The UCA football team defeated the Austin Peay Governors 45-17 on Sept. 14 in its first home game in the United Athletic Conference.
“You have your home opener, the third game of the season, coming off a 21-point win,” coach Nathan Brown said. “Our challenge on Sunday night last week was how much can we improve off a 21-point win. That’s the challenge as a good team. Right now, we are quote-unquote the seventh ranked team in the country.”
After the first two drives, which resulted in punts, the Governors (0-3, ASUN 0-1) secured the first points of the game courtesy of a 39-yard field goal from Austin Peay redshirt junior kicker Carson Smith. The Bears (2-1, ASUN 1-0) answered with a 40-yard field goal from UCA senior placekicker Jake Gaster to tie the game with 1:09 remaining in the first quarter.
“It didn’t come easy early, and [we] knew it wouldn’t,” Brown said. “Austin Peay’s talented. Schematically, what they do, especially on the defense, was somewhat of a headache throughout the week to prepare for.”
“Our defense, other than giving up a reverse trick play, our first group didn’t give up any touchdowns,” Brown said. “Just proud of those guys, proud of the way our offense was able to have [four] straight touchdowns if you take the one at the end of the first half and add on the three in the third quarter.”
Within the first minute of the second quarter, the Bears were able to take the lead as a result of a touchdown by way of a 59-yard punt return from senior wide receiver Trejan Bridges. However, after a targeting call that resulted in the ejection of senior defensive back TaMuarion Wilson, the Governors made quick work of the following drive, tying the game with a touchdown from a 36-yard rush from sophomore wide receiver Jaden Barnes.
After a shaky play that resulted in an interception thrown by UCA senior quarterback Will McElvain, the Bears were able to force Austin Peay to punt. In the following drive, senior running back Darius Hale put up a 51-yard run to score another touchdown for the Bears and take back the lead.
At the end of the half, after a series of drives that ended in punts, McElvain completed a 12-yard pass to senior running back ShunDerrick Powell to conclude the half, with the Bears leading the Governors 24-10.
The Bears extended their lead in the third quarter, first with a 4-yard rush touchdown from Darius Hale within the first two minutes. After a near nine minute stalemate, in which the Bears forced a punt out of the Governors, ShunDerrick Powell pushed an 11-yard rush into the end zone to score once again, leaving the score at 38-10.
With 1:57 remaining in the third quarter, Austin Peay was able to score one more touchdown through a one-handed catch of a 36-yard pass by Jaden Barnes from redshirt junior quarterback Austin Smith.
UCA scored the last touchdown of the game with 0:24 remaining in the third quarter by way of a 63 yard rush from ShunDerrick Powell to raise the score to 45-17.
The fourth quarter stood at a stalemate, with the only scoring attempt resulting in a missed field goal by UCA kicker Jake Gaster. The Governors fumbled the ball with 0:52 remaining, and the Bears maintained possession of the ball until the conclusion of the game. The final score was 45-17.
“Top ten teams get better as the weeks go on,” Brown said. “I thought for the first time since Abilene Christian last year, we kind of rolled one out like this; it was a dominating night.”
The Bears hit the road to take on the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21.