The Cowboys appeared more focused and polished and ended the training portion of their preseason training session on Friday morning with a better scrimmage than the week before.

The passing game in particular improved, as several McNeese State receivers improved their performance during the two-hour practice.

A total of 14 Cowboys caught all types of passes from four different quarterbacks. McNee’s throwers completed 22 of 42 passes for 277 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.

“I’m really pleased,” McNeese head coach Gary Goff said. “They had a better practice game than the first one, and that’s why we moved the ball better. We want to spread it around and use all of our guys.”

Jalen Wright led the way with three catches for 62 yards and a touchdown. Redshirt freshman and sophomore Jer’Michael Carter (2-29) had the two best catches of the day for big plays.

Another sophomore, Kameran Senegal (3-36), and Louisiana Tech transfer Matthew McCallister (1-6) also scored touchdowns. Running back Bryce Strong scored a touchdown out of the backfield on a four-yard touchdown run.

The Cowboys also ran the ball well, as they did in the first practice game. Nine players carried the ball 59 times for 345 yards and one score. Sophomore Joshon Barbie had six carries for 61 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown run, leading the group.

“I felt good out there,” Barbie said. “We made a lot of great plays today. We’re getting better and fixing what needs to be fixed.”

Clifton McDowell was the best quarterback, completing 10 of 18 passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran 11 times for 49 yards.

Redshirt freshman Kamden Sixkiller completed 9 of 21 passes for 110 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Defensively, the Cowboys had six sacks, with linebacker Marques White recording two of those and another three tackles for loss. Masey Lewis also had two sacks.

Newcomer Tiger Peterson, who had just joined the team from Hawaii, recorded the only interception of the day.

“We’ve gotten stronger as a unit,” White said. “The closer the game gets, the more relaxed we feel.”

The Cowboys will play at Tarleton State for the first time in two weeks on August 24th.

“It was a good day,” Goff said. “It was a lot cleaner than the first practice game. There’s still a lot of room for improvement, but we saw some good things on both sides of the ball.”

Goff added that most of the work in camp is now complete and that after getting the weekend off, the players will begin more intensive work on Tarleton on Monday.

“We’ll still have good opponents at times, but we’re done with the practice game, that’s over,” Goff said. “But we’ll still put pressure on them.”

Training match statistics:

Passing by: Clifton McDowell 10-18, 105, 2 TD; Kamden Sixkiller 9-21, 110, TD, INT; Devin Lippold 3-4, 62, TD; Jackson LaTour 0-2. Total 22-42, 277, 3 TD, INT.

Rush: Joshon Barbie 6-61, TD; Clifton McDowell 11-49; Tre’vonte Citizen 8-41; Kamden Sixkiller 14-80; Coleby Hamm 8-37; Bryce Strong 6-43; Jamaal Levi 1-10; D’Angelo Durham 4-20; Teshaun Ryals-Wilson 1-4. Total score 59-345, TD.

Reception: Cameran Senegal 3-36, TD; Curtis Deville 2-32; Jer’Michael Carter 2-29; Jamaal Levi 2-40; Jalen Wright 3-62, TD; Jessie Campbell 2-18; D’Angelo Durham 2-14; Jihad Marks 1-14; Trey Echols 1-12; Matthew McCallister 1-6, TD; Bryce Strong 1-4, TD; Coleby Hamm 1-8; Treshaun Ryals-Wlson 1-8; Logan Mauldin 1-(-3).

Bags: Marques White 2; Masey Lewis 2; Maurquel Price 1; Gabe Huges 0.5; AJ Thomas 0.5.

Tackles for loss: Brand white 3.0.

Pass distribution: Levi Wyatt 1; Reggie Ellis 1; Kandyn Cordova 1

Intercepted balls: Tiger Peterson.