CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears made the most of their delayed home opener Saturday night, cruising to their second straight decisive Southland Conference victory.

    The Bears (2-2, 2-0) rolled past Abilene Christian 42-14 in their home opener at First Security Field at Estes Stadium. UCA finished with 469 yards of total offense, while the defense held the Wildcats (2-2, 2-1) to just 272 total yards and handed them their first conference loss of the season.

    The Bears jumped on the Wildcats early and led 32-7 at halftime behind 331 yards of offense. Sophomore tailback Dominique Thomas, who led all rushers with a career-high 126 yards on 21 carries, opened the scoring with a 1-yard run on the opening series less than two minutes into the game. Thomas also had a 49-yard reception to set up the first score and finished with 175 all-purpose yards. Senior Jace Denker added a 27-yard on the next possession as UCA scored five of the first six times it touched the ball. 

    Junior receiver Jatavious Wilson caught the first of his two touchdown passes _ a 53-yarder from Hayden Hildebrand _ to make it 18-0 in the final minute of the first quarter. Hildebrand, in his first career start at quarterback in place of injured senior Taylor Reed, hit senior tight end Justin Dickey with a 23-yard touchdown pass that pushed the lead to 25-0 with 11:44 left in the second period.



    Senior running back Blake Veasley then capped a 12-play, 70-yard drive with a 4-yard scoring run for a 32-0 advantage. ACU, coached by former UCA quarterback and assistant coach Ken Collums, finally got on the board when quarterback Parker McKenzie hit Cody Ennis with a 10-yard touchdown pass with 2:07 left in the half.

    The Bears, who avenged a 52-35 loss to the Wildcats last season, got a 22-yard field goal from Denker late in third quarter, and a 13-yard touchdown run from Wilson in the opening seconds of the fourth period to go up 42-7. ACU added a 3-yard touchdown pass from McKenzie to Cedric Gilbert with 11:01 remaining.

    UCA ran the ball on its final 20 offensive plays of the game to secure the victory and improve to 5-2-1 against ACU. The Bears, who used five different running backs and two quarterbacks, had seven turnovers in last season's loss but none in Saturday's rematch.

    Hildebrand, who played the final three quarters in last week's 49-21 win over Northwestern State, completed 9 of 15 passes for 210 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Wildcats. In the past two games, the Bossier City sophomore is 21 of 31 for 411 yards and five touchdowns without no interceptions



    Senior linebacker Ricky Wyatt led the UCA defense with nine tackles, while junior linebacker Garrett Sharp had seven tackles and a tackle for loss. Senior defensive end Jonathan Woodard had 1.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks and moved closer to the school career sack record, now trailing Mike Coffman (1979-82) by just 3.5 sacks. Sophomore linebacker Chris Chambers had his first career interception for the only turnover of the game.

    UCA's defense held an opponent to less than 100 yards rushing (91 net) for the second straight week. De'Andre Brown, who rushed for 171 yards in last year's matchup, was held to 90 yards on 13 carries. McKenzie completed 16 of 26 passes for 157 yards and a pair of scores but was sacked five times by the UCA defense.

    UCA travels to Houston Baptist next Saturday to face the Huskies in Houston for the first time in school history. UCA won the first meeting 70-0 a year ago in Conway. Kickoff is set for 2:30 on the American Sports Network.