Richmond, Ky. – The Cardiac Cats fourth quarter magic finally ran out.
No. 11 Central Arkansas rallied to take a 28-24 lead over Eastern Kentucky with 1:21 left, but ultimately left too much time as Eastern Kentucky took less than a minute to drive 77 yards in eight plays for the game-winning touchdown with six seconds remaining to secure a thrilling 31-28 victory at Roy Kidd Stadium.
The Bears (3-4) scored twice in a three-minute span to overcome a ten point deficit and take a short-lived lead, but unfortunately left the door open for the Colonels, who were led in the second half by back-up quarterback Dakota Allen after an injury to starter Parker McKinney.
Eastern Kentucky (2-4) was aided by a pair of costly penalties by the Bears on the final drive – a late hit on the sideline and then a roughing the passer penalty – both of which kept Eastern Kentucky alive and afforded Allen the opportunity to connect with a surprisingly wide open Matt Wilcox for the clinching 21-yard touchdown.
“We’ve just been so accustomed to winning games like that, just tough late games,’ said UCA head coach Nathan Brown. “Accustomed to making those big two-minute drives and (our) defense being on the field and making the plays late to make it happen. It just caught up to us tonight, and credit goes to Eastern Kentucky.
“You either got two ways to go from it, you either learn from it and get better from it, or we’ll just continue to be a good football team. We’re trying to push to be a great football team and we still have some ways to go.’
UCA’s go-ahead drive definitely looked familiar for a team that has come from behind to win nine of its last 19 games, including last week’s road victory over Missouri State.
Trailing 24-14 late in the fourth quarter, UCA junior quarterback Breylin Smith found junior receiver Lujuan Winningham for a 46-yard TD pass with 4:35 remaining to cut the lead to 24 -21.
Then after a quick three-and-out from Eastern Kentucky, the Bears took over at its own 37 with 3:03 on the clock.
Smith completed a 50-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Tyler Hudson, who was brought down just a few yards short of the end zone.
Two plays later, Smith took it in from two yards out on a quarterback keeper to give UCA a 28-24 advantage on what appeared to be the winning score with 1:21 left in the contest.
But as it turns out, the Colonels had one final scoring drive left in them.
Following back-to-back incomplete passes and a third-down run by Allen that came up a yard short of a first down, an untimely late hit penalty gave Eastern Kentucky new life at midfield.
From there, the Colonels were able to convert a fourth-and-1 at the UCA 39 thanks to a critical roughing the passer call on Central Arkansas which gave them another first down at the UCA 21.
On the following play, Allen would find Wilcox behind two Central Arkansas defenders for the final tally.
“Credit to their backup quarterback, he came in and led them to a second-half victory.” said Brown. “It took us a drive or two to get used to what they were trying to do. They started really running the quarterback with some designed runs and some zone reads. He did a good job. He’s a big kid, a physical kid and he did a good job running the football.”
Eastern Kentucky cashed in a pair of Bears miscues for a 17-7 lead at intermission.
“We turned the ball over in the red zone early in the first quarter, we had a touchdown called back because of a penalty in the first quarter,’ Brown said. “Both of those hurt. And then on that final drive, we had 30 yards of penalties that really gave them the opportunity to keep the drive alive. But credit goes to Eastern Kentucky. They had poise, they stayed with it and made big plays in the end.”
Winningham, caught nine passes for 103 yards and his team-high ninth touchdown of the season.
While Hudson had seven receptions for 106 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.
Smith completed 30 of 45 passes for 320 yards for two touchdowns and was intercepted twice.
“They’re both just playmakers,’ said Brown. “Breylin trusts them, they got into some matchups, we took advantage of some of their corner play. That gave us an opportunity to drop the ball down the field to them and they made plays when it mattered.”
The Bears will finally return home for the first time since Sept. 26 next Saturday when they host Missouri Western for Homecoming.
Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. at First Security Field at Estes Stadiuim.
“We’ve been six of our first seven games on the road,’ said Brown. “It’s been a difficult run but we knew what we signed up for. Our guys are ready to get home for the next two football games.’
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