Bears’ youngsters can’t overcome Southern Utah in home finale

CONWAY, Ark. — No. 24 Central Arkansas battled through a plethora of injuries Saturday but could not manage to pull out the victory against Southern Utah in their home finale at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

Playing without their top two quarterbacks, their leading rusher and a starting cornerback, among others, the Bears dropped a 38-31 decision to the Thunderbirds in United Athletic Conference action on Senior Night.

“I was proud of our guys,” said UCA coach Nathan Brown. “The most important thing tonight was representing our seniors on Senior Night on “The Stripes.” A lot of great seniors in that line that got honored before the game. Some record-setters, some future NFL players, home-grown kids, some kids we got from the transfer market.

“We wanted to find a way to get a win for those guys, and obviously we came up just short. And that’s tough.”

Redshirt freshman Caleb Koger, who saw his first career action late in last week’s game at Eastern Kentucky, got the start and was solid throughout, completing 21 of 34 passes for 269 yards and four touchdowns in his debut.

Senior receiver Trejan Bridges and redshirt freshman Malachi Henry were his favorite targets. Bridges caught six passes for 112 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Henry had eight receptions for 133 yards and another touchdown.

The Bears and Thunderbirds were tied 21-21 at halftime, with Bridges’ two scores and a 12-yard pass from Koger to tight end Jordan Owens accounting for the Bears’ score.

UCA then suffered two costly turnovers _ a fumble and an interception _ in the second half, with the Thunderbirds scoring 10 points off the miscues. The first touchdown, with 8:26 to play in the third quarter, gave SUU the lead for good at 28-21.

“I thought going into halftime, we put ourselves in a good spot. We moved the ball well the first half. And the message coming out of halftime was, hey, we were tied at the half at EKU last week and didn’t come away with the win. So we wanted to come out and play well in the second half. And I thought we did, other than the two turnovers. The two turnovers were the difference in the game.”

UCA Bears wide receiver Trejan Bridges goes up to catch a pass against Southern Utah. / UCA Sports

UCA had a 25-yard field goal by Jake Gaster at the end of the third quarter to cut the deficit to one score, but the Thunderbirds answered with a five-play, 29-yard scoring drive, good for a 38-24 lead with 9:19. UCA then drove 75 yards in just three plays, capped by a 79-yard touchdown pass from Koger to Henry, closing the gap to 38-31 with 7:39 to play.

The Bears forced a punt and took over on their own 25 with 4:04 remaining. UCA drove to midfield before turning it over on downs to end it.

UCA finished with 498 yards of total offense. Another freshman quarterback, Eric McGehee from Little Rock Parkview, completed 3-of-4 passes for 64 yards and rushed six times for 23 yards in his debut. UCA’s defense got double-figure tackles from senior safety TaMuarion Wilson (11) and senior linebacker Demetrias Charles (10), who also had a tackle for loss and an interception.

“Obviously Caleb had a week to prep, and Eric did a good job as a true freshman preparing for his role tonight,” said Brown. “And I thought both of those guys gave us a chance to win the game. Played fast, played effective, played smart.But it wasn’t (just) what these guys did, I thought guys stepped up across the board.”

The Bears close the regular season on the road next Saturday at Top 25 Tarleton State. Game time is 2 p.m. in Stephenville, Texas.

Infomation from UCA Sports is included in this story