SOUTHLAND Bears overcome mistakes against D-II foe

— The Central Arkansas Bears weren't at their best Saturday night, but they didn't have to be against tiny Glenville State College.

Despite overthrown passes on two sure-fire touchdowns, throwing two interceptions and racking up 105 yards on penalties, the Bears won 24-10 over the Pioneers in front of an announced crowd of 10,312.

The Bears, ranked No. 12 in the Football Championship Subdivision of NCAA Division I, got away with all that against the struggling NCAA Division II school, but it was still cause for concern to Central Arkansas Coach Clint Conque.

"We challenged our players to play up to their potential tonight, and obviously, we didn't do that," Conque said. "We'll have to go back and look at the film to completely evaluate, but certainly, there were sometroubling things."

A Central Arkansas defense that slowed a highpowered Hawaii offense and shut down Western Kentucky had trouble with the small school from Glenville, W.Va. The Bears (2-1) weren't pushed around by the Pioneers (2-3), but they kept giving them chances.

Central Arkansas had 95 yards in penalties in the first half while the Pioneers had 155 yards of offense. A personal foul on third down after a sack of Glenville State quarterback James McCantsresulted in a 15-yard penalty against the Bears and a 33-yard swing, which was 5 yards longer than the Pioneers' longest offensive play.

"We can't have penalties like we had; that's just unacceptable," Conque said.

Fortunately for the Bears, the Pioneers struggled to do much with the ball once they got into Central Arkansas territory. Glenville State punted three times after getting within the Bears' 40.

"The field seems to tighten up once you get down there," Glenville State Coach Alan Fiddler said.

The Bears had their share of miscues on offense as well, scoring on just four of their first eight possessions.

Conque was still pleased with the victory, giving the Bears two in a row two weeks before the start of conference play.

"I'm grateful for the victory; in this game, every one of them is precious," Conque said.

Sophomore receiver T.J. Adams had the play of the game, catching a swing pass from quarterback Robbie Park and then shaking two defenders before running in for a 22-yard touchdown. That put the Bears up 7-0 with 5:22 remaining in the first quarter.

The Pioneers scored three series later on a 39-yard field goal from kicker Hunter Hamrick to bring Glenville State within 7-3 with 14:55 leftin the first half.

The Bears tacked on two more scores to close out the first half, responding to the Pioneers' kick with an 11-play, 74-yard drive capped by Brent Grimes' fourth touchdown of the season on a 3-yard run up the middle with 9:06 left in the second quarter.

Central Arkansas kicker Eddie Carmona closed out the first-half scoring with a 38-yard field goal as time expired. That made it 17-3 at the half.

Leonard Ceaser capped the Bears' longest drive of the season - 11 plays, 97 yards - with a 1-yard touchdown run with 5:50 left in the third to put UCA up 24-3 after Carmona's extra point.

The Pioneers scored their only touchdown, a 7-yard run by running back DeAndre Johnson, against mostly Central Arkansas backups with 57 seconds left to make it 24-10.

Sports, Pages 37 on 09/27/2009

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