Tight ends Wes Mangan and Corday Clark have proven to be payoff players for McNeese State this season.

            Between the two they have caught eight touchdown passes, and that is just one shy of 50 percent of the 18 td catches for the entire team through the first eight games.

            Their combined pass catch/touchdown ratio is an outstanding 20 percent as they have scored a touchdown on every fifth catch.  Mangan has caught 22 passes and scored four times and Clark has caught 18 passes and scored four times.

            Their average yards per catch is a good 12.0 mark so it's not like they are scoring all their tds from short yardage.

            Cowboy head coach Matt Viator credits some of the  point production from the tight ends this season to the fact that both Mangan and Clark are excellent players and outstanding receivers.

            Also, McNeese has gone to using a lot of two tight end sets and the matchups they have faced have been profitable for the Cowboys.

            And, too, there has been a confidence buildup between fourth year starting quarterback Derrick Fourroux and his tight ends.

            The 6-4, 245 pound Mangan, out of Brenham, TX,  is in his fourth season with the Cowboys and his third as a starter while the 6-3, 230 pound Clark, a native of Baton Rouge, is in his third year.

            Mangan already has his name in the Cowboy record book.  He's accounted for 12 touchdown passes receiving and that is more than any other tight end in McNeese history.

            He's also made a total of 60 career receptions and that presently puts him fourth on the all-time McNeese chart for tight ends.  Chris Fontenot, who played from 1994 to 1997 and played in the FCS championship game in 1997, holds the tight end record of 99 catches while all-American James Moore (1969-1972) is second with 76 and R. C. Slocum (1964-1967), who went on to fame as the head coach at Texas A&M, is third with 74.

            Clark, who played wide receiver in high school and in his first year with the Cowboys, is now in his second campaign as a tight end and has a career total of 21 catches and five tds scored.

             Both have had their standout games this year.

            Mangan had a five reception outing for 50 yards and a touchdown against Southeastern Louisiana and four receptions for 52 yards against Stephen F. Austin while Clark caught six passes for 137 yards and a score against Appalachian State and had three catches against both Nicholls State and Northwestern State.

            McNeese, now ranked No. 12 in the nation, returns to action on Saturday when the Cowboys host Sam Houston State in a Southland Conference contest and both Mangan and Clark are expected to once again be offensive keys in the game.

MCNEESE TIGHT END CAREER LEADERS

(PASSES CAUGHT)                                    PC            YDS

Chris Fontenot ('94-97)                        99            1349

James Moore ('69-72)                                    76            1124

R. C. Slocum ('64-67)                                    74              945

Wes Mangan (ACTIVE)                        60              542

(TOUCHDOWNS SCORED)                        No.                                   

Wes Mangan (ACTIVE)                        12

James Moore ('69-72)                                      9

Chris Fontenot ('94-97)                          7

Jeff Hamilton ('99-02)                          7

R. C. Slocum ('64-67)                                      7