FLORENCE, Ala. _ A versatile offense and a stingy defense carried the University of Central Arkansas Bears to a 27-14 victory over the North Alabama Lions on Saturday at Braly Stadium.

The 25th-ranked Bears improved to 6-3 overall and 3-1 in the United Athletic Conference. They rebounded after a home loss to Tarleton State a week ago on a rainy Homecoming afternoon in Conway with a fairly complete road victory.

"I'm proud of our guys," said UCA head coach Nathan Brown. "You come off a tough loss last week, you never know how you're going to respond. I thought I knew how we were going to respond, and I'm very proud of our program, our players that made this trip over here. I thought we had a great week of practice, we kept our heads up, even after a tough loss.

"And as we said last week, we control our own destiny, and it started with UNA this week on the road. We have to enjoy tonight then we have to get ready to get to work for our final home game against EKU."

The Bears, who finished with an even 400 yards of total offense, jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, scoring on two of their first three possessions. Senior quarterback Will McElvain tossed a 17-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Jarrod Barnes, and junior running back Darius Hale followed with a 14-yard scoring run.

Then, after a flurry of punts by both teams, UCA added a key touchdown in the final seconds of the first half when junior running back Kylin James broke off a 65-yard run down the left sideline to give the Bears a 21-0 halftime cushion.

The UCA defense did its part the entire game, holding the Lions (3-7, 1-5) to 275 total yards of offense and forcing seven punts. In fact, UNA's nine first-half possessions ended in two interceptions, five punts and two failed fourth-down attempts. The Bears had possession for 18:22 of the opening 30 minutes.

"I thought our defense stood up all night," said Brown. "Obviously gave up a couple there in the second half, but man, they held up. They didn't hardly give them any breath, especially in the run game. And that's really the difference in the football game.

"We thought we had an advantage with our front seven and they proved it tonight. You know, UNA has scored a lot of points on a lot of people. And for us to do what we did, especially going up 21-0 at halftime. We knew we had to come out sharp because they came back on Austin Peay last week and made it a one-possession game going into the last drive.

"So we knew they had the ability and firepower to come back on us. I thought our defense flexed their muscles, the offense did just enough on ball control and holding the ball. Jake Gaster put two right through the uprights, and not easy field goals at that. They weren't chip shots.

"So just proud of the way we came out of here with a win."
 

UNA finished with just 63 rushing yards as the Bears turned in eight tackles for loss and four sacks, plus a pair of interceptions by seniors Cameron Godfrey and Andrew Hayes.  Sophomore linebacker Jake Golday had 11 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Junior end David Walker had two tackles for loss and a sack among his six tackles.

The Bears got 43-yarder from Gaster in the third quarter and a 36-yarder in the fourth, the latter pushing UCA's lead to 27-8 with just 8:58 remaining in the game.

The Lions, who lost 64-29 to the Bears in Conway a year ago, scored twice in the second half on touchdown passes from Noah Walters to wide receiver Takairee Kenebrew before UCA ran off the final 3:46 off the clock to end it.

McElvain completed 22 of 33 passes (66.6 percent) for 248 yards and a touchdown. Hale, who had a career day (255 yards) against UNA last season, had 70 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown. Senior receiver Jarrod Barnes caught a game-high nine passes for 113 yards and a score. Junior punter Chandler Caughron averaged 50.2 yards on four punts.

The Bears return home next Saturday, hosting Eastern Kentucky at 4 p.m. on Senior Day. The Colonels lost to Austin Peay in overtime Saturday in the battle for first place. UCA and EKU are now tied at 3-1 in league play, trailing APSU (4-0).