CONWAY — Central Arkansas’ young secondary helped obscure another subpar offensive performance.
Freshman defensive backs Jestin Love and Dominique Brown each returned an interception for a touchdown as the Bears held on to beat Southeastern Louisiana 30-23 on Saturday afternoon in front of 10,110 fans at Estes Stadium.
Love returned a Tyler Beatty pass 25 yards for UCA’s first touchdown in the first quarter and Brown had a 33-yard return for a score with 4:47 left in the game.
“We’ve got more speed and more athleticism and a little more length back there than what we’ve had,” UCA Coach Clint Conque said.
Love, the reigning Southland defensive player of the week, intercepted two passes for the second week in a row. He intercepted two passes on Oct. 24 at Nicholls State, including a 98-yard return for a touchdown in a 31-7 rout of the Colonels.
“The last two weeks have been great,” said Love, 6-0, 195, from West Memphis. “Just reaping all the benefits of the hard work in the summer. We have a great line, we got great push up front. They pressured the quarterback into making quick throws, and the cornerbacks are going to pick it. That’s what we did today.”
UCA (5-3, 2-2 Southland) led 30-16 after Brown’s touchdown, but Beatty completed a 54-yard touchdown pass to Texas transfer Brandon Collins to pull the Lions within 30-23 with 2:17 left.
With 2:05 left, the Lions’ Tommy Connors forced a fumble by receiver Willie Landers at the UCA 32 and Re’Keem Wilson recovered at the 28.
But once again, the Bears’ defense bailed out the offense.
Love intercepted Beatty at the UCA 8 with 1:49 left to give the ball back to the Bears.Terence Bobo, who rushed 13 times for 105 yards, had a 56-yard run to help seal the Bears’ second victory in a row after losing three consecutive. Bobo also led the Bears with 5 catches for 52 yards and 1 touchdown.
UCA was outgained 385-304. Southeastern Louisiana had 12 penalties for 82 yards while UCA picked up 8 for 54 yards.
Junior quarterback Nathan Dick completed 26 of 44 passes with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
Beatty, a Baylor transfer, was 20 of 34 for 295 yards and 2 touchdowns, but threw 3 interceptions in the loss for Southeastern Louisiana (2-6, 1-3). He also ran for 55 yards on 16 carries and was sacked 3 times.
Collins caught 6 passes for 164 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Lions, including a 21-yard scoring pass from Beatty to give Southeastern Louisiana a 10-6 lead in the first half.
With 12 seconds left in the half, the Bears converted on fourth-and-14 as Dick threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Dominique Croom, who made a leaping catch in the end zone to give UCA a 13-10 lead before halftime.
To open the third quarter, Bobo capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown reception from Dick, diving over the goal line to increase the Bears’ lead to 20-10 with 9:43 left. Bobo was the Bears’ bellcow on its best offensive drive of the game, catching a 22-yard pass and running 16 yards to convert a pair of first downs.
Seth Sebastian was 3 of 3 in field goals for Southeastern Louisiana, with a 23-yard kick and two 29-yarders in the second half.
Senior Eddie Carmona kicked a 23-yard field goal with 9:55 left to extend UCA’s lead to 23-13. Carmona’s 68-yard punt in the first half backed up the Lions to the their 5, which set up Love’s interception return for a touchdown two plays later.
Junior linebacker Frank Newsome recorded 15 tackles (6 unassisted, 9 assisted) to lead the Bears’ defense. Senior linebacker Tok Opeloye had 10 tackles. Also for UCA, junior defensive end Jermayne Lett recorded two sacks and senior defensive lineman Kit Coleman had the Bears’ other sack.
UCA heads to Texas State next week in its final road game of the regular season. Texas State came back from a 24-0 deficit to stun Southland leader Stephen F. Austin 27-24 on Saturday.
“We’re just playing hard,” Conque said. “We’re a really tight football team. The kids are really tight. We’ve had to overcome some adversity, just the frustration of losing those two conference games. [The] team has come together and they just keep fighting.” TEXAS STATE 27,STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 24
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Tim Hawkins accounted for three touchdowns and Texas State scored all of its points in the fourth quarter to rally past Stephen F. Austin.
Hawkins scored on a 1-yard run and threw TD passes to Darius Bolden and Daren Dillard, the latter coming with 1:10 to play as the Bobcats (4-4, 1-3) ended the Lumberjacks’ six-game winning streak.
Jeremy Moses threw for 335 yards and 3 touchdowns for Stephen F. Austin (6-2, 3-1), but the Lumberjacks failed to score after going up 24-0 early in the third quarter. Thomas Henshaw missed a 47-yard field goal as time expired.
Da’Marcus Griggs returned a punt 73 yards to pull Texas State to within 24-21 with 6:21 to play before Hawkins completed the comeback with a 28-yard pass to Dillard. Hawkins led the Bobcats with 121 rushing yards and was 18 of 25 passing for 194 yards.
Sports, Pages 34 on 10/31/2010