Defense Lets Bears Squeak Out 34-33 Win Over West Georgia

CONWAY, Ark. — ShunDerrick Powell had another one of those performances that makes you just shake your head, but in the end, it came down to defense for the win.

UCA held off a 2-point conversion at the end for a 34-33 win over West Georgia at The Stripes on First Security Field at Estes Stadium and go into a bye week at least feeling good about that. After losing a big lead, they came close to having a rough break.

In the end, Bears coach Nathan Brown was justified in his concern.

“I was not shy about saying what I thought about West Georgia,” he said later. He even said the same thing at the 1976 Bears reunion Friday night at Mike’s Place in downtown Conway. “I was still trying to figure out how this was a 1-4 football team. They’ve got really good players, they just haven’t figured out how to win at this point.”

UCA coach Nathan Brown on the sidelines against West Georgia | Ted McClenning-AllBears+ Images

A lot of Bears’ fans left thinking it was closer than it needed to be. Brown may have thought that, too, but at this point he was just glad to escape with a win. He’ll worry about style points getting it over the next couple of weeks.

“I’ve lost games like that in the past,” Brown said. He didn’t lose this one because

The No. 12/13 Bears had a 34-10 lead after a Darius Hale 1-yard touchdown run with 11:37 left in the third quarter. The Wolves (1-5, 0-5) then reeled off the final 23 points of the game to put a scare in the Bears. UWG got a four-yard touchdown pass from Quinn Casey to Dylan Gary with 27 seconds remaining to close it to 34-33.

The Wolves chose to go for the win but a pass to the right corner of the end zone was knocked away by UCA cornerback T.D. Williams to seal the win.

UCA won despite a season-low 361 yards of total offense. The Wolves ran a whopping 96 plays for 562 yards of offense, with 418 passing yards. Two receivers topped 100 yards for UWG, led by Gary with 12 catches for 138 yards and Karmello English with 9 for 143.

UCA wide receiver Tyion Berry catches a touchdown pass against West Georgia. | Ted McClenning-AllBears+

UCA got first-half touchdowns from junior Tyion Berry on a 15-yard pass from Will McElvain, Powell on a 19-yard run and a huge 89-yard pick six from sophomore safety Dillon Williams with just 10 seconds left in the half. That interception return for a touchdown was UCA’s first since the 2021 season and gave the Bears a 21-10 halftime lead.

The Bears opened the second half with a five-play, 80-yard drive, capped by a 48-yard catch and run by sophomore Arlie Lee, his first career touchdown, that gave the Bears a 27-10 cushion at the 13:28 mark of the third period.

Hale finished off UCA’s next drive with his short burst, set up by a nifty 89-yard run up the middle by Powell down to the UWG 1.

From there, the Wolves got a field goal from Chance Gagnon, a 6-yard touchdown pass from Casey to Cedric Seabrough, a 24-yarder to Gary and the final four-yarder in the final seconds. UWG’s final drive was aided by two UCA penalties that kept the drive alive.

UCA was forced to punt on its final five possessions until they took over with 25 seconds left after Jalen Hodo recovered UWG’s onside kick.

UCA quarterback Will McElvain throw against West Georgia | Ted McClenning-AllBears+ Images

McElvain, a senior who has surpassed 10,000 career passing yards at Northern Iowa and UCA, completed 19 of 31 passes for 212 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Powell rushed 19 times for 140 yards and had seven receptions for 16 yards. Berry caught a career-high 5 passes for 67 yards and his second touchdown of the season. Trejan Bridges had three catches for 67 yards.

Defensively, senior safety TaMuarion Wilson had a team-high 13 tackles and a forced fumble, while junior linebacker Jace Benesch had 11 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss. UCA totaled three sacks, by Williams, Sam Horton and a combined sack by Bradley Clark and Buck Cobbs.

UCA has its only open date of the season this week before hosting North Alabama for Homecoming on Oct. 26.

Information from UCA Sports is included in this story.