Football coaches often bemoan the distractions that come with playing on homecoming.

Lafayette coach Paul Woolard is starting to enjoy the festivities surrounding the annual fall celebration.

The Fighting Irish secured a second straight dramatic homecoming victory last week against Cameron by recording a sack on the opposition’s final play. Lafayette scored a huge upset of Smithville the previous year when Josh Davis dragged down Smithville quarterback Brent Hastings on the homecoming game’s final play.

“Our administration said, ‘You guys want to play homecoming every week?’ I don’t know. Maybe,” Woolard said.

This year’s win against Cameron capped a wild come-from-behind victory.

Lafayette led 7-0 after the first possession thanks to a 43-yard Bryston Williams touchdown run, only to fall behind 29-7 by the 6-minute mark of the second quarter — thanks in part to three straight possessions ending with an Irish fumble. Lafayette trailed most of the remainder but, in the interim, held Cameron scoreless for the final 18-plus minutes.

Lafayette didn’t regain the lead until Williams’ 43-yard touchdown run, his fourth of the contest, put the Irish up 33-29 with just more than 2 minutes left. But Cameron drove down to Lafayette’s 7 with under a minute to go and two timeouts.

That’s when Lafayette made its stand.

On first and goal, Cameron quarterback Sean Skilling’s pass on a fade pattern fell incomplete.

On second down, running back Lincoln Greene slipped down at the line of scrimmage.

Skilling threw another incompletion third down on a crossing route over the middle.

On fourth down, Skilling dropped back and started to roll left when Lafayette defensive tackle Mike Newman dragged him down for a sack.

“I just got real emotional,” Newman said. “It was just a real good feeling, bringing back memories from last year.”

Williams, the team’s quarterback, only had to take a knee on the next play to ensure Lafayette’s win, which moved the Irish to 2-4 and matched last year’s win total. The victory took on added importance with the Irish’s final four games against teams with a combined 17-7.

“They fought back, and you hope they’d be proud of that if it didn’t work out the way they wanted to,” Woolard said. “But we really don’t have to think about that.”

Assistant sports editor Ross Martin can be reached

at rossmartin@npgco.com