by Kai Caddy
Posted Oct. 8, 2005 11:30 p.m.
SEARCY — UCA’s road woes were
finally healed Saturday as the Bears sailed past Harding 41-21.
“This is a tough place to play, it
always has been for Central Arkansas,” coach Clint Conque
said. “But we were able to come away with a
win.”
UCA (5-2, 4-1) broke the game wide open in
the third quarter when receiver Aaron Fairooz blocked a Harding
(3-4, 1-4) punt and took it 45 yards to pay dirt. Garrett
Morgan missed his second PAT of the night and the score
remained 27-14.
But on UCA’s next possession a
10-play, 82-yard drive was capped off when quarterback Nathan
Brown hit Fairooz in the corner of the end zone for a 2-yard
hookup to make it 34-14 with 8:33 left in the game. The
touchdown was set up on a 42-yard pass from Brown to Fairooz
that moved the Bears to the HU 9.
Fairooz finished with seven catches for 131
yards and two touchdowns.
The nail was driven further into the coffin
when Leroy Hamilton picked off a Cam Rowan pass and took it 27
yards for the final UCA score to make it 41-14.
“We certainly came out with a lot of
fire in the second half,” Conque said. “We came out
[to begin the game] a little slow, we couldn’t establish
the run. But in the second I think we were able to run
effectively and that opened up the pass for us.”
In the final seconds Harding scored one
last touchdown in garbage time when Rowan hit David Feliciano
for a 39-yard touchdown.
Moala Lolohea opened up the scoring for
Harding early. Quarterback Adam Lybrand found him for a 44-yard
touchdown toss.
The Bears answered back on a 7-play,
80-yard drive that ended when Kentrel Rogers took the handoff
and scored from 20 yards out to make it 7-6 with 8:59 left in
the first half. Morgan missed the PAT.
Harding took the lead going into the half
with 4:39 left in the third when Lybrand scored from 3 yards
out to end a 9-play, 74-yard drive. That made it 14-6 going
into the half.
The Bears were forced to punt on their
opening drive of the second half, but HU’s Jeremy Fairrow
mishandled the punt and Austin Cade got on top of the ball for
UCA at the 11. Three plays later the Bears found the end zone
when Rogers scored from one yard out for his second touchdown.
Brown hit Rogers on a pass to score the two-point conversion
and tie the game at 14.
Eight plays into Harding’s next drive
running back Travis DeSisso took the handoff and coughed it up,
UCA’s Jacob Ford swooped in and took the fumble 36 yards
to the HU 18 to set up the Bears’ next score. Six plays
later, Rogers was in for his third touchdown of the night. He
finished with 67 yards on 21 carries.
“I think special teams play really
was a key for us,” Conque said. “We’ve got to
make an extra point, but I think I’ve settled on a guy.
The punt block, kickoff teams, punt coverage were all
excellent.”
Nathan Brown, in his second collegiate
start, was under pressure quite a bit early on in the game but
still finished 15-of-24 for 204 yards, a touchdown and two
interceptions.
“I don’t know what it
was,” Conque said of the offensive line.
“We’ll have to go back and look at some things and
get that corrected.”
The Bears are back at home next week to
take on Delta State for homecoming.
“We’ll have to play a lot
better next week, but we got out of here with a win,”
Conque said. “This conference is a tough one to get a
road win in. We did that tonight.”
