CONWAY, Ark. _ The fourth-quarter comeback came up a two-point conversion short this time for the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Saturday in a 25-23 loss to Tarleton State on a rainy Homecoming day at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

The No. 18 Bears dropped their first United Athletic Conference (UAC) game to fall to 2-1 in league play, and 5-3 overall. 

UCA had recorded late comebacks in two recent victories, and looked to be on the verge of staging another on Saturday. The Bears, trailing 22-10 in the first minute of the fourth quarter, got a 19-yard touchdown pass from Will McElvain to running back Kylin James to cut the deficit to 22-17 with 10:41 to play.

After an Adrian Guzman field goal for the Texans (5-3, 2-1), his fourth of the game, made it 25-17, UCA drove 72 yards in nine plays, taking just 1:45 to score. McElvain found sophomore tight end Jordan Owens for the second time in the game, capping the drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass with just :14 left. But the Bears' luck ran out there as the Texans' defense stifled UCA's potentia lgame-tying two-point attempt.

"Frustrated for our guys," said UCA head coach Nathan Brown. "Just going four straight weeks with a bye week without a loss. You've put a lot of momentum into the season and we've handled our business at home to this point. So just sad for our guys. They work hard, they left it out on the field. Their effort was great.

"You talk about the elements today, just how wet it was, all the things the game entailed. And we protected the ball, we had no turnovers. You put yourself in position to have a chance to win the game. We just didn't do enough, too little, too late. We've been on the plus side of winning a game on a two-point play (stop) and now we've been on the negative side of a two-point play. Obviously it's a tough feeling."

The Texans, led 13-7 at the half after a pair of field goals and a 38-yard touchdown run. UCA's lone first-half score was McElvain's other touchdown strike to Owens, a 13-yarder early in the second quarter. UCA drove down to the TSU 3 but Jake Gaster's field goal attempt was blocked as time expired in the half.

The teams traded field goals in the third quarter, with Gaster connecting from 26 yards. But the Texans broke off another long scoring run, a 59-yarder by Kayvon Britten, part of his 156-yard rushing effort
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UCA junior All-American defensive end David Walker, broke a 20-year-old school record with 6.5 tackles for loss. The old mark was 5.0 set by Icsom Jones against Ouachita Baptist in 2003. Walker finished with a career-high 13 total tackles and a forced fumble. He also added a sack on a two-point conversion attempt by the Texans that is not credited in the total tackles.

Walker's effort earned him the L.B. Jackman Award that goes annually to the Most Valuable Player of the Homecoming game.

"He was in the backfield a lot," Brown said of the junior from Stuttgart, Ark., who doubled his tackle for loss total for the season and now has 13.0. "Tarleton runs a slow mesh with the RPO game, so what you do with that is you attack it. And obviously David is twitchy enough to get back there. I didn't know that he had that many, but I could tell he was back there a lot.

"He's just a disrupting player. We go against him in practice every day, he's disruptive, he's hard to block. I think David would be the first to tell that that's great, but wish it would have come with a win. I think anybody that has a good statistical day, I think most of them would trade it for a win. 

"But I'm proud of David. He just keeps chopping wood. He's getting double-teamed, getting chipped. That guy's getting blocked every single way you can. And he still finding a way to be very, very productive, which is obviously a testament to his ability."

McElvain completed 22 of 36 passes for 176 yards and three touchdowns. Kylin James ran five times for 71 yards (14.2 average) and caught nine passes for 57 yards and a touchdown. 

The Bears return to the road for the first time in a month next Saturday when they travel to Florence, Ala., to take on the North Alabama Lions. UNA is 3-6 overall and 1-4 in the UAC after a 49-39 loss to No. 20 Austin Peay on Saturday.

"We'll be better for this," said Brown. "But our players have got to believe that we'll be better for this. And if they do and we can turn the page, then we'll have a really good three-game stretch here that I'm looking forward to. I know we're going to coach the heck out of them they're going to give great effort. We just have to make more plays when it's all said and done."

UCA will finish the regular season with two road games and one final home game on Saturday, Nov. 11 vs. Eastern Kentucky.