A sea of purple filled Estes Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 9, as the Bears bludgeoned the Texas College Steers 70-2 in the season’s first football home game.
Both teams were coming off losses, with the Bears (1-1) having battled the Oklahoma State Cowboys 27-13, and the Steers (0-2) having lost 96-0 to the University of Texas Permian Basin Falcons.
The Bears and their fans had high hopes going into their first home game, which UCA players exceeded.
“Proud of the guys and really just continuing to play clean football for four quarters. I think that’s what I was most excited about,” coach Nathan Brown said.
ShunDerrick Powell made a 62-yard rush at 14:21, leaving fans in awe and scoring the game’s first touchdown. Powell made yet another touchdown only a minute later, giving the Bears a 14-point head start with 13:38 left on the clock for the first quarter.
The Bears kept the heat turned up and the score growing; by halftime, the Bears were up 49 points with seven total touchdowns and all kick attempts good.
The Steers didn’t let victory come too easily, though, only letting the Bears get three touchdowns in the third quarter and none in the fourth.
“We knew Texas College was going to come in a bit undermanned, just with the circumstances they were in, and just being a lower-level team,” Brown said. “But I’ll tell you this: Hats off to them and the way they competed. I mean, that was impressive. I don’t know how many guys they played, but they played hard and they kept us on our toes.”
Originally the Bears were set to play the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions, but an opportunity for UAPB to play Southern Heritage Classic against Tennessee State came open leaving UCA needing an opponent. The Texas College Steers volunteered, but unfortunately a large portion of their players were not certified in NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics), leaving the team in a challenging position as those students were barred from playing.
The fourth quarter saw some blowout management techniques, including a running clock and a shortened quarter.
Texas refused to leave empty-handed this time around, fighting tooth and nail to get some points on the scoreboard, and at 7:16 left of the fourth quarter, their hard work paid off with a safety.
“We didn’t get their quarterback down enough. I thought we should’ve put him down some more with sacks, but that’s something that we’re gonna challenge our defensive front with because we didn’t blitz one time tonight,” Brown said.
“We’re about to go play Mount Rushmore college football. I don’t care what level. We’re talking about a team that has played at least nine, I think, national championships in the past 11 or 12 years. That’s as good as it gets, so if you signed up to play big-time football, get ready this week,” he said.
The Bears’ next game will be in Fargo, North Dakota, at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 16 against North Dakota State (2-0), who currently ranks No. 2 in FCS and will stream live on ESPN+.