CONWAY, Ark. _ In a game that featured 14 touchdowns, the Lindenwood Lions won with a field goal.

Lindenwood capped a crazy offensive affair with a 36-yard field goal with 9:47 to play and then held on for the road victory over the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Saturday night at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

The teams traded touchdowns throughout the night before the Lions (3-2) drove 53 yards in five plays after the Bears turned the ball over on downs at the Lindenwood 28. A 58-yard pass completion moved them into field goal range and Logan Siebert connected on his only attempt of the night for the final margin.

The Bears had two more possessions to try and tie it or win it. One ended in a punt and the final one reached the Lindenwood 28, but a fourth-down pass in the end zone was broken up by LU's Darion Bolden. Lindenwood is in its first year in Division I and is competing in the Ohio Valley Conference.

"Tough night, but give 100 percent credit to Lindenwood, to their team and their coaching staff," said UCA head coach Nathan Brown. "I thought they had a good offensive scheme. And their quarterback played out of his mind. 

"We had some opportunities there late in the third quarter and early in the fourth that we didn't take advantage of on offense. I thought we played pretty well on offense throughout the night, we just didn't have a great end of the third quarter or fourth quarter on offense.  If we played like we were earlier in the game, I think maybe we have a chance to win this game.

"But we didn't play well enough as a whole. But again, give credit to that program. They came in here and acted like they belonged. They punched us in the mouth and we didn't respond very well. A humbling experience for our team."

In what turned into a wild offensive night, the teams combined for 1,231 yards of total offense, with the Lions totaling 641 yards and the Bears 590. UCA, which scored its 49 points with just 25:10 worth of possession time, had 341 yards through the air and 249 on the ground, both season highs. Lindenwood scored on seven of its first nine possessions of the game, while UCA found the end zone on six of its first eight.

Lindenwood quarterback Cade Brister was a handful both passing and running, accounting for 475 yards of total offense by himself, including 413 through the air, with a pair of interceptions. UCA junior quarterback Will McElvain was equally impressive, throwing for a career-high 341 yards and five touchdowns, completing 17 of 30 passes with no interceptions. 

Sophomore running back Darius Hale ran 19 times for 170 yards, an average of  8.9 yards per carry. He also caught two passes for 86 yards, including third-quarter shovel pass that he took 75 yards for a touchdown that tied the game at 35-35. UCA added a huge special teams touchdown as well when junior receiver/returner Christian Richmond fielded a first-quarter kickoff at the goal line and went the distance for a touchdown, tying for the second-longest kickoff return in school history, that drew the Bears even with the Lions at 7-7.

McElvain's touchdown passes went to four different players, including a pair to junior Jarrod Barnes, a 7-yarder in the first quarter and a 64-yarder in the third period for UCA's final score. Freshman tight end Jordan Owens made the most of his first career catch, hauling in a 10-yard touchdown pass from McElvain, tying the game at 28-28 late in the first half. Sophomore running back Kylin James also scored on another shovel pass, from 61 yards out.

James, a running back from Dumas, Ark. caught six passes for a career-high 117 yards, while Barnes added three receptions for 81 yards.

UCA sophomore safety TaMuarion Wilson had a career-high 13 tackles and his first interception of the season, and one of UCA's two on the night. Junior safety Cameron Godfrey had UCA's other interception late in the fourth quarter that gave the Bears one more shot.

Sophomore defensive end David Walker recorded six tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. 

The Bears return to the road and to ASUN Conference play next Saturday at Kennesaw (Ga.) State. Game time is 12 p.m. (CT).