No. 18/19 Bears Snap Southeastern Win Streak

HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana football team had its three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday afternoon, as No. 18/19 Central Arkansas pulled away for a 45-10 Southland Conference victory over the Lions in Strawberry Stadium.

 

After a scoreless first quarter, the Bears (7-1, 6-0 Southland) outscored the Lions (4-4, 4-2 Southland), 24-3, in the second quarter and never looked back. Using a balanced attack, the Bears accumulated 495 total yards and 28 first downs, controlling the ball for just over 40 minutes.

 

The Bear defense came into the game ranked atop the Southland Conference and performed as good as advertised, limiting the Lions to six first downs and 161 yards of total offense, while forcing four SLU turnovers.

 

The lone touchdown of the game for Southeastern came on special teams. Freshman Kijuan Lee blocked a Patrick Ponder punt and freshman Jacorey Fuller scooped up the loose ball and returned it 25 yards for a score.

 

Seniors Justin Alo (6-for-13, 74 yards, 1 INT) and D’Shaie Landor (1-for-6, 9 yards, 1 INT) split time under center for the Lions. Sophomore Julius Maracalin led the way on the ground for SLU with 48 yards on 11 carries.

 

UCA quarterback Hayden Hildebrand threw for 207 yards on 21-of-27 passing, connecting with Desmond Smith, Cody Dauksch and Scott Matiaha on touchdown passes. A total of 10 Bears combined for 288 rushing yards. Junior Max Lyons led Southeastern with 15 tackles – the most by a Lion this season.

 

The opening kickoff was an early indication that things might not go Southeastern’s way on Saturday. Junior Darius Durall was stripped by Jacob Sisk and Desmond Smith pounced on the loose ball to give the Bears the ball at the Lion 26-yard line. However, the Southeastern defense stiffened and Matt Cummins’ 34-yard field goal hit the left upright to allow the Lions to dodge an early bullet.

 

After a Southeastern punt, Central Arkansas put together a 92-yard drive to the Lion one-yard line. However, Lyons and senior Miki Fangatua stopped Antwon Wells short of the goal line on fourth-and-goal to keep the game scoreless.

 

Southeastern was forced to punt and Central Arkansas finally found the end zone on a 12-play, 69-yard drive that carried into early into the second quarter. Hildebrand capped the march by scampering in from four yards out for a 7-0 UCA lead with 13:16 left in the opening half.

 

The Lions were again forced to punt on their ensuing drive. UCA added to its lead on a 47-yard Cummins field goal with 9:54 remaining in the second quarter.

 

On the third play of Southeastern’s ensuing drive, Tyler Williams stepped in front of an Alo pass and broke loose for a 32-yard interception return for a touchdown to give the Bears a commanding 17-0 lead with 8:56 left in the half.

 

Southeastern answered with its best drive of the game. A 30-yard run by Maracalin highlighted an 11-play, 61-yard drive that sophomore Jonathan Tatum capped with a 31-yard field goal to cut the UCA lead to 17-3 with 5:13 remaining in the second quarter.

 

After the Lions forced a UCA punt, another turnover set up more Bear points. Tremon Smith picked off Landor and seven plays later, Dauksch made a sliding seven-yard catch on a Hildebrand pass to send Central Arkansas into the break with a 24-3 advantage.

 

Central Arkansas ended any hope of a Southeastern comeback by scoring on its first two possessions of the third quarter to extend the lead to 38-3. Fuller’s return at the end of the third quarter of Lee’s block cut the UCA lead to 38-10 with 1:09 left in the third quarter.

 

On the ensuing kickoff, Maracalin recovered an onside kick by junior Dillon Burkhard. However, Southeastern could not manage a first down and turned the ball over on downs.

 

Central Arkansas closed out the scoring after taking over with a five-play, 54-yard drive. Lyons stripped Jarvis Cooper at the seven-yard line, but the loose ball rolled into the end zone where Jakari Dillard fell on it for a Bear touchdown and a 45-10 final margin. The 35-point loss was the most lopsided at home for the Lions since a 58-20 loss to McNeese on Oct. 4, 2003.

 

Southeastern will next head to San Antonio, Texas for a 2:30 p.m. game on Nov. 5 at league foe Incarnate Word. The game will be broadcast on the Southeastern Sports Radio Network (KSLU 90.9 FM, Kajun 107.1 FM, The Highway 104.7 FM and WFPR 1400 AM), as well as online atwww.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app.

 

UCA – 0 24 14 7 – 45 (7-1, 6-0 SLC)

SLU – 0 3 7 0 – 10 (4-4, 4-2 SLC)

 

Scoring Summary

1^st Quarter
No Scoring

2^nd Quarter
UCA – Hildebrand 4 run (Cummins kick), 13:16

UCA – Cummins 47 FG, 9:54

UCA – Williams 32 interception return (Cummins kick), 8:56

SLU – Tatum 31 FG, 3:43

UCA – Dauksch 7 pass from Hildebrand (Cummins kick), 0:11

3^rd Quarter
UCA – Matiaha 6 pass from Hildebrand (Cummins kick), 8:14
UCA – Smith 7 pass from Hildebrand (Cummins kick), 4:51

SLU – Fuller 25 blocked punt return (Tatum kick), 1:09

4^th Quarter
UCA – Dillard 0 fumble recovery (Cummins kick), 11:15

 

UCA       SLU

FIRST DOWNS                                                 28           6
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)                                  61-288    26-78

PASSING YDS (NET)                                       207         83

Passes Att-Comp-Int                                          28-21-0   19-7-2

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.                              89-495    45-161

Fumble Returns-Yards                                        0-0          0-0

Kickoff Returns-Yards                                       2-44        3-64

Punt Returns-Yards                                            2-2          1-46

Interception Returns-Yards                                2-32        0-0

Punts (Number-Avg)                                           2-24.0     5-40.8

Fumbles-Lost                                                      1-0          3-2

Penalties-Yards                                                   6-55        8-77

Possession Time.                                                 40:06      19:54

Third-Down Conversions                                    12-of-19 4-of-13

Fourth-Down Conversions                                  1-of-2     0-of-1

Red Zone Scores-Chances                                  5-8          1-1

 

RUSHING: UCA – Cooper 10-69, Blackman 13-64, Warren 8-31, Wilson 3-31, Hildebrand 5-27, Wells 8-22, Ledet 8-21, Daniels 4-20, Cox 1-3, Baugh 1-3, Dillard 0-0. Totals 61-288. SLU – Maracalin 11-48, Henderson 10-24, Price 1-11, Landor 2-6, Alo 1-(-5), Team 1-(-6). Totals 26-78.

 

PASSING: UCA – Hildebrand 21-27-0-207-3. Team 0-1-0-0-0. Totals 21-28-0-207-3. SLU – Alo 6-13-1-74-0, Landor 1-6-1-9-0. Totals 7-19-2-83-0.

 

RECEIVING: UCA – Wilson 6-49, Gordon 4-61, Smith 4-57, McMillan 1-15, Cox 1-9, Dauksch 1-7, Daniels 1-6, Matiaha 1-6, Ledet 1-1, Dillard 1-(-4). Totals 21-207. SLU – Conner 2-36, Dickey 2-27, Maracalin 2-12, Schwebel 1-8. Totals 7-83.

 

A – 4,241.