Bears fall short to league’s best
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA 58, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 31
CONWAY — Central Arkansas had two chances from the Southeastern Louisiana 1 to tie the game before halftime Saturday night.
The Bears came up short twice as junior quarterback Ryan Howard and junior running back Willie Matthews were stopped on third and fourth downs as the Lions took over.
The turnover on downs was a microcosm of UCA’s season en route to a 58-31 loss to the Southland Conference-leading Lions in front of an announced crowd of 5,427 at Estes Stadium.
“We’ve got to be able to knock it in from the 1-yard line on two tries,” UCA Coach Clint Conque said.
Southeastern Louisiana, ranked No. 16 in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Sports Network poll and 17th in the coaches poll, took a 24-17 lead into the locker room and then scored 27 third-quarter points to pull away from the Bears.
The Bears (5-5, 2-3 Southland Conference), who are tied for 24th in the FCS coaches poll, won’t be making a third consecutive trip to the playoffs as they have been undone by injuries and inconsistency throughout the season.
“We haven’t been in this position in three or four years,” said Conque, whose team travels to Nicholls State on Saturday. “It’s not a great position to be in. We certainly had higher expectations. We’ll find out a lot about the resolve of our football team and our coaching staff over the next two weeks.”
Lions cornerback Harlan Miller intercepted Howard for a 48-yard touchdown for a 31-17 advantage. UCA then drove to the Southeastern 12 and after a five-yard penalty, Eddie Camara’s 34-yard field goal was blocked by linebacker Cqulin Hubert. One play later, receiver Marquis Hayes ran 46 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown and a 38-17 lead.
On UCA’s next drive, a Howard fumble was recovered by linebacker Justin Church. Lions quarterback Bryan Bennett scored four plays later on a 4-yard touchdown run for a 45-17 lead with 9:07 remaining.
UCA junior receiver Dezmin Lewis caught a 39yard touchdown pass from Taylor Reed to cut the lead to 45-24 at the 7:11 mark. But six minutes later, Bennett’s 7-yard run made it 51-24, capping the 27-point third quarter.
Bears free safety Marvin Mitchell intercepted Bennett for 71 yards to the UCA 4 and Reed threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Joe Carmical to cut the lead to 51-31 with 9:41 remaining. But it was too little, too late for the Bears, who have given up 117 points, including 59 to McNeese State, in their two home losses this season.
Southeastern Louisiana (8-3, 5-0) scored on a 90-yard kickoff return by Xavier Roberson to begin the game.
Southeastern Louisiana outgained UCA 545-418 and compiled 343 yards rushing, 142 coming from Bennett, an Oregon transfer who competed with Marcus Mariota for the starting quarterback position in 2012. Bennett completed 11 of 18 passes for 202 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.
“You have to stop the run,” Conque said. “We missed tackles and were out of position. We’re having to play too many snaps.”
Under second-year Coach Ron Roberts, Southeastern Louisiana is in position to make its first FCS postseason appearance.
“We’ve got so much more depth. We’ve got players across the board,” said Roberts, whose Lions host Sam Houston State on Saturday. “We’re bigger and physical up front. We’re a better football team. But we have to prove it and finish this thing out.”
UCA’s Damien Watts and Desmond Smith each caught first-half touchdown passes for 31 and 10 yards, respectively. Smith’s score tied the game at 14-14 with 5:03 left in the first quarter.
Howard finished 23 of 41 passing for 262 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Matthews rushed for 62 yards on 16 carries one week after a 109-yard performance at Northwestern (La.) State.
From the start of Saturday’s game to the end, UCA was outmatched by a Southeastern Louisiana team that has won at McNeese State and in Conway for the first time in program history.
“When the bleeding started, we couldn’t put a tourniquet on it,” Conque said.