The University of Central Arkansas Bears celebrated after a momentous comeback win against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks Saturday night.
The Bears defeated the Redhawks 38-33 after facing a 30-12 deficit before halftime. The offense for the Bears really took off late in the third quarter going into the fourth quarter leading to the win.
“What I’m so proud of is just our guys, there was probably a half a dozen times on the sideline where we could’ve split and where we could have made excuses and where we could have quit,” coach Nathan Brown said. “Everyone knows [SEMO is] a good team, and so our team knows that we could have just easily gave up.”
Senior quarterback Will McElvain had a career-high 367 passing yards. Sophomore wide receiver Myles Butler had a touchdown pass in the third quarter and junior running back Kylin James scored a game-winning touchdown helping the team to victory.
Brown said, “I think the touchdown … I felt like OK, we have a chance to do this is when.”
“When they rolled around to cover number three, we saw that he had come around the same time, and then he split two guys [and] broke a tackle.
Coach Nathan Brown prays with the team. The Bears won the game 38-33.
“That’s where I said man, that’s too good. Then I started looking at [the] time … thinking this could work out if the ball bounced our way.”
Brown also discussed how this game is very different from last week’s 29-27 win against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds, and how the team can be prepared for next week’s game against the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks at Estes Stadium.
“The difference is that last week, we had adversity on the road trip and a lot of different elements that were getting in the way,” he said.
“That was the issue last week and we let them get back in. We have a big one next week against Stephen F. and they’re gonna be tough.”
Junior kicker Jake Ward screams in excitement.
The Bears return to home field Saturday, Oct. 14 at Estes Stadium against the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks.
Kickoff is at 4 p.m. and the game is available to stream through ESPN+.