SOUTHLAND

Bears' defense excites Campbell in walk

The University of Central Arkansas bounced back from a lopsided defeat last week to rout Murray State, 41-13, on Saturday at Stewart Stadium in Murray, Ky.

Quarterback Hayden Hildebrand threw for 286 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead the FCS' No. 16 Bears a week after they lost 55-19 at Kansas State.

UCA led 31-6 at halftime. The Bears held the Racers to 14 rushing yards and had a 312-91 advantage in total yards in the first two quarters.

"Very pleased with our defense tonight," UCA Coach Steve Campbell said. "I felt like we had a chance to be good on defense again, but we lost a lot of players. And quite a few that were coming back are hurt. So I was very, very pleased by how we played against the run.

"I thought we got some pressure on the quarterback. I thought our coverage was a lot better. We didn't give up any deep balls over our heads where they threw it behind us. We broke on the ball really well. So I was very pleased with the progress we made on defense."

Matt Cummins' 28-yard field goal with 11:51 left in the first quarter gave the Bears a 3-0 lead. They upped the advantage to 10-0 when Carlos Blackman scored on a 1-yard run after Chris Chambers sacked and forced a fumble by Shuler Bentley and Chris Terrell recovered.

Hildebrand then led back-to-back touchdown drives, the first covering 81 yards in 14 plays and culminating on his 12-yard scoring toss to Jakari Dillard. After UCA's defense stopped a drive in its own territory, the Bears went 80 yards in 3 plays, aided by Hildebrand's 58-yard pass to Brandon Cox that took the ball to the Murray State 7. Hildebrand found Brandon Myers for a 5-yard touchdown pass with 9:27 left in the second quarter to give the Bears a 24-0 lead.

Hildebrand's third touchdown pass, a 74-yard strike to Joe Hampton, came on the first play after Gabriel Vicente's 38-yard field goal cut the lead to 24-3. Vicente's 43-yard field goal closed the half with the Bears leading 31-6.

Blackman scored his second 1-yard touchdown run with 3:53 left in the third quarter to give the Bears a 38-6 advantage.

Hayden Ray capped UCA's scoring with a 36-yard field goal with 5:35 left in the game before L.J. Gainey caught a 25-yard touchdown pass for Murray State from Bentley at the 1:20 mark to cap the scoring.

The Bears had 486 yards (286 passing, 200 rushing) of total offense to 276 for the Racers.

UCA's defense had seven tackles for loss, which included four sacks.

"We're a young football team, but we have a lot of young guys out there playing, and they're playing well, especially on defense," Campbell said. "Getting that experience last week and now finding out how it feels to win and to make plays and keep it rolling. And we learned a lot on the sideline, how we play our game. And hopefully we'll continue to improve from here."

The Bears open their home and Southland Conference schedule Saturday when they meet Southeastern Louisiana at 7:15 p.m. at Estes Stadium.

SWAC

Akron pounds UAPB

Akron (1-1) raced out to a 31-3 halftime lead before coasting the remainder of the way in a 52-3 victory over the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-2) at InfoCision Stadium in Akron, Ohio. The Zips raced out to a 14-0 advantage after the first quarter before tacking on the first 10 points of the second. UAPB’s Jamie Gillan capped a 12-play, 67-yard drive for the Golden Lions with a 25-yard field goal with 7:59 left in the second quarter.

Akron’s Warren Ball then scored on an 8-yard touchdown run three minutes later to give the Zips their 28-point halftime advantage.

Ball added another 8-yard scoring run for his third touchdown of the game to give the Zips a 38-3 lead with 9:12 left in the third quarter. Van Edwards’ 12-yard touchdown run late in the quarter made it 45-3 before Deltron Sands capped the scoring with a 1-yard run with 5:18 left in the game.

The Zips outgained the Golden Lions 464-168, including 267-41 on the ground. Ball led all rushers with 146 yards on 20 carries.

Quarterback Brandon Duncan led the UAPB offense, completing 12 of 23 passes for 105 yards and 2 interceptions.

Akron was coming off a 52-0 loss Sept. 2 at Penn State.

SAA

Hendrix wins home opener

Quarterback Miles Thompson completed 23 of 38 passes for 436 yards and 4 touchdowns to lead Hendrix (2-0) to a 38-28 victory over Texas Lutheran (0-1) at Young-Wiseman Memorial Stadium in Conway.

Thompson, last week’s Southern Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Week, threw two first-quarter touchdown passes to Michael Spainhour to stake the Warriors to a 24-21 halftime lead.

Thompson found Nate Hodapp for a 9-yard touchdown to give the Warriors a 31-21 advantage midway through the third quarter, then capped his night with a 73-yard score to Ben Luedtke with 4:53 left in the fourth quarter to set the final margin.

Spainhour had 6 catches for a gamehigh 165 yards, while Hodapp added 11 receptions for 154 yards. Luedtke’s three catches went for 97 yards.

Mason Milsap led the Warriors on the ground with 108 yards on 18 attempts.

CSFL

Lyon smoked in 2nd half

Langston (2-0, 1-0 Central States Football League) scored all 27 of the game’s second-half points on its way to routing Lyon College 41-14 in front of 600 fans at Pioneer Stadium in Batesville.

Lyon (1-2, 0-1) opened the scoring in the first quarter on a 45-yard touchdown pass from Cody Jones to Shaka Robinson. After Langston scored twice in the second quarter to take a 14-7 lead, the Scots tied the game 14-14 on a 4-yard run by Titus Nelson with 2:50 before the half.

It was all Langston from there. The Lions scored twice in the third quarter to take a 28-14 lead, then got a pair of touchdowns in the fourth to put the game away.

Langston’s James Cox set the final margin when he returned an interception 98 yards for a touchdown with 2:25 left.

The Scots outgained the Lions 415-366 in total yards, including 267-218 passing.

Jones led the Lyon offense, going 22 of 39 for 270 yards and a touchdown through the air. Josh Sierra had 165 yards on 16 carries for the Scots, while Jacquez Parker had game-highs of 8 receptions and 86 yards.

Langston’s Jaylen Lowe threw for 202 yards and 2 touchdowns on 17-of-23 attempts. He also ran for a team-high 72 yards on 12 carries.

Sports on 09/10/2017

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