he was intercepted twice. The first by Nate Brown was turned into a 45-yard scoring drive by the Warhawks capped by a 1-yard run from Frank Goodin, who finished with 97 yards rushing.

The second pick by James Truxillo stopped the Red Wolves’ best scoring chance of the first half. The interception allowed ULM to take a 16-0 lead into halftime.

On the second play of the contest, ULM’s Trey Revell went deep and hit LaGregory Sapp for a 48-yard touchdown. Sapp made an amazing grab, catching the ball on his back while sliding across the goal line with a defender draped on him. Jabour added the PAT kick to make it 7-0. Leonard got in gear in the third quarter, leading the Red Wolves on a 64-yard march to open the half. The score came on his 14-yard pass to Brandon Tompkins to make it 16-7 after a PAT kick by Ryan Wilbourn.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com