Louisiana's Washington, Almendares Earn Sun Belt Weekly Honors

NEW ORLEANS – After helping lead the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns to a 55-19 victory over Arkansas State, the duo of Dre'lyn Washington and Kenneth Almendares were honored on Monday as the Sun Belt Conference Players of the Week.

The duo was selected by a panel of media members from each of the 14 Sun Belt Conference schools.

Washington, the SBC Offensive Player of the Week, set career-highs in rushing yards (123), touchdowns (2) and yards per carry (15.4) for Louisiana in its battle between the top two teams in the SBC West Division.

The junior running back capped a 64-yard drive in the second quarter with a 46-yard TD run up the middle before adding a 14-yard TD in the third quarter to cap an 80-yard drive. Washington was part of a rushing attack which gained a season-high 278 yards (8.7 yards per carry) on the ground with six TDs on the night as Louisiana's 36-point margin of victory was the largest in the 53-game series against the Red Wolves.

Almendares was named the SBC Special Teams Player of the Week for the fourth time this season after converting on a pair of field goals and all seven extra point attempts in the win over the Red Wolves.

The senior placekicker become the school's all-time leading scorer and became the fourth player in Sun Belt Conference history to record 60 career field goals joining a list which includes former A-State kicker Blake Grupe (64), Chandler Staton of App State (64) and Austin Rehkow of Idaho (60).

Almendares tied Elijah McGuire's school-record of 318 points in the first quarter on a 44-yard field goal before setting the record with 12:15 remaining in the second quarter after Washington's 46-yard TD.

He entered the game as the SBC's fourth-most accurate kicker in league history (84.1 percent) and improved to 19-for-21 (90.5 percent) on the season and 60-for-71 (84.5 percent) for his career.

Louisiana will host SBC West Division rival South Alabama on Saturday (November 16) in a 6 p.m. contest at Cajun Field. The game will be televised live on ESPN+.

Single-game tickets for Louisiana's six home games – which include remaining games against South Alabama (Nov. 16) and Troy (Nov. 23) – are currently on sale now. Tickets start as low as $15 and can be purchased through RaginCajuns.com and its social media platforms (Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram).

Fans are encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here for iOS/Apple platforms and here for Android platforms.

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Louisiana's Washington, Almendares Earn Sun Belt Weekly Honors

Players Mentioned

Kenneth Almendares

Dre’lyn Washington

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