The University of Central Arkansas Bears won their first Gulf South Conference football championship Thursday night at the expense of their oldest rival, taking a decisive 49-17 victory over Arkansas Tech in the final ?Governor?s Football Classic? at Buerkle Field. The win was the Bears? fourth straight in the longest rivalry in the state and gave UCA the bragging rights for at least the near future. UCA now leads the series 41-40-3 with the any future games in doubt because of the Bears? move up to Division I-AA next season.
The 19th-ranked Bears (9-2) also clinched a least a share of their first Gulf South Conference championship with an 8-1 record. No. 2 Valdosta State (9-1, 7-1) hosts West Georgia on Saturday afternoon. One of UCA?s two losses was to Valdosta State (12-7) on the road back on Sept. 24, but the Bears have won six straight since then.
UCA, ranked fifth in the South Region, also assured itself of its second berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs next weekend. The six-team bracket will be announced at noon Sunday, with the top two teams from the region drawing byes and the third and fourth-rated teams hosting games against the fifth and sixth-seeded teams.
The Bears ended the suspense early Thursday in front of an overflow crowd of 8,859 at Buerkle Field, scoring touchdowns on their first three possessions of the game for a 21-3 lead. Two of the scores came after interceptions by senior safety Cory Cangolosi, who was named UCA?s outstanding defensive player of the game.
ATU (7-3, 6-3), which ended the season with consecutive losses, took more than six minutes off the clock to start the game, driving 62 yards in 16 plays, but had to settle for a field goal and a brief 3-0 lead. It was all UCA after that, with redshirt freshman quarterback Nathan Brown hooking up with junior Aaron Fairooz for a 15-yard touchdown on UCA?s first possession.
Brown then hit senior Ben Faires from 13 yards out for the second score and sophomore Willie Hopson added a 2-yard run to make it 21-3 midway through the second quarter. The Bears then added 14 points in both the third and fourth periods to pull away.
Kentrel Rogers had a 3-yard TD run to pad his school season and career touchdown records to 20 and 50, respectively. Fairooz caught another scoring pass from Brown, from 3 yards out and Hopson went in again from the 3. UCA?s final score came on a 74-yard fumble return by defensive end Jacob Ford with 1:44 remaining in the game.
ATU got a 9-yard touchdown run by backup quarterback Justin Ray and a 50-yard fumble return by Andrew Jackson.
Fairooz became UCA?s single-season receiving yards leader with 1,071 yards, surpassing Ron Mallett?s old mark set in 1979. He is two short of breaking the single-season record for receptions, set by Carl Thomas in 2000.
Brown earned the offensive player of the game award for the Bears after completing 17 of 20 for 160 yards and three touchdowns. Rogers added 72 yards rushing and Hopson 64. Ray topped ATU with 97 yards on the ground, while starting quarterback Jason Campbell was held to 75 passing yards (7 of 16) in his final game.
Sophomore place kicker James Paul was 7 of 7 on extra points for UCA and had four touchbacks on kickoffs.
-Courtesy of UCA Sports Information
