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North Texas came into its game against Louisiana on Saturday night hoping to slow down running back Tyrell Fenroy on a night when he seemed destined to break the Sun Belt Conference rushing record.
It turned out that wide receiver Jason Chery was the player the Mean Green should have been worried about.
The senior scored five touchdowns in the first half, providing the Ragin’ Cajuns the spark they needed to race past the Mean Green, 59-30, at Fouts Field
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By Brett Vito / Staff Writer
DentonRC.com
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The Mean Green (0-6, 0-2) lost its seventh straight game dating to last season despite finishing with 528 yards of total offense.
“We are about 50 percent of doing things really, really well,” UNT head coach Todd Dodge said. “We are a tremendously inconsistent football team. What we have to do for the next week is become 10 to 15 percent better and more consistent. Maybe by the end of the season we are stringing enough things together that will help us win a football game.”
Chery had a lot to do with the Mean Green’s struggles. He finished with 339 total yards for ULL (3-3, 2-0). Chery’s five touchdowns and 30 points both tied Sun Belt Conference records set last season by UNT wide receiver Casey Fitzgerald in a loss to Navy.
Fenroy, who came into the night averaging 150 rushing yards a game, finished with 92 yards and broke former UNT great Patrick Cobbs’ Sun Belt career rushing record of 4,050. Fenroy now has 4,113 yards.
“We knew about Chery, but we were focusing on their running back and quarterback,” UNT defensive back Darien Williams said. “They went to him more than we thought, but we still should have been able to stop him.”
The Mean Green took an early 3-0 lead -- its first lead of the season -- on a 46-yard Jeremy Knott field goal before Chery got on track with an 81-yard run on a reverse for a touchdown. He went on to score on a 97-yard kickoff return and reached the end zone on all three of his receptions in the first half that covered 57, 49 and 17 yards.
The Mean Green stayed within striking distance early behind the combination of running back Cam Montgomery, who rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown, and wide receiver Casey Fitzgerald, who had 14 catches for 231 yards.
UNT took a second lead at 10-7 when quarterback Giovanni Vizza hit Roderick Johnson for a 12-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
The Mean Green’s performance on offense was its best of the season.
“I believe we took a huge step forward,” Montgomery said. “We are getting better, but we had some turnovers.”
Those mistakes opened the door for ULL and Chery, who scored his second touchdown of the night at the end of the first quarter on a pass from Michael Desormeaux. He went on to score three more times in the second quarter.
UNT into the half down 35-20 and still had a chance to rally. Chery’s big night was done, at least in terms of scoring, but ULL was just getting started against a UNT defense that came into the night allowing an average of 52.2 points a game.
The Mean Green pulled to within 35-27 on a 43-yard pass from Vizza to Fitzgerald. The Ragin’ Cajuns answered by outscoring UNT 24-3 to make sure they would win on Chery’s big night.
“I didn’t know it was going to be like this,” Chery said. “I guess it was just my night.”
BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is
bvito@dentonrc.com.
Chery bomb
Louisiana-Lafayette wide receiver Jason Chery torched North Texas’ defense for five touchdowns at Fouts Field. The following is a list:
-- 81-yard run on end-around
--17 pass from Michael Desormeaux
-- 49 pass from Desormeaux
-- 97 kickoff return
-- 57 pass from Desormeaux
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