Records tumble as Bears cruise to victory

ARKADELPHIA -- The University of Central Arkansas compiled 25 first downs and 493 yards Saturday in a 41-7 thumping of Henderson State University.

In the first half.

Unfortunately for the Reddies, they had to play the second half and the officials were not allowed to run the clock continuously as they did in UCA's thumping of Langston last week.

The Bears' 68-21 victory over the spunky but helpless Reddies in their Gulf South Conference opener became long and methodical.

OK, it was ugly stuff (10 total turnovers) on a sunny afternoon at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium.

But the Bears (3-0) did their fans a favor by taking out the Reddies (0-3) early. The UCA partisans found themselves baking in aluminum bleachers on the sunny side of the stadium. By halftime, two-thirds of those had either headed for the shade, the house, or a good Little Rock restaurant.

By the end of the third quarter, the Bears had set a school record of 739 total yards and quarterback Zak Clark had another record with 496 passing yards.

By game's end, which barely beat the Ouachita Baptist-Arkansas Tech kickoff across the street, the Gulf South offensive record book had some new entries. UCA's 598 passing yards set a conference record as well as its 804 total yards. The teams' combined 1,274 yards in offense also set a conference record.

"We got into a good rhythm early," said UCA coach Clint Conque. "We came out and executed our game plan and thoroughly dominated the game."

"I'm happy they got that record," said HSU coach Jesse Branch with a chuckle. "I'm happy we got so much offense and helped get a record.

"We had too many turnovers, but we kept playing. One of these days, we'll get better."

The Reddies had seven turnovers but often hurt the Bears with their option attack, accumulating 470 total yards.

"You're going to give up some plays sometimes against an offense that you don't see as much and have trouble simulating in practice," Conque said. "I thought defensively we played well as a whole (the Bears substituted liberally the second half)."

The Bears had nine possessions the first half and scored touchdowns on seven. The other two times they had the ball, they lost a fumble at the Henderson State 18 and were intercepted at the UCA 42.

Clark had his pick of several wide-open receivers as the Bears drove 75 yards in nine plays, 89 yards in eight plays and 57 yards in three plays to take a 21-0 lead after three possessions and 10:19 of the first quarter.

Clark threw six touchdown passes last season as quarterback for the University of Arkansas. In the first half Saturday, he had five scoring tosses and was 26 of 35 for 399 yards. He finished 30 of 45 for 496 yards and five touchdowns.

One of the few things Conque had to fume about at halftime was a 74-yard, eight-play drive scoring drive by HSU, which the Reddies threw the UCA defense completely off balance with option football.

UCA didn't punt until 6:27 remained in the third quarter.

Things came easily for the Bears from the beginning.

With Clark and his receivers finding gaping holes in the UCA secondary, UCA took nine plays to score first with Clark passing to tight end Landon Trusty on third and goal from the 1.

To complete an 89-yard drive on the Bears' second possession, Clark only had to get the ball close to freshman receiver Ben Faires, who had 20 yards on the nearest HSU defender on a 46-yard scoring play.

Clark then passed 25 yards to Trusty for the Bears' third score and, after being intercepted, capped a 68-yard scoring drive with a 13-yard slant pass to Jelani Lewis to up the count to 28-0 with 9:21 left in the first half.

After HSU found some seams in the UCA defense with basic option football to drive to Scotty Wilson's 3-yard touchdown, Clark responded by leading the Bears 68 yards, capped by a 27-yard scoring pass to James Baber, who plowed over a couple of HSU defenders on the way down the sideline.

Backup quarterback Henry Young executed a 19-yard throwback pass to Shaun Mitchell for the Bears' sixth touchdown of the half, capping a 66-yard drive that took up 1:05 of the remaining 1:12 of the half.

An interception by Kamal Broadway set the Bears up for a cheapie to begin the second half. Atrikii Brown got the touchdown from the 6 to push the count to 48-7 by 12:14 in the third quarter.

By that time, most of the crowd of 2,465 had lost interest.

The Reddies drove 39 yards to for their second touchdown, but UCA responded with a 55-yard shovel pass from Henry Young to freshman Kentrel Rogers for another score. Young later passed 11 yards to Draylon Galloway for his third touchdown with 1:17 left in the third quarter.

Chase Myers capped an 88-yard, 12-play drive by HSU with a 7-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.

The Bears, ranked as high as fifth in one Division II poll, host Ouachita Baptist next week.