Injury-plagued Bears throttled by Tarleton State, 39-14, to end year

STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Central got a valiant effort from their defense Saturday but it was not enough against No. 16 Tarleton State in their season finale.

The Texans took advantage of three turnovers by the Bears and used the short fields to break open a relatively close game and turn it into a 39-14 win at Memorial Stadium.

The injury-riddled Bears (6-6, 3-5) were within 16-7 late in the third quarter but back-to-back special teams miscues down the stretch allowed the game to get out of reach. During one late stretch, the Texans scored on four of five possessions that covered a total of just 110 yards and took only 11 plays. The drives went 47, 25, 14 and 24 yards.

UCA stopped the bleeding for a moment, getting a 64-yard untouched run up the middle by senior ShunDerrick Powell that kept UCA within 22-14 with 2:37 left in the third period. Powell, a 4,000+-yard career rusher from Hoxie, Ark., returned from injury and finished with an even 100 yards rushing, along with 41 receiving yards, in his final game. He finished his combined North Alabama/UCA career with 4,014 rushing yards and 38 rushing touchdowns.

The defense had a lot of stars, with senior defensive end David Walker (Stuttgart, Ark.) breaking another career record in just three seasons at UCA. Already the school record holder for tackles for loss (62), set earlier this season, he surpassed Jonathan Woodard again for the career sacks record Saturday and finished his career with 31.

Senior safety TaMuarion Wilson was a constant in the TSU offensive backfield, totaling 14 tackles, with four tackles for loss. Senior linebacker Demetrias Charles was just as disruptive, with 14 tackles, including .5 sacks and .5 tackles for loss. Walker added 10 tackles (2 for loss) and 1.5 sacks. Sophomore safety Dillon Williams chipped in double-figure tackles as well with 10.

Wilson, from Bryant, Ark., closed out his career with 347 career tackles, putting him 5th in UCA history.

“I hate the last quarter of the season, It didn’t (have) the results we all wanted,” said UCA coach Nathan Brown. “Look, that’s the way it goes sometimes. I just told our guys, life constantly tells you that’s it’s OK not to fight, not to scratch, not to claw, not to not quit.

“But man, football teaches you a lot of things. And those guys never quit. They kept fighting for one another, fighting for this program, and gave us something proud even in a couple of hard losses.”

UCA, which was in the FCS Top 20 for most of the season before dropping its final four games after a rash of injuries, was held to just 274 yards of total offense and lost the time of possession battle by a 36:58 to 23:02 margin. Redshirt freshman quarterback Caleb Koger, starting just his second game after injuries to senior Will McElvain and sophomore Austin Myers, completed 13 of 28 passes for 156 yards but also had a pair of interceptions.

McElain, who missed the final two games of the season with a shoulder injury, finished his UCA career with 7,163 passing yards, and a combined 11,116 yards between Northern Iowa and UCA.

Tarleton had just one turnover Saturday, a muffed punt that UCA’s Mark Dorsey recovered at the TSU 27. Five plays later, UCA cashed in with a 1-yard quarterback keeper by Koger, his first career touchdown.

The Texans, who lost a shot at the UAC championship with a loss to Abilene Christian last week, still had an at-large playoff berth to play for Saturday and probably earned it with an opportunistic outing. Junior quarterback Victor Gabalis threw for 245 yards and 4 touchdowns. Senior running back Kayvon Britten, who was battling Powell for the national FCS rushing lead until Powell’s injury, had 154 yards and a touchdown.

UCA’s defense totaled nine tackles for loss and three sacks while being on the field for 75 plays and several short fields.

Information from UCA Sports is included in this story.