Conway — It was over early. Early enough for me to begin writing this story about halfway through the third quarter.

The University of Central Arkansas (8-2, 7-1) scored early and often in the first quarter of their 56-7 win over the University of Arkansas-Monticello Saturday on Senior Night at Estes Stadium.

"I thought we came out and certainly set the tempo," head coach Clint Conque said.

The defensive tempo was set just by the Bears holding the Boll Weevils (1-9, 1-8) to three-and-out on their first possession. The offensive tempo was set when UCA scored on it’s third offensive play, a 22-yard run for Kentrel Rogers.

"Kentrel picked up where he left off last week," Conque said after Rogers scored five touchdowns in limited action last week against Ouachita Baptist.

The UCA offense had its the third game with over 500 yards (507) of total offense and the fourth with over 50 points.

The Bear defense held the Weevils to just 249 yards of total offense, 158 of those yards came on UAM’s last three possession once most of the Bear starters were pulled.

The first quarter was full of scoring. Unfortunately for the Weevils, all of it was by UCA. By the quarters end the Bears led 28-0.

The UAM offense never advanced reached the Bear side of the field during the first half. In seven first half drives, the Bear offense only took five snaps on their side of the field.

"Our defense is pretty good," Conque said.

"Our defensive football team is playing with a lot of confidence right now."

After the first seven offensive plays for the Bears, they were up 21-0. Rogers, seven carries 80 yards and two touchdowns, followed his first touchdown with another 18-yard scamper. Then, on the first play of the third series, quarterback Nathan Brown found an open Aaron Fairooz deep down the field for a 72-yard score. Ross Brown added a 2-yard run to close out the first-quarter scoring.

"I thought we played inspired tonight in a lot of areas," Conque said.

A 23-yard pass to Austin Cade from Nathan Brown, his second passing touchdown of the game, followed the only Bear drive in the first half that didn’t result in a touchdown. Fairooz caught his second touchdown pass of the game, this one from Chris Reil, and UCA went into the half with a comfortable 42-0 lead.

The Bears two scoring drives of the second half combined to take over 15 minutes off the clock. Joseph Walker finished a 13-play 75 yard drive with a three-yard run. Ross Brown finished the scoring with 2:12 left in the game.

"I thought all our seniors contributed," Conque said. "They’ve helped us reestablish some pride in our program.

The Bears will close out the regular season at arch-rival Arkansas Tech on Thursday night.

"This is why you coach," Conque said. "This is why you play NCAA football, for games like we’re getting ready to prepare for. We’re going to need a great week of focus and a great week of preparation."

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Conway — The University of Arkansas-Monticello came into Thursday night’s game in a tie for last in the West Division of the Gulf South Conference, but the team who shutout the Sugar Bears of the University of Central Arkansas 3-0 didn’t look like a last place team.

The Cotton Blossoms (9-16, 4-8) won three straight games 30-24, 30-20, and 30-21. No matter what the Sugar Bears (22-12, 7-5) tried, it seemed UAM was always a step ahead or in the perfect position.

After UCA led the first half of the first game, UAM tied it at 16-16. UAM then took the lead on the next point. UCA lost a long, hard-fought volley to give the Blossoms an 16-18 lead, and UAM never gave it back. The Sugar Bears only hit .152 while the Cotton Blossoms hit .316.

The hitting percentage continued to increase for UAM. Their percentage for every game was twice as good as UCA’s.

Game two was eerily similar to the first. Again, both teams were tied at 16-16. UAM then scored 14 of the next 18 points for the game two win.

The Sugar Bears weren’t in the third game for long. The Blossoms took a 7-6 advantage and comfortably maintained a seven point lead for most of the game. Coach Steve McRoberts called two timeouts in the final game, but as soon as UCA seemed to have the momentum the Sugar Bears would commit one of the match’s 24 errors.

UAM only played eight players, but combined to hit .351 in the match. The Cotton Blossoms only committed nine errors.

UCA only hit .154, led by Tristen McNeal’s .286 percentage. Four UAM players hit .400 or better.

The Sugar Bears entered the game in a tie for second with Arkansas Tech, but ATU beat Ouachita Baptist Thursday night, giving them sole possession of second place in the west division.

UCA travels to first-place Harding on Saturday and then will return home for the regular season finale versus Southern Arkansas on Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Arkadelphia — There were lots of numbers Saturday in UCA’s 51-6 win over Ouachita Baptist at A.U. Williams Field. Unfortunately for OBU (2-6, 2-5), most of those numbers belonged to the Bears.

Senior running back Kentrel Rogers ran for 185 yards and five touchdowns, tying the school record for touchdowns in a game. (More on the records later.) Rogers had two more yards than OBU’s entire offense. He also had four more touchdowns than OBU as a team.

UCA (7-2, 6-1) finished with 608 yards of total offense, 425 more than the Tigers who had just four yards rushing on 24 carries.

At the half, Rogers had four touchdowns and 144 yards on just seven touches. Quarterbacks Nathan Brown and Chris Reil combined to go 13-of-19 for 162 yards. And UCA led 27-6.

"We came down here and handled our business," head coach Clint Conque said. "We’ve rededicated ourselves for the last three games so one down and two to go. Our focus now goes to [the University of Arkansas-Monticello]."

The Bear defense held OBU to only had 45 total yards in the second half and intercepted two Tayler Carter passes.

"I’m very pleased with our defense," Conque said. "We gave up the one play where we missed a couple of tackles, but they were averaging 43 points a game over the last two weeks. I thought our defense really studded up and had a great effort."

The play Conque referred to was a 74-yard pass from Carter to Slade Camp in the first half. Other than that one pass play, OBU was held to 105 yards passing in the game.

Rogers put the first points on the board on the Bears second possession of the game, a 67-yard rush.

"I never expected to score five," Rogers said. "I had holes all over the place. All I had to do was pick one. I just owe all the credit to my offensive line."

The offensive line gave up just one sack, only seven in all seven conference games. They also opened holes for 379 rushing yards. Ross Brown added 89; Nathan Brown 51; Willie Hopson 29.

The third UCA drive of the first half ended with a punt, and then Rogers scored touchdowns on the next three drives. His final touchdown came in the third quarter on a 19-yard run.

"I’m trying to keep rewriting the record book," Rogers said.

Nine players caught passes for UCA, led by Aaron Fairooz’s 5 catches for 84 yards.

Nathan Brown completed 10-of-12 passes for 122 yards. Reil was 11-of-17 for 107.

The win keeps UCA tied at the top of the GSC with a 6-1 conference record. It also allows the Bears to remain in the playoff chase.

(From the UCA Sports Information Office:

With the five-touchdown game, Rogers became the career scoring leader at UCA with 47 touchdowns. He is also now the career points leader with 286 points. Rogers also broke the 31-year-old record for season points (112) and tied the season records for touchdowns (18) and rushing touchdowns (17).)

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Conway — It took a 15-point fourth quarter, but a tragic week for the UCA football family ended with a 31-41 win over Delta State University (4-4, 3-3) at homecoming in Conway on Saturday night.

"It was a pretty emotional week for us," head coach Clint Conque said following the game. "I can’t say enough about my family. I can’t say enough about our football team."

During the past week, Conque and Henry Briscoe, head strength and conditioning coach, fathers died. Both funerals were held on Saturday.

"Dad wanted me to coach this game tonight," Conque said, "and he was with me."

After returning to Conway this afternoon, Conque led the Bears (6-2, 5-1) onto the field around 30 minutes after his father’s funeral began in Louisiana.

One minute and nine seconds into the game, the Bears were already on the board. Starting quarterback Nathan Brown started the game with two complete passes before Kentrel Rogers finished the three-play 74 yard drive with a touchdown run from 16 yards out. The 7-0 Bear lead was the last time UCA would lead until the fourth quarter.

Down 28-26, the Bear defense forced a punt. Nathan Brown completed five passes and rushed three times for 16 yards. Ross Brown took the ball the final 31 yards on two carries. The 20-yard Ross Brown run positioned the Bears up four and a complete two-point conversion pass from Nathan Brown to Aaron Fairooz put the Bears up 38-34.

"We lost Kentrel early in the game at halftime," Conque said. "And I thought Willie Hopson and Ross Brown really responded and put the offense on their back their in the fourth quarter."

But, the Statesmen responded with a 30-yard FG to cut the lead to three, 31-34.

The Bears had three plays and then were forced to punt, but DSU quarterback Scott Eyster was intercepted by senior Cory Cangelosi with 2:33 left in the game.

"[Cangelosi's] such a competitor," Conque said. "He’s meant so much to our program over the last five years, and it’s fitting on homecoming that he makes a great play to basically seal the game for us."

With the lead, UCA went back to the ground game to use up the clock.

"With Eyster back there it’s just not safe," Conque said. "The guy can just flat out play."

Ross Brown, on second down, broke free for a 44-yard run, taking it down to the 2-yard line.

Then the Bears caught a break. On the next play, a UCA fumble was recovered by Johnnie Keys of DSU. Unfortunately for the Statesmen, the play was null due to an offside penalty. Willie Hopson followed with a two-yard touchdown run for the final margin, 41-31.

Delta’s final drive ended with an interception with no time on the clock.

"Ross [Brown] and Willie [Hopson] stepped up like bona fied backs in this league should," Conque said.

Ross Brown led the team with 85 yards and a touchdown on just eight carries. Hopson and Rogers finished with 55 and 46 yards, respectively. Rogers had two touchdowns and Hopson added one more.

Starter Nathan Brown finished 20-of-30 for 140 yards. Backup Chris Reil rotated in for two drives, both resulted in Bear touchdowns. Reil was 6-of-9 for 87 yards and a touchdown.

Conque said he was "real pleased" with the play of the two quarterbacks.

"There is a place in our football program for two good quarterbacks, and we’ve got two good quarterbacks," Conque said. "From where I sit that is a very positive situation.

"[Reil] gave us a big lift."

The Bears finished the game with 439 yards total offense and zero turnovers.

"This is a good football team we just beat," Conque said. "This [UCA] team is special. That’s a word a lot of people use a lot. But this is a special football team and a special coaching staff. I’m just blessed to be a part of it."

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It’s been an entire decade since the Sugar Bear volleyball team has had a winning season. With their 3-1 victory over Christian Brothers University (18-9, 4-3) on Tuesday night, they locked up a winning 19-10 overall record for 2005.

The Lady Bucs took game one 30-25, but the Sugar Bears (19-10, 4-3) won three straight to get the win. This season UCA is just 1-6 when going to the fifth game.

After being outhit in game one, the Sugar Bears came out and took game two 26-30 and game three 27-30. The attack percentage improved with every new game: .167, .265, .312.

But game four did not start well. After falling behind 3-0, the Sugar Bears scored seven straight.

CBU didn’t give up easily. They found themselves down 27-21 and battled back to tie the game at 28-28 and then take the lead 29-28.

Coach McRoberts called a timeout and the Sugar Bears returned to the court to score the next three points and take the match.

UCA has been without senior Stephanie Sloan. Sloan leads the team in kills and kills per game.

The win moved the team into a tie with the Lady Bucs for third in the west division behind Harding and Arkansas Tech. UCA will face both of those teams again in their remaining seven games while trying to secure a place in the conference tournament.

This is the first time the Bears have won 19 games since 2000.

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Heading into the locker room at halftime, it appeared the Bears had faced the Harding team that played against Valdosta earlier this season.

The Bisons forced two turnovers in the first quarter and another in the second to take a 14-6 lead into the half. But the Bears (5-2, 4-1) played the second half against the Harding team that has seemed to show up during their last three games and scored 35 straight points on their way to a 41-21 win over the Bisons (3-4, 1-4).

The defense and (yes, cliché) special, special teams played a superb second half.

The Bears received the ball first after the half but were held to just four plays before Thomas Garland came in to punt. Harding’s Jeremy Fairrow called for the fair catch, but gunner Ahmad Brown was pushed into Fairrow causing a fumble. Austin Cade recovered to give the Bears starting field position at the 11 yard line. Three carries by running back Kentrel Rogers resulted in his second touchdown of the game. The successful two-point conversion tied the game at 14-14.

The next Bisons possession ended with a fumble recovery by defensive end Jacob Ford. Ford returned it 36 yards to the 18 yard line, and the Bears started their second straight offensive drive in the redzone.

A 19-yard pass from Nathan Brown to senior Ben Faires set up Rogers’ third TD, a three-yard run that gave the Bears their first lead of the game at 21-14.

Harding’s luck didn’t get any better. Their second drive of the second half ended with Aaron Fairooz, who’s suddenly become a special teams star, blocking the punt, scooping it, and scoring after a 45-yard scamper.

The Bears longest scoring drive of the night followed another Harding punt. Ten plays and 82 yards later, most of the work done by backup tailback Ross Brown, ended with a two-yard TD pass from Brown to Fairooz. Fairooz finished with 7 catches for 131 yards and one touchdown.

UCA’s last score came on a 27-yard interception return by junior defensive back Leroy Hamilton.

The Bisons final possession netted their only score of the second half with just two seconds remaining.

The specal teams wasn’t all special. Senior return man Cory Cangelosi fumbled a punt, and kicker Garrett Morgan missed to point after attempts.

Harding had more yards rushing and passing, but the second-half turnovers cost them.

The Bear defense gave up just 91 yards in the second half, before the Bisons final 80-yard drive. Junior Jasper Johnson led UCA with 12 total tackles.