CONWAY -- Defense and special teams put the University of Central Arkansas in position for its 24-20 victory over Stephen F. Austin on Saturday night at Estes Stadium, but it came down to a quarterback and his receiver.
Senior quarterback Hayden Hildebrand threw three interceptions after having thrown just two in UCA's first five games, but his 17-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Roman Gordon with 1:30 left made up for all of them.
"Hayden did what a champion does," UCA Coach Steve Campbell said. "He came back and finished strongly. When all the chips are on the table, he had to make plays. Never mind what happened before, when it was on the line, he and Roman stepped up and made the play."
Hildebrand's game-winning pass came on the third play of UCA's final drive of consequence.
Sophomore Storm Ruiz hit a 24-yard field goal to give SFA a 20-17 lead with 3:04 left in the fourth quarter, but a 61-yard kickoff return by junior Cedric Battle put UCA (5-1, 4-0 Southland) at its 38.
"Cedric's return set us up big time," Campbell said. "Everyone has a role to play, and Cedric played it very well. That big return gave us a chance, and it put us in a position where we did not have to be in a big hurry."
That was the key, Hildebrand said.
"His kick return gave us time more than anything," he said. "We could relax. ... We didn't want to just kick a field goal. We wanted to win it."
"It let us calm down," freshman running back Kierre Crossley said. "It gave us really good field position with plenty of time."
Crossley rushed 22 times for 164 yards, both career highs.
Interceptions aside, Hildebrand completed 25 of 35 passes for 290 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Mostly, Hildebrand credited UCA's defense, which held SFA (2-5, 2-3) to 319 yards of total offense. SFA managed a total of seven points after UCA's three turnovers.
"It seemed like nothing was going our way for a while there," Hildebrand said. "Luckily, our defense kept stopping them, too, and gave us a chance."
Perhaps most significantly, the Lumberjacks began their final possession at the SFA 25 with 1:30 left and two timeouts. A holding penalty gave SFA a first down at its 41, but after an incomplete pass, Jake Blumrick suffered consecutive sacks by senior defensive lineman Eric Jackson and senior linebacker Chris Chambers, and on third and fourth downs by senior linebacker George Odum.
Those sacks allowed UCA to finish the game with Hildebrand directing a victory formation.
"I am so proud of the way our defensive line got after it," Campbell said. "I thought our secondary played really, really well. There was a lot of good stuff in this game for us to build off of."
Senior running back Kijana Amous led SFA with 142 rushing yards on 19 carries.
Ruiz kicked a 31-yard field goal to give SFA a 17-14 lead on its first possession of the third quarter.
It was the first time UCA had trailed in the second half since its season-opening 55-19 loss to Kansas State on Sept. 2, but a 52-yard run on third and 13 from the UCA 17 by Crossley put the Bears on SFA's side of the field and helped set up junior Matt Cummins' 27-yard field goal that tied the score 17-17 with 7:31 left in the third quarter.
UCA appeared ready to take the lead at first and goal from the SFA 4 after it had driven 74 yards on eight plays, but Hildebrand was intercepted in the back of the end zone by sophomore safety Alize Ward.
"I was trying to throw that one away, to be honest with you," Hildebrand said. "I was trying over their heads, didn't throw it high enough, and he jumped up and got it."
From Campbell's perspective, it was no more than another thing to overcome.
"These are the kind of games that you got to win," Campbell said. "You see a lot of teams lose them, but we didn't let it happen to us."
FCS STATS poll
The top 25 teams in the STATS Football Championship Subdivision poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Oct. 8, points and previous rank:
REC. PTS PVS
J. Madison (160) 5-0 4192 1
N. Dakota State (8) 5-0 4038 2
Jacksonville State 4-1 3718 3
South Dakota 5-0 3629 4
Wofford 5-0 3484 5
Central Arkansas 4-1 3325 6
South Dakota State 4-1 3054 9
Youngstown State 3-2 2990 10
Sam Houston State 4-1 2924 11
Eastern Washington 4-2 2730 13
Villanova 4-2 2329 12
New Hampshire 4-1 2156 14
Richmond 3-2 2012 19
Western Illinois 4-1 1967 7
North Carolina A&T 6-0 1803 15
Elon 5-1 1696 8
Illinois State 4-1 1472 21
Weber State 4-1 1439 24
Samford 4-2 1251 NR
Grambling State 5-1 1038 23
Western Carolina 4-2 636 22
McNeese 5-1 592 16
Citadel 3-2 498 NR
Montana 4-2 251 20
N. Carolina Central 4-1 226 18
OTHERS Dartmouth 211, Albany 199, Northern Arizona 136, Stony Brook 127, Nicholls 104, Delaware 81, Tennessee State 74, Monmouth 44, Eastern Illinois 25, Columbia 23, Liberty 19, Charleston Southern 18, UNI 16, Kennesaw State 16, Colgate 9, Tenn.-Martin 8, Princeton 7, Duquesne 7, Mercer 7, Austin Peay 6, Alcorn State 6, Furman 3, UC Davis 3, Saint Francis U. 1.
Sports on 10/15/2017