One nicely timed leap by cornerback Anthony Gambles turned into a giant step for the University of Central Arkansas football program Saturday night.
Gambles, 5-foot-9, improved his vertical jump by 3.5 inches over the summer.
That was part of the winning edge in the Bears' 24-21 victory over the Aggies on Saturday night at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.
It came down to one play and one jump.
The Aggies (0-2) had just converted a fourth-down play and were on the UCA 29 with 53 seconds left. Quarterback Greg Denham, who passed for 261 yards the second half, went deep down the sideline for 6-0 Chris Carter, who had cut a wide swath through the UCA defense with 189 yards on 13 receptions.
Carter didn't get this one. Gambles, a high jumper in high school, went high to grab the ball while falling into the end zone, preserving one of the Bears' second victory of the season before an announced crowd of 10,188.
"Thank goodness, Anthony Gambles holds our record for vertical jump," UCA coach Clint Conque said. "We needed all of that vertical jump tonight. We were actually playing a short pass. We were playing half the field deep.
"But we got enough pressure that the only play (Denham) had was to throw deep and we had two d-backs back there."
"Since I'm 5-9 and most of the receivers I go against are taller, I know they are going to come at me thinking I have the size advantage," Gambles said. "I try to use my jumping ability to my advantage because they may not know that. It was a matter of going up and getting the ball."
Gambles had plenty of help in the disruption department. Defensive back Pieri Feazell blocked two punts and knocked another deep sideline pass away at the goal line two plays before Gambles made his decisive play.
Transfer defensive end Larry Hart, 6-1, 241, had three sacks for a total loss of 17 yards.
"He was a one-man wrecking crew," said Conque.
While giving up some big plays in the passing game, the Bears stuffed almost all of the Aggies' attempts at a running game. UC Davis had a net of 11 yards on 20 attempts.
"We threw Denham's timing off early and made him a little uncomfortable," Conque said. "But for the night, our defense made them one-dimensional. They made some great throws and catches, but they were one-dimensional."
Although gaining 383 total yards, the Bears also had an erratic night on offense, squandering several opportunities with missed assignments and 10 penalties for 84 yards.
"It was a one side of the ball night," Conque said.
UC Davis is in its first season of full NCAA Division I FCS membership after a long run as a highly successful Division II power. It had its first losing season since 1969 last year.
"This was a litmus test game, not an end-all game, but a big litmus test game," said Conque, whose Bears lost 33-13 to the Aggies two years ago at Davis, Calif., in their first year in Division I FCS. "This was a huge win for our team and our school. It was a bigtime win in a game that had kind of a playoff-type feel."
With the Bear defense almost totally shutting down the Aggies in the first half, UCA raced to a 17-0 lead before holding on.
A leaping grab of a Nathan Brown pass for 20 yards by Eric Ware energized the Bears on a 66-yard drive for their first score late in the second quarter. Aided by a one-handed catch by Nick Cowger on third and three, UCA drove to a fourth-and-one situation at the UC Davis 5. With an empty backfield, Brown passed to Grimes for the touchdown. With the first of three extra points by Eddie Carmona, the Bears led 7-0 with 6:29 left in the first half.
The Bears mixed up their offense nicely on the first drive of the second half, going 67 yards in seven plays with Brown connecting with Darrius McNeal on an 29-yard touchdown pass on fourth and four. UCA led, 14-0, with 11:59 left.
To that point, every touchdown the Aggies had surrendered, including two in a 16-13 loss to San Jose State last week, had occurred on fourth down.
Feazell's second blocked punt was recovered by Phillip Johnson at the UC Davis 15 and led to a 26-yard field goal by Carmona that put UCA up 17-0 with 7:46 left in the third quarter.
Then, Denham, a sophomore making his first start, who was 30 of 45, began finding his rhythm and Carter began finding seams in the UCA defense.
The Aggies drove 69 yards in eight plays, capped by a 19-yard pass from Denham to Carter. Then then drove 48 yards in four plays, ending in a 35-yard pass from Denham to Carter, who made a superb leaping catch over Dathan Johnson, to draw with 17-14 with 39 seconds left in the third quarter.
"The first half, we couldn't get any balance," said UC Davis coach Bob Biggs. "We didn't run the ball very well the first half and we didn't run the ball well the second half for that matter. But I think we gave our quarterback more time and we got in a rhythm.
"They were playing a lot of three-deep coverage and committing an extra guys sometimes to pressure or to make sure they stopped the run. That left their corners in one-on-one coverage and we took advantage of that."
The Bears rallied with a 27-yard kickoff return by T.J. Adams, then a 6-yard reception to Ware resulted in a 15-yard facemask penalty. On third and five at the Davis 34, Brown and Ware connected again for a 26-yard gain to the 8. Brent Grimes shot through a big hole for 8 yards and a touchdown with 13:26 left.
Aided by a 21-yard pass from Denham to Carter, the Aggies drove 59 yards in five plays with Denham passing 6 yards to Brad Bispo to make it a 24-21 game with 9:14 left.
Ware had nine receptions for 107 yards to lead UCA. Brown, 26-for-38, had 258 passing yards. No rusher had more than Leonard Ceaser's 50 net yards.
"Overall, our defense played well other than a bit of a letdown in that third quarter," Conque said. "Overall, I wasn't very pleased with the offense. We had some individuals play well, but the execution was poor, we had too many missed assignments and the number of penalties was unacceptable.
"But in the end, when we had to have a play, we stepped up a made a play."
A downside to the Bears' victory was linebacker Jacob Bane went down in the second half and will be out indefinitely with a possible broken ankle.
UCA travels to Little Rock on Saturday to renew an old rivalry with Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
