02 Oct 2024 Ground game, defense carry Bears past Cardinals

CONWAY — The seventh-ranked University of Central Arkansas Bears made it look easier than expected with another solid ground attack Saturday, running for 281 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-14 victory over No. 19/25 Lamar at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

Senior running back ShunDerrick Powell and Darius Hale combined for 274 rushing yards, with Powell carrying 25 times for 178 yard and a pair of touchdowns, and Hale with 19 carries for 96 yards and another score.

UCA finished with 439 yards of total offense and held Lamar to just 220 in what was expected to be a solid test for the Bears. The Cardinals, who entered the game with an average of 165 rushing yards per game, and 120.8 for running back Khalan Griffin, were held to just 108.

“Excited about the win, proud of our team and our effort,” said UCA head coach Nathan Brown. “I thought we had three great days of practice this week, which translated to tonight. I was not shy about talking about how good Lamar is. There’s a reason why they are the No. 19 ranked team in the country.

“I think that coaching staff has done as good a job as maybe anyone in the Southland (Conference) the last few years at turning a program around. Going 6-5 last year and getting to 3-1 this year going into this game, getting a Top 20 ranking. So we knew coming in this was an opportunity for us to gauge ourselves against a really good opponent, and obviously we met the challenge.”

The Bears opened the scoring late in the first quarter with a 12-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Will McElvain to sophomore tight end Dax Courtney, his first career catch and touchdown, with 6:32 left in the period. Jake Gaster added a 23-yard field goal in the quarter before Lamar found the end zone on a one-yard run at the midway point of the second quarter.

From there, it was all UCA as the Bears scored on four of their next five possessions to put the game out of reach. Powel had an 11-yard scoring run, Gaster added another field goal from 28 yards, Hale went in from the 5 and Powell closed the scoring with an 18-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

UCA’s defense got an interception from senior safety TaMuarion Wilson second possession of the game, after the Cardinals had missed a field goal on their first. UCA’s Javeon Jones also blocked a Lamar field goal attempt on the first possession of the game, setting up Courtney’s early touchdown.

“They committed to the run, and we did a great job stopping the run,” said Brown. “They only had 3.3 yards per carry on 33 carries. That’s a pretty good job by our guys.”

McElvain, who surpassed the 10,000-yard passing mark for his combined career at Northern Iowa and UCA, also punted once for 64 yards and pinned the Cardinals at their own 1 when Malachi Henry downed it. McElvain completed passes to seven different receivers, led by senior Trejan Bridges with four catches for 60 yards. McElvain now has 10,034 career yards, with 6,041 as a Bear.

With a 34-14 lead early in the fourth quarter, UCA controlled the clock the rest of the way, finishing with a 14-play, 54-yard drive that took the final 8:06 off the clock. The Bears had the ball for 11:15 of the fourth period.

Senior All-American defensive end David Walker had seven tackles, two tackles for loss (including a sack) and broke up a pass. Junior linebacker Jace Benesch tied Walker for the team high with 7 tackles. 

“So, 2-0 at home, which is great, you have to protect your home turf, which is the most important thing,” said Brown. “That finished our non-conference slate of the season at 3-1, and that’s big, especially when you get into November. Now the rest of our season conference play, and we can shift our focus to that level of intensity, which we talk about around here as being a different level of intensity.

“I told our guys our challenge was, I felt like we had better individual talent and players than maybe Lamar has. And that’s not a knock on them, I’m just that confident in our guys. But our challenge was, were we going to be the better football team. So, for us to win in that fashion, and really put ourselves in a position going into the conference slate, to win a game like that against an opponent of that caliber was a big deal.”

UCA (4-1, 1-0) returns to United Athletic Conference (UAC) play next week when it travels to West Texas to take on Abilene Christian at 3 p.m.