Conway — Few would have believed that after 5 turnovers, the University of Central Arkansas would be tied at 23-23 with the Lions of North Alabama at the end of regulation. But they were.

Few would have believed that after UNA recovered a Bear fumble on the first play in overtime, UCA defense would force a field goal that would be blocked. But they did.

But in the second overtime, third and goal, Nathan Brown made the UCA fans believe.

After pounding the ball inside the five yard line with running back Kentrel Rogers, Brown, a redshirt-freshman, took the snap, faked the handoff, bootlegged right, threw over the defenders and found an open Che Jones in the endzone to give UCA a 29-26 win Thursday night at Estes Stadium.

"I think it was the best thing we could do to get out here on Thursday night and get that sour taste out of our mouth from Valdosta," Brown said after the game.

"It’s indescribable. I promise you. It’s indescribable."

The first overtime started off with UCA’s fourth fumble and sixth turnover on the night when Brown’s handoff attempt to Kentrel Rogers fell to the ground and was recovered by UNA’s Tim Hunt.

After five offensive plays for UNA placed them at the 13 yard line, UNA Coach Mark Hudspeth decided to attempt the winning field goal on third down. Like last week against Valdosta, the Bears kick blocking team came up with a game saving block. [Some credit Caleb Bateman, while others say Jacob Ford]

That second [or seventh] chance is what UCA needed.

In the second overtime, UNA took the ball down the the four yard line. UCA’s defense stopped the Lions three straight times and forced a field goal. This attempt by Yuta Fukuda was good, giving UNA the 26-23 lead.

UCA took the field, and put the ball in the hands of Rogers. With the help of an offside penalty and holding in the endzone, the Bears were faced with second and goal from the four. That’s when Brown completed his 25th pass of the game and third touchdown.

"Very pleased with Nathan’s performance," Conque said. "The fumble in the overtime was obviously not very good.

"Just like any other position when you have a young player, he’ll learn from these mistakes."

Brown finished 25-of-34 for 280 yards with one interception and three touchdowns.

"TV better come around here more often," Brown said. "Cause they just saw a heck of a football game."

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Conway — In three of the four UCA games this season, the defense has held their opponents to a combined seven points – the seven points scored by Southern Arkansas were after a Bear fumble. Thus far in 2005, the defense has forced 12 turnovers, four interceptions and eight fumbles. And Saturday’s game against Henderson State was another top-notch performance.

Effectively bending but not breaking, the defense gave up 347 passing yards, 80 of those on one play. Coach Denzil Cox’s unit stuffed the run all night, only allowing 44 yards on 32 attempts. The Reddie rushing attack averaged a feeble 1.4 yards per carry.

“Defensively we gave them a lot of different looks,” head coach Clint Conque said.

The different looks forced one interception, five punts, and six fumbles. The 80-yard pass was the only time a HSU player entered the red zone. Four times in the second half, the Reddies drove to the UCA side of the field coming away with zero points. Three straight times the Reddies turned the ball over on downs. The fourth opportunity resulted in free safety Jasper Johnson’s first interception of the season. Coach Conque said they played “efficient.”

Once you combine all of the above with the kickoff and punt coverage teams dominance, you understand why teams have had such a difficult time scoring.

Henderson State averaged starting their drives on their own 19 yard line.

“I tell you what now, [the coverage was] ferocious,” Conque said. “Those kids going down on kickoff coverage take a lot of pride in it.”

The upcoming schedule will further test the Bear defense. Next up is defending national champion Valdosta State, fresh off an overtime loss to Harding University. The loss was just the third GSC loss since VSU head coach Chris Hatcher arrived in 2000.

“We’ll be challenged next week,” Conque said. “They are excited about the challenge. We’re going to have to play our best football game to go on the road and have a chance to win. Three of the last 4 years we’ve been right there with them just haven’t been able to put them away. We have a chance this week.”

Known as the Black Swarm, the VSU defense is giving up less than 14 points per game. While the Blazers offense, led by quarterback Barrett Wilkes, has been a little more balanced this season, but in the second game of the season they lost starting tailback Vincent Brown.

“We’ll be challenged,” Conque said, “no doubt about it. Let’s enjoy this one, but next week is going to be a two chin strap football game.”

There will be a lot of debate about how the Blazers will react to the loss, but they have had UCA’s number.

Coach Conque said they are going to try and get Willie Hopson back for next week. Austin Cade and Justin Jones tweaked their ankles on Saturday.

“We’re trying to stay on point. We’re trying to stay focused, and we’re trying to stay grounded. I really, really like this football team. With this one more than any other team we’ve had here recently, they love to play the game. They love to practice. They enjoy competition. The setback at UT-Martin may have helped us to this point.”

Conway — Someone must have found the play button for the offense this week after the offense struggled for just 196 yards of total offense last week against Southern Arkansas.

“Last week was a pause,” Conque said. “Offensively I think we came out and got a lot of guys in the endzone. A lot of guys got a lot of touches. Quarterbacks played extremely well. Offensive line did a great job.”

There’s no doubt all of those statements are true. The Bears racked up 549 yards of total offense this week on their way to an easy 55-7 win of Henderson State University. Eleven different backs and receivers touched the ball. The quarterbacks combined for just six incompletions in 35 attempts. The offensively line allowed just one sack for a loss of only two yards.

“Real proud of my team,” Conque said. “I thought we showed a lot of efficiency in all three phases and a lot of good things happened.

“We challenged them offensively,” Conque said referring to his own offense.

UCA responded and put up over 50 points for the second time this season and sixth time the past two years. One of those a 55-12 defeat of Henderson State in 2004.

“Everybody was focused tonight,” starting quarterback Chris Reil said. “Tonight was a big night for us.”

Reil was starting against his former team for the first time, and he made the most of it, completing 21-of-26 passes for 207 yards and 3 touchdowns. All three touchdowns came in the second quarter when the Bears broke a 6-0 game wide open.

“[Playing against my former team] was a little extra motivation,” Reil said. “They are much improved. Obviously the score is not indicative of that.”

Two bears got their first catches of their career. Transfer Cameron Kinard’s first was a touchdown, while Nick Grant hauled in an 18 yard pass from backup quarterback Nathan Brown.

“Cameron Kinard stepped up big for us,” Conque said. “We needed somebody to step up with Eric Ware down and Che Jones really didn’t practice this week. He can be a threat for us.

“And how about Nick Grant getting his first collegiate catch.”

The usual guys were there as well. Aaron Fairooz paced all receivers in yards and catches entering the game and just continued to add to those totals with seven more catches for 132 yards and one touchdown. Kentrel Rogers rushed for over 100 yards for the third time this season.

Lu’s Summary