High-scoring Bears all tuned up

Central Arkansas quarterback Wynrick Smothers (4) runs behind running back Jackie Hinton as he scrambles to avoid the Eastern Illinois defense during the first half Saturday at Estes Stadium in Conway. Smothers completed 35 of 49 passes for 335 yards and 4 touchdowns and the Bears won 48-30.
Central Arkansas quarterback Wynrick Smothers (4) runs behind running back Jackie Hinton as he scrambles to avoid the Eastern Illinois defense during the first half Saturday at Estes Stadium in Conway. Smothers completed 35 of 49 passes for 335 yards and 4 touchdowns and the Bears won 48-30.

— After Central Arkansas’ 48-30 victory over Eastern Illinois on Saturday night in front of an announced crowd of 6,754 at Estes Stadium, Coach Clint Conque attempted to sell his Bears as a team that should get a first-round bye in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

UCA (9-2), the Southland Conference co-champion along with Sam Houston State, has won six consecutive and is ranked No. 10 in both FCS top 25 polls (The Sports Network and coaches). The Bears own victories against top 25 teams Sam Houston State and Eastern Illinois and led SEC member Ole Miss at halftime before losing 49-27 in their season opener Sept. 1.

With the 20-team FCS playoff field announced today at 12:30 p.m. on ESPNU, Conque hopes the NCAA looks at his team’s resume.

“We’ve lost to a Southeastern Conference school and a team in about 10 inches of rain [at Stephen F. Austin on Sept. 29, a 42-37 loss],” Conque said. “We’ve done everything that has been put in front of us. We’ve beaten one of the top three teams in the country who is very talented in our conference [Sam Houston State]. Winning six in a row puts us on a little bit of positive momentum going into the postseason.

“We’ll sit and wait. We’ll see what we’ve earned. Our body of work, both in conference and out of conference, should be good enough to get a bye week and work on some of the things we need to work on. It’s an exciting time in our program’s history.”

Junior quarterback Wynrick Smothers completed a career-high 35 of 49 passes for 335 yards and 4 touchdowns Saturday. Jackie Hinton had 140 all-purpose yards, including 87 rushing yards on 20 carries and a touchdown and 7 catches for 53 yards and another score.

UCA, which led 24-23 at halftime despite three first half turnovers, held the Ohio Valley Conference champion Panthers to four first downs in the second half and 297 yards of total offense, well below their average of 498.8 yards per game.

“We were faced with a little bit of adversity for the first time since the middle of the season here at home,” Conque said. “I challenged the young men coming out. ‘How are you going to respond?’ I thought we responded in a very positive way, dominating in the third quarter.

“I thought it was a thorough domination in the second half and to hold one of the most prolific offenses at our level to under 300 yards of offense is a credit to [defensive coordinator Matt] Williamson and his staff and the players over there.”

First-year Eastern Illinois Coach Dino Babers complimented UCA’s defensive performance in the second half.

“My hat’s off to them,” Babers said. “That’s a really good football team. They’re fast and physical.”

Linebackers Justin Heard and Seth Allison each had 11 tackles for the Bears.

“We went into halftime saying let’s tighten up, we can stone these guys,” said Allison, one of 16 seniors who played their final regular-season home game for UCA on Saturday. “We made a couple of adjustments and did well in the second half.”

Hinton’s 1-yard run capped a 13-play, 62-yard drive that made it 31-23 with 7:08 remaining in the third quarter. Eddie Camara, who kicked a career high 48-yard field goal in the first half, made a 25-yarder to extend the lead to 34-23.

Smothers connected with senior receiver Jesse Grandy, who eluded several Eastern Illinois defenders on his way to the end zone for a 37-yard touchdown catch to stretch the UCA advantage to 41-23 with 14:07 remaining.

Offensively, Smothers knew that his team could overcome their first-half miscues.

“Their offense is way too explosive to keep giving them the ball back,” Smothers said. “We had to score points and keep the ball away from them in order to win.”

Eastern Illinois quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo completed 19 of 33 passes for 228 yards and 4 touchdowns, including 3 to receiver Chris Wright.

Despite the loss, Babers is feeling confident about his team going into the playoffs.

“I like our chances and I bet you a lot of people don’t want to play us,” Babers said.

The same could be said for UCA after Saturday.

Sports, Pages 34 on 11/18/2012

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