Wooldridge and Louisiana-Lafayette defense come up big in 34-24 win over Appalachian State

LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — Ben Wooldridge accounted for three touchdowns, Landon Burton recovered a fumbled ball in the end zone in the fourth quarter, and Louisiana-Lafayette beat Appalachian State 34-24 on Saturday night.

With 13:32 remaining in the game, Louisiana-Lafayette’s Justin Agu recovered a fumbled ball and returned it 70 yards to the Appalachian State 7-yard line. On the next play, Bill Davis fumbled the ball and Burton recovered it in the end zone to stretch the Louisiana-Lafayette lead to 27-17.

Joey Aguilar threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Eli Wilson to pull Appalachian State to 27-24 with 8:06 left. Wooldridge ran for a 1-yard touchdown with 1:03 to play, sandwiched between a pair of Tyrone Lewis Jr. interceptions, to seal it for Louisiana-Lafayette (5-1, 2-0 Sun Belt Conference).

Wooldridge completed 14 of 23 passes for 198 yards with two touchdowns. Terrance Carter caught a 74-yard touchdown pass and finished with 107 yards on four receptions.

Aguilar was 20-of-42 passing for 236 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions for Appalachian State (2-4, 0-3).

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