CONWAY, Ark. _ With a pair of ailing quarterbacks, the University of Central Arkansas Bears turned to the running game for a second consecutive week on Saturday night and it paid dividends again in a 21-16 victory over the Southeastern Louisiana Lions in front of a Homecoming crowd at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

    The Bears (5-3) rolled up 299 rushing yards, with senior Blake Veasley the star again with 191 yards on 27 carries, good for a 7.1-yard average per carry. Veasley, coming off a school-record performance last week, earned the L.B. Jackman Award that goes to the outstanding player in the Homecoming game. Veasley now has 483 rushing yards in the past two games.

    The Bears had one quarterback, sophomore Hayden Hildebrand, that missed the game entirely with a shoulder injury. Senior Taylor Reed saw his first action since Week 3, also due to a shoulder injury. Reed completed 19 of 26 passes for 114 yards before exiting late in the fourth quarter. A third quarterback, true freshman Kirk Baugh, had a 10-yard rushing touchdown in the first half that gave the Bears a 14-3 lead over the Lions late in the second quarter.

    Veasley staked the Bears to a 7-0 lead with a 1-yard touchdown run on UCA's first possession of the game, an 8-play, 81-yard drive. Southeastern's Jonathan Tatum had a 25-yard field goal midway through the second quarter to draw the Lions within 7-3 before Baugh's touchdown run gave the Bears their 14-3 halftime lead.



    Tatum connected twice more, from 38 and 40 yards, in the third quarter to close the gap to 14-9. But UCA sophomore running back Domininque Thomas, who also missed last week's game, broke off a 45-yard run for a touchdown to stretch the Bears' lead to 21-9 in the opening minute of the fourth period. SLU crept closer again when Julies Maracalin scored from 7 yards out to make it 21-16 after Donovan Isom's 48-yard pass to Chris Briggs put the Lions inside the UCA 10.

    UCA then ran seven minutes off the clock before punting, with SLU taking over at its own 11 with 2:48 to play. On the second play from scrimmage, junior safety Bobby Watkins intercepted Isom's pass at midfield. UCA still could not run out the clock entirely and punted back to the Lions again with 36 seconds remaining. Three incomplete passes and a sack by senior defensive end Jonathan Woodard sealed the victory for the Bears. 
    
    Woodard is now one sack away from tying the school career record held by Mike Coffman (30). He is also one yard shy of tying the career record for sack yards (148). He finished the game with 2.0 tackles for loss, a sack for -3 yards and four tackles. UCA recorded six lost-yardage plays on the night and held the Lions to three field goals and one rushing touchdown.

    Thomas finished with 76 yards on 15 carries, while junior Desmond Smith caught seven passes for 45 yards. Junior Kelton Warren returneed three kickoffs for a 21.6-yard average. UCA dominated the time of possession for the second straight week, finishing with 36:37 compared to 23:23 for SLU. The Bears also had zero turnovers for the second straight week.

    The victory moved the Bears into a second-place tie in the Southland Conference with No. 8/10 Sam Houston State at 5-1. McNeese State, which handed UCA its lone conference loss two weeks ago, is in first place at 7-0. UCA hosts Stephen F. Austin _ a 55-21 winner over Incarnate Word _ at 2:30 Saturday at Estes Stadium on the American Sports Network.