Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
UCA shuts down SFA
Clint Conque left Conway with a new job last December.
The University of Central Arkansas left Nacogdoches, Texas, on Saturday night with a little bit of revenge.
Junior quarterback Taylor Reed accounted for six touchdowns and the Bears dominated the final quarter as UCA defeated its former coach and Stephen F. Austin 49-39 in a Southland Conference game in front of 10,012 at Homer Bryce Stadium.
Conque is in his first season as the Lumberjacks coach after bolting UCA last December
Conque led the Bears to 105 victories in his 14 years at the school and guided the Bears through their transition from Division II to FCS NCAA Division I, but he left abruptly 10 months ago for Nacogdoches.
Afterward, Conque couldn’t get too nostalgic.
“Once the game started, it was about business,” said Conque, whose team totaled 602 yards of offense. “I think we coached hard and we played hard, but they made fewer mistakes and they won a close football game. … They’ve got some fabulous football players over there.”
The Bears (3-3, 2-0) trailed 31-21 late in the third quarter Saturday but outscored the Lumberjacks 28-8 over the final 18 minutes to defeat the Lumberjacks (3-2, 0-1).
“We just kept fighting,” UCA Coach Steve Campbell said. “We really needed to win one like this, because we’ve played some like this and come up on the short end. We’re one play away — a 53yard field goal with no time left — from being a 4-2 football team. So we needed something good to happen for us.”
UCA, which led 21-17 at halftime, answered Stephen F. Austin’s second touchdown of the second half, Gus Johnson’s 20-yard touchdown run at the 4:33 mark of the third quarter, with three consecutive touchdowns. Reed, of El Dorado, hit sophomore Desmond Smith with a 71-yard touchdown pass, his fourth touchdown pass of the night, to close the gap to 31-28 with 3:02 left in the third. Reed bulled in from the 1 with 9:30 left to give the Bears the lead for good, 35-31.
Sophomore safety Tirell Wellmaker scooped up Johnson’s fumble at the UCA 25 and returned it for a touchdown and a 42-31 lead with 4:10 to play. Lumberjacks quarterback Zach Conque (Little Rock Catholic) scored on a 4-yard run and completed a two-point pass to D.J. Ward to cut the deficit to 42-39 at the 1:27 mark, but UCA recovered the ensuing onside kick.
Needing a first down to run out the clock, Reed broke loose for 40 yards and a touchdown on third and 4 to seal it.
UCA receiver Dezmin Lewis, a senior from Lewisville, Texas, caught Reed’s first three touchdown passes. Lewis caught a 5-yarder to tie the game at 7-7 late in the first quarter, a 21-yarder for a 14-7 lead early in the second period, and a highlight-reel 19-yarder — catching the ball behind the back of cornerback Keavon Madison —in the right corner of the end zone to give the Bears a 21-17 lead going into halftime.
Lewis finished with six catches for 80 yards and moved into fourth place on UCA’s career receptions list with 164.
Reed completed 14 of 18 passes for 212 yards and 4 touchdowns.
SOUTHWESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE SOUTHERN 51, ARKANSAS PINE-BLUFF 36
Austin Howard threw three touchdown passes to lead Southern to a victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday night.
Howard’s first pass was a 79-yard touchdown to Reggie Travis on the second play of Southern’s (3-3, 2-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference) opening drive. UAPB (1-4, 0-3) answered when Antonio Jenkins sacked Howard, causing a fumble that Kyle Walker punched in for a touchdown.
Danny Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown to give the Jaguars a 14-7 lead. The Golden Lions answered again when quarterback Benjamin Anderson ran for a 1-yard score to tie it at 14.
Howard had scoring passes of 11 and 27 yards in the second quarter, and wide receiver Willie Quinn threw a 41yard touchdown pass to Travis to give Southern a 41-21 lead in the third quarter. Travis finished with 5 catches for 156 yards and three touchdowns.
Greg Pittman kicked a 27-yard field goal to give Southern a 44-21 lead with 12:54 left in the game.
Anderson threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Rowland to pull UAPB to within 44-28 with 7:03 left, but Southern answered with it’s final score on a 9-yard run by Jarmarcus Jarvis.
Aaron LaGrone scored on a 12-yard run with 31 seconds left and Anderson added the two-point conversion.