NATCHITOCHES — McNeese State’s strongest half of football this season looked like the prelude to a blowout. Instead, it ended up providing the cushion the Cowboys needed every bit of to withstand a fourth-quarter Northwestern State rally.

The Demons came within a possession of making a 32-point halftime deficit vanish before McNeese’s defense responded with the four-and-out it needed to put the finishing touch on a 35-28 win.

McNeese head coach Matt Viator made it clear that there is no such thing as winning ugly, especially when away from home and increasingly ravaged by injuries.

“We’re just excited to win,” Viator said. “It’s conference. We need to win. I knew they were a better football team than (trailing) 35-3 at home. I’m glad to win, to be honest with you.”

Health was a concern for McNeese going in, and it didn’t get any better over the course of four quarters Saturday night.

“We’re running out of players,” Viator said. “We had two offensive linemen come out the game. (Running back) Ryan Ross came out the game. (Running back) Kelvin Bennett is still limping. We need to get some guys back fast.”

The Cowboys (6-2, 4-1 Southland) looked invincible in the first half, running out to a 28-0 lead before Northwestern State (4-5, 2-3) could pick up its initial first down.

“It probably is (our best 30 minutes this season),” Viator said of the opening half. “Defensively we’ve come out of the box pretty good in the past and offensively we’ve come out running it good in the past, but we came out running and throwing.”

Tyler Bolfing got the start at quarterback after getting the majority of first-team reps in practice this week as Daniel Sams dealt with a hip pointer.

Bolfing was 7 of 12 for 103 yards passing.

It wasn’t just execution that was going well for the Cowboys. McNeese dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage, sacking Demons quarterback Zach Adkins five times and pushing Northwestern’s defensive line around for five touchdown runs of less than 10 yards.

“Without a doubt that was our best half this year,” said running back Dylan Long, who scored three touchdowns. “People were flying around. I had big holes to run through. This game is always a helluva game — a ‘You hate us, we hate you’ type atmosphere. I love games like this.”

Despite the dominance of the 35-3 first half, Viator said he assumed the Demons had a few punches left.

Northwestern’s defense kept things stable enough for the offense to finally land some blows in the fourth quarter.

Adkins tossed three touchdowns — a 60-yarder to Ed Eagan, a 3-yarder to Cody Jones and a 16-yarder to Corey Simmons as the score became 35-28 with 2:08 left. Adkins finished 21 of 32 for 338 yards.

The Demons’ onside kick attempt failed, but they used all three of their timeouts as McNeese failed to pick up a first down on three run plays.

Punter Jean Breaux pinned Northwestern at its own 5 with a 32-yard punt, and the defense didn’t allow the Demons past the chains again.

“Being (Defense With Attitude), that’s what we live for,” said Cowboys defensive tackle Kevin Dorn, who had a team-high two sacks. “They’ve got a long drive ahead of them, and our goal is nobody is going to drive on us. That’s our motto. So we went out there with a chip on our shoulder that they weren’t going to get anything on that drive.”(Roddy Johnson/Special to the American Press)

Roddy Johnson