Bearkat-UCA rivalry young but intense
11/19/2014 4:59:00 PM | Football
While Sam Houston's football rivalry with Central Arkansas is young, the series quickly has become intense.
Four of the last six seasons, either Sam Houston, Central Arkansas or both have emerged as a Southland Conference champion or an FCS playoff team. Five of the eight meetings have been decided by less than a touchdown.
Again in 2014, if Sam Houston defeats the Bears, a Southland champion will emerge from the contest. A victory clinches no worse than a tie with preseason league favorite Southeastern Louisiana for the title. Kickoff Saturday at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium is at 12:30 p.m.
The UCA Bears own a 5-3 lead in the series with Central Arkansas winning the last two times. Both those losses came in Conway, Arkansas, in consecutive seasons.
“It's sure nice not to have to take an eight-hour bus ride up to Conway and stay in a hotel,” senior special teams player Dustin Moehlig said. “We get to play in front of our fans at Bowers.”
Both the last two losses to Central Arkansas were heart-breakers for the Bearkats.
In 2012, UCA drove 72 and 75 yards for touchdowns in the last five minutes after Sam Houston had built a 20-10 lead. The Bears scored the winning touchdown with 57 seconds remaining.
Last season, an injured Brian Bell, who did not start at quarterback for only the second time in his 51 games as a Bearkat, came off the bench to rally the offense. With SHSU down 28-3, Bell came in to pass for 327 yards as SHSU cut the margin to 42-31 with 14:03 left to play.
However, the Bears turned a turnover on an attempted punt return into a one-yard score to pad their lead back to 18 points, 49-31 with 5:40 left in the game for a second consecutive victory over SHSU.
“We've watched the video of both those games and I feel like, the last two years, we didn't play very well as a team,” senior safety Michael Wade said. “Central Arkansas is a very athletic team. They can make us spread out. It's going to be a tough game.”
Sam Houston is 2-2 against Central Arkansas on the Bearkats' home field at Bowers Stadium.
UCA won the first two meetings between the two universities in Huntsville in 2006 and 2007 by scores of 38-30 and 35-14, respectively. In 2008, Sam Houston lost by only two points, 48-46, in a win that propelled the Bears to a first place finish in the Southland.
Sam Houston picked up their three victories in Huntsville in a 17-14 win in 2009, in Conway 20-13 in 2010 and back in Huntsville 31-10 in 2011.
Bearkat head coach knows Sam Houston will be in for a battle Saturday in a game that, if SHSU wins, the team can clinch at least a tie for the Southland Conference championship.
“We're playing a really good Central Arkansas team that scores points in droves,” Keeler said. “It's amazing the amount of points they can put up. They're playing better defensively now as well. This is going to be a heck of a football game. We're played a playoff caliber team in UCA.”
The game will be televised to a seven-state regional audience on the Southland Conference TV Network and on the internet on ESPN3. Local outlet for the telecast in the Greater Houston area in The KUBE Channel 57. KSAM 101.7 FM will broadcast the game on radio in the Walker Country area.
