LAKE CHARLES – The Northwestern State football team's first visit to newly renamed Navarre Stadium did not end with the Demons' second straight road victory in the series with McNeese.
 
Visiting its Southland Conference rival for the first time in four years, the Demons were unable to slow McNeese's running game as the Cowboys built a sizeable halftime lead en route to a 50-3 victory.
 
"There wasn't a lot of good today," second-year head coach Blaine McCorkle said. "That was probably the most disappointing loss since we've been here. I thought we had a really good week of practice, and I thought our kids came in feeling good and confident. When the game got going, it got away from us in a hurry. It shows just how far we have to go."
 
The Demons (1-8, 0-5) overcame a first-play interception to take a first-quarter lead for the second straight week as Kaden Mackey's interception and subsequent 39-yard return gave Northwestern possession at the McNeese 26.
 
Camryn Davis' 4-yard rush on third-and-1 moved the Demons inside the McNeese 15 before Northwestern settled for Grayson Lytton's 33-yard field goal.
 
From there, McNeese (3-6, 2-3) turned to its running game to take control.
 
Led by quarterback Jake Strong, the Cowboys rolled up 244 first-half rushing yards with all four of their first-half touchdowns coming on the ground – including a pair from their quarterbacks.
 
The first score came when Coleby Hamm bulled in from the 1-yard line on a fourth and goal after Northwestern snuffed out a third-down jump pass from backup quarterback Devin Lippold.  
 
Strong added a 35-yard scoring run while Lippold scored from 2 yards out, sandwiching those scores around a 10-yard touchdown run by Tre'Vonte Citizen.
 
While McNeese found its offensive rhythm on the ground, the Demons struggled to extend drives in the first half until Kolbe Burrell broke a 38-yard run just ahead of the two-minute timeout. Burrell followed that explosive play with a 14-yard run that helped give Northwestern its deepest drive of the night.
 
However, the Demons could not convert a fourth down, seeing its drive end at the McNeese 19-yard line.
 
"Physically, we got dominated," McCorkle said. "We're too small and too young right now to hold up against a team of that size and stature. McNeese, just like they've been for a hundred years, is a big, big, massive physical football team. You have to be able to hold up, and on both sides of the line of scrimmage, we weren't able to do that. We weren't able to generate much in the run game inside, which hurt us, and our defensive line struggled to hold up for four quarters against their offensive line up front."
 
The Demons were able to slow the Cowboys' ground attack in the second half, allowing 69 yards, but McNeese used its quick-passing game to pick up the slack.
 
McNeese found success with pop passes in the second half, including a 23-yard touchdown from Jonathan Harris on the play.
 
The Cowboys set up their second score of the half with a 36-yard completion to Matthew McCallister.
 
Northwestern could not get its offense untracked after halftime as the Demons compiled 64 of their 178 yards in the final two quarters. That came a week after Northwestern put together a season-best total offense performance against then-No. 15 Lamar, piling up 307 yards against the Cardinals.
 
"Last week against Lamar, we didn't win the game and we lost by a decent score, but there were some things that gave us some confidence," McCorkle said. "You couple that with people telling them McNeese wasn't very good. We're not mature enough to handle those two things right now, and we didn't handle those two things tonight. We have to go back to work and do a lot better, because what happened tonight is not acceptable."
 
The Demons return to action in a week when they host UIW. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. inside Turpin Stadium.