BEARS DOWN HUSKIES 27-7, WIN FOURTH STRAIGHT

[Seminole Indian]

OUSTON, Texas _  Coming off one of the biggest victories in the NCAA Division I era, the No. 6/8 University of Central Arkansas Bears scratched and clawed Saturday night for a 27-7 road victory over the Houston Baptist Huskies at Husky Stadium.

The Bears, a week after knocking off then-No. 3 Sam Houston State 41-30 at Estes Stadium, could not manage that many points against the now 1-4 Huskies, who were allowing just 22 points a game. Luckily the UCA defense was just as stingy, shutting out HBU for the final three and a half quarters to win its fourth consecutive game and improve to 4-1 overall and 3-0 in the Southland Conference.

"They were every bit as good as I thought they would be defensively,' said UCA head coach Steve Campbell. "They weren't any better than I thought they were coming in. This is a good football. Any time you win a game in the Southland Conference, you take it and you move on. Especially one that's nine hours away. This had all the settings of a trap game, and the guys got out of the trap. We had some guys step up and make some plays.'

The Bears finished with 407 yards of total offense, including 293 through the air, but scored less than 38 points for just the second time this season. The other was against FBS Kansas State in Week 1.

"You're not going to score 40 every week,' said Campbell. "Now, you'd like to. But there are going to be some games you got to win ugly. And you take it and you move on. There were a lot of things... long bus ride, they had an open week, another week to prepare, and we're coming off the biggest win at least since I've been there. So there were a lot of opportunities to not win this game.

"If you had came up short, you could have pointed at about three, four or five things . But the guys went out and made plays and we made enough plays to win the game.'

The Huskies scored first with an 11-play, 85-yard drive, finished off by a 7-yard touchdown run by B.J. Kelly, putting the Bears behind for the first time this season against an FCS opponent. The Bears rebounded to grab 14-7 halftime lead, with senior quarterback Hayden Hildebrand connecting on a pair of touchdown passes. The first was a 26-yarder to senior Roman Gordon down the left sideline to tie the game at 7-7 with 5:05 left in the first quarter. The latter was a 39-yarder to freshman Brandon Myers that gave the Bears the lead with just 27 seconds left in the period.

The Bears had a 25-yard field goal attempt by Matt Cummins blocked by HBU's La'Travien Gee in the second quarter, and UCA senior defensive back Tre Smith picked off his fourth pass of the season _ and third in two weeks _ in the end zone to squelch an HBU drive before the halftime break.

Gordon, playing in his home state of Texas, finished the game with career highs of five receptions and 140 yards.

The Bears added a one-yard touchdown run by Hildebrand and a pair of field goals by senior Matt Cummins _ from 33 and 25 yards _ in the second half to round out the scoring. Meanwhile, UCA's defense allowed the Huskies just 98 yards in the second half and no points. The Bears also recorded three interceptions, one each from Smith, redshirt freshman Robert Rochell and sophomore Juan Jackson, to keep the Huskies off the board.

"They (interceptions) were huge,' said Campbell. "When you watch these guys, you wonder where the points are going to come from, because they don't give up much now, they really don't. So when you look at it, the turnovers are huge. That gave us some field position, got us the ball back and let the defense get off the field.'

Hildebrand finished 19 of 30 for 293 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed four times for 26 yards. UCA was held to 114 rushing yards, led by sophomore Carlos Blackman with 45 yards.

"40's an All-American,' Campbell said of HBU senior linebacker Garrett Dolan, who had 11 tackles (3 tackles for loss) and entered the game leading the SLC in stops. " He made a bunch of tackles. He's hard to block. They do a good job coaching defense and they've got some good players. They didn't do anything we didn't prepare for, they've just got a good football team, one that's very, very good defensively.'

On the UCA defensive side, junior linebacker Raphael Garner led the charge with a career-high 13 tackles, including a sack. Senior rover George Odum added 12 (1 TFL), while Jackson tied his career high with 10, including two TFLs. In all, the Bears recorded 10 tackles for loss and four sacks, while breaking up eight passes.

UCA returns home to host Stephen F. Austin at 6 p.m. Saturday on "The Stripes" for Hall of Fame Weekend.

http://www.ucasports.com/news/2017/10/7/football-bears-down-huskies-27-7-win-fourth-straight.aspx