Kenny Almendares back on track with perfect game to spark UL's victory
One of the big differences for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns in Wednesday’s 23-13 win over Marshall was the consistency of the kicking game.
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<!-- Kenny Almendares back on track with perfect game to spark UL's victory
UL kicker Kenneth Almendares (45) made all three of his field goals to help the Cajuns claim a 23-13 win over Marshall on Wednesday.
Hunter D. Cone
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — One of the big differences for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns in Wednesday’s 23-13 win over Marshall was the consistency of the kicking game.
Leading that parade was sophomore kicker Kenny Almendares.
Almendares made all three of his field goal attempts to help UL maintain a lead for much of a win that snapped a three-game losing streak.
“Today, I was focused on doing the basics — running through the ball and kicking it,” Almendares said after the win. “After I make one, you get more confidence as you go, so it felt good.”
After last season ended with an injury and offseason surgery, Almendares was expected to be the starter this season, but he was beat out by Preston Stafford during August camp.
Almendares returned as the kicker against South Alabama, only to miss two of his three kicks. His consistency — making 7 of 8 tries over his first two seasons — returned at Marshall.
“In the last game, it had been about a year since I had kicked in a game, so I guess in a sense I was a little mentally stuck in something,” Almendares said. “I just talked to my family about it and I just got through it.”
No one appreciated his huge contribution more than quarterback Ben Wooldridge.
“Yeah, Kenny is an absolute stud,” Wooldridge said. “He’s an incredible person, awesome person.
“A quarterback’s best friend is the kicker. When you don’t get it done on third down in the red zone or outside the red zone, when you have a guy like Kenny coming on the field, you know he’s got a leg to him. You feel comfortable.”
Magical delays
As the teams began to return to the field for the second half Wednesday, they were abruptly told to return to their locker rooms because of a lightning delay. The fans even were told to leave the stadium to ensure safety.
“(Team chaplain) Eric Treuil told us he was praying to get rid of the fans, and he said the weather delay was God’s way of doing it, so we’ll take it,” UL coach Michael Desormeaux joked. “We sat in the locker room and we said, ‘Listen, this is either an advantage or it’s a disadvantage, however you take it.’
“We’ve been there before and we played really well after a lightning delay, so I think for our kids it was, ‘All right, let’s just go duplicate what we’ve already done.’ ”
It was the second time this season the Cajuns were involved in a lightning delay. The first one was with 3:04 left in the second quarter in the Sept. 10 home game against Eastern Michigan.
That lightning delay lasted 1 hour and 3 minutes. Shortly after the teams returned, Eastern Michigan jumped out to a 14-0 halftime lead with a touchdown pass. The Cajuns scored 49 points in the second half to claim a blowout win.
Wednesday's delay lasted half that time, but the second half proved great again for the Cajuns, who outscored the Thundering Herd 20-6.
“I don’t know,” Almendares said. “They’re a blessing.”
O-line hangs tough
As expected, running the ball was tough against a Marshall defense that was leading the Sun Belt by allowing just 71 yards a game.
The Cajuns managed 108 yards rushing. More importantly, the offensive line allowed only two sacks against the Thundering Herd’s dangerous front seven.
Those results were despite some shifting during the contest. David Hudson was questionable entering the game after going down during the South Alabama loss. As a result, Jax Harrington started at center and George Jackson filled in as a starter at right guard.
When the second half came, Hudson returned to center and Harrington returned to right guard.
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Re: Kenny Almendares back on track with perfect game to spark UL's victory
Re: Kenny Almendares back on track with perfect game to spark UL's victory
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Originally Posted by
Turbine
Rock me Almendares.
He was 100% rock solid on Wednesday . . .
Re: Kenny Almendares back on track with perfect game to spark UL's victory
Was he injured for the first part of the season?
Re: Kenny Almendares back on track with perfect game to spark UL's victory
Me? It's simple.....our kicking game failed us to some degree in all 3 losses. Add to that our margin for error is already thin. The new slogan for this year is TPM.....Three Points Matters!!!!
Re: Kenny Almendares back on track with perfect game to spark UL's victory
Kenny was huge for us against Marshall. Gave the team some breathing room with the points he put on the board and took some of the pressure off of Ben.
