Lumberjacks chop down Bears with second-half surge
When the scrap went to toe-to-toe Saturday afternoon, the University of Central Arkansas Bears shot themselves in the foot, while the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks provided the hand slaps.
Turnovers in the red zone, kicking game miscues and penalties plagued the Bears in a 30-7 loss to Stephen F. Austin in a regionally televised game at Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches, Texas. The Bears (3-3, 0-2) battled the Lumberjacks (5-1, 2-0) evenly for a half, trailing 13-7 with some missed opportunities. The Lumberjacks, ranked either No. 4 or No. 5 in the country in both NCAA Football Championship Subdivision polls, cranked up their offense and generated big plays and drives for 17 points in 18 minutes as the Bears tripped over themselves in the red zone.
“Our red zone offense was really poor,” said UCA coach Clint Conque after the Bears lost their third straight game. “Ball security really hurt us. Our defense gave us a few big plays that created space a little bit between them and us.”
The loss reduced UCA’s hopes for a share of the Southland Conference title and postseason hopes to the dimmest of flickers.
“But this was one of the top teams in America, and I was proud of the way we prepared and competed,” Conque said. “We were toe-to-toe most of the game but did not make enough plays in the red zone, then penalties got us later and we gave up too many long plays in the second half.”
The game turned dramatically after the Bears, trailing 13-7, faced fourth and one on the SFA 10 early in the third quarter. Nathan Dick saw Kenneth Robey, who caught 12 passes, flared into the open, but SFA’s Kenneth Charles leaped hard to slap the ball away.
Moses, who broke former UCA quarterback Nathan Brown’s SLC record for touchdown passes in the first quarter, then cooly led the Lumberjacks on a 90-yard drive, eight-play drive, highlighted by a beautiful sideline pass on third and 15 to Cordell Roberson to the UCA 6. He passed to Jeremy Barnes for the touchdown a play later and SFA pulled out to a 20-7 advantage with 9:13 left in the third quarter. After Moses led SFA to the UCA 4, Thomas Henshaw booted a 20-yard field goal for a 20-7 SFA lead.
Dick led the Bears right back, connecting with Conway’s Isaiah Jackson for 51 yards. Dick passed to Terence Bobo to set the Bears up at the SFA 5. Then, Dick lost the ball when he was hit in the backfield and the ball was slapped away and Jabara Williams recovered for SFA.
After a short punt, Moses connected with Roberson for a 33-yard touchdown to give the Lumberjacks a cushion with 12:30 left in the game. UCA’s last major threat ended with Jackson losing a fumble near midfield.
SFA drove 71 yards in 10 plays on its second possession, capped by a 1-yard pass from Moses to Roberson, for a 7-0 lead.
Then, the first of two major kicking game errors stung the Bears. Romeo Roberson snared a blocked punt in mid-air and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown. The Lumberjacks missed the extra point but led 13-0 with 4:34 left in the first quarter.
The Bears went to a five-wide offense and Dick connected on three straight passes. A pass to Dominque Croom put UCA at the 1, where Dick passed to Bobo for a 1-yard touchdown that drew UCA within 13-7 with 46 seconds left in the first quarter.
A sneak on fourth down by Dick and a 16-yard run to the SFA 2 gave the Bears a chance to take the lead in the final seconds of the first half. With no timeouts left, Dick spiked the ball with 54 seconds remaining, then got trapped for a loss of 2 on second down, forcing a spike on third down. Eddie Carmona attempted a 22-yard field goal that was blocked by Josh Hughley.
UCA lmited SFA to 156 total yards and 46 in the second quarter. SFA had 10 first downs and 156 yards at the half. UCA had 12 and 158.
The Bears had three turnovers, were assessed 84 yards on 10 penalties and were 5 of 17 on third down.
“When you play a top team like SFA, you have to take advantage of your opportunities,” Conque said. “I would have liked to have seen what would have happened if we could have taken advantage of those deep red zone opportunities and had avoided some of those penatlies. But it happened. We’ll grow and learn from this.”
Dick completed a career-high 38 of 48 passes for 307 yards. The 38 completions is a school record. Senior receiver Kenneth Robey’s 12 receptions for 92 yards tied for the second most receptions in UCA history. Bobo and Jackson each had six receptions. Moses completed 28 of 42 for 333 yards and three touchdowns for SFA.
The Bears are on the road again next week, taking on winless Nicholls at Thibodaux, La.
