Sports

UAPB SCORES SEASON HIGH IN GRAMBLING WIN

By Troy Schulte/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, November 7, 2009 11:45 PM CST

LITTLE ROCK — For the last couple of weeks, Arkansas-Pine Bluff has felt as if it were on the verge of breaking loose.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff tight end Remo Gay (11) looks for extra yardage as Grambling State’s T.J. McCord pursues during UAPB’s 49-42 victory over Grambling State on Saturday at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium. PINE BLUFF COMMERCIAL/RALPH FITZGERALD.

During a period of just over two minutes at the end of the second and beginning of the third quarters on Saturday, the Golden Lions took risks, hit on big plays and took advantage of Grambling State mistakes to help them score more points than they have in a single afternoon in more than four years.

The 28-point barrage that ended with a 95-yard kickoff return by Mareo Howard to start the second-half turned a four-point UAPB def icit into a 25-point lead that the best defense in the league almost let slip through its fingers.

But, it didn’t. UAPB made enough plays after Grambling State twice cut the lead to a single touchdown and eventually held on for a 49-42 win over the defending Southwestern Athletic Conference Champions at War Memorial Stadium.

The win is a large boost after last week’s home loss to Southern, and it keeps the Golden Lions (5-3, 3-2) in the thick of the race for the Western Division title, of which Grambling is no longer a part.

“We made plays,” UAPB coach Monte Coleman said. “That’s what we strive to do each week.”

Little did the coach know during the middle of the scoring outburst, but his team was going to need every single one of them.

The offensive spurt began with less than two minutes left in the first quarter. Trailing 10-7, a UAPB drive was extended when Grambling roughed punter Kent Black to make it first-and-10 at the Grambling 18-yard line.

On the next play, running back Mickey Dean took a pitch to the right, stopped and lofted a pass to the back of the end zone where wide receiver Raymond Webber wrestled it away from a Grambling defender to make it 14-10.

“We called it earlier in the game, and we checked out of it. When we called it, I was ready,” said Webber, who led UAPB with four catches for 33 yards. “Mick just said ‘Ray, go to the back of the end zone.’ I was ready.”

After a three-and-out, Grambling punter Fabian Carter kneeled the ball dead when he tried to corral a low snap, and UAPB got the ball at the 33-yard line. On the next play, Boudreaux hit Remo Gay down the seam to make it 21-10.

Then on third down on the next possession, cornerback Joe Brown, who missed last week’s game after suffering a head injury Oct. 24., returned an interception 40 yards to make it 28-10 at halftime. Finally, in what looked at the time to be the last blow UAPB needed, Mareo Howard returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter 95 yards to make it 35-10.

In 2 minutes, 6 seconds, the Golden Lions scored 28 points, and needed just 12 plays to do it.

It was a string of events that was in stark contrast to last week, when the Golden Lions committed three turnovers and allowed a pair of big plays in the first quarter to fall in an early hole in a 24-10 loss to Southern.

“This week, we were able to capitalize on the mistakes that were made by them,” Coleman said. “You’ve got to take advantage. Anytime a mistake is made you’ve got to take advantage.”

The discrepancy in total offensive yards explains what happened the rest of the second half. Grambling, touting the league’s best rushing offense, didn’t stray from what it has done best as it sliced and gashed UAPB’s defense to eventually get within 35-28 and 49-42.

The Tigers (5-4, 3-2), gained 462 yards to UAPB’s 272, and they rushed for 267 yards, the most any team has gained on UAPB this season.

A 28-yard field goal by Ari Johnson made it 35-10 and, following a Dhabion Woodfin fumble, Frank Warren, Cornelius Walker and Greg Dillon took turns running the Tigers into Golden Lion territory. A 1-yard run by Walker, and a 2-point conversion pass from Dillon to Bakari Maxwell, made it 35-21 and a 9-yard screen pass from Dillon to Warren on the next drive got Grambling within 35-28.

The Golden Lions, though, insisted they weren’t worried.

“The mindset was we need to get back on the horse we started in on,” said Jared Dorn, who made five tackles and broke up a pass while playing defensive end and linebacker. “The score said one thing, the game wasn’t that close, though.”

The only offensive score the Golden Lions allowed after that was a pass from Dillon, who completed 17 of 30 passes for 195 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions, to Nick Jones after a scramble in the final minute that provided the final score.

In between was a 41-yard pass from Boudreaux to Danny Evans and a 22-yard touchdown run by Dean, who had a hand in three touchdowns.

Grambling made it close when Dominic Bell recovered a blocked punt in the end zone that made it 49-35 with less than 5 minutes remaining, but the plays made earlier by UAPB made it so Grambling couldn’t inch all the way back.

Not even the chunks of yards taken on the ground — Walker finished with 101, Dillon 97 and Warren 85 — were enough to regain a lead it lost in the middle of the game.

“We didn’t set any records as far as not giving up points,” Coleman said. “I’m not interested in the stats. I’m not interested in the turnovers. I’m just really glad we’re still alive in the race for the SWAC Championship.”

ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 49,

GRAMBLING STATE 42

Grambling State 7 3 18 17 — 42

UAPB 7 21 7 14 — 49

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST QUARTER

GSU — Donnell 45 pass from Dillon (Johnson kick), 14:06

PB — Dean 10 run (Reyes kick), 12:13

SECOND QUARTER

GSU — Johnson 26 field goal, 6:09

PB — Webber 18 pass from Dean (Reyes kick), 1:56

PB — Gay 33 pass from Boudreaux (Reyes kick), :47

PB — Brown 40 interception return (Reyes kick), :14

THIRD QUARTER

PB — Howard 95 kickoff return (Reyes kick), 14:45

GSU — Johnson 28 field goal

GSU — Walker 1 run (Johnson kick), 5:30

GSU — Warren 9 pass from Dillon (Johnson kick), :59

FOURTH QUARTER

PB — Evans 41 pass from Boudreaux (Reyes kick), 10:41

PB — Dean 22 run (Reyes kick), 8:28

GSU — Bell blocked punt recovered in end zone (Johnson kick), 4:40

GSU — Jones 22 pass from Dillon (Johnson kick), :36

STATISTICAL LEADERS

RUSHING: GSU, Walker 11-101, Dillon 18-97, Warren 16-85, Thompson 1-(-3), Carter 1-(-13); PB, Dean 20-78, Boudreaux 10-8, Woodfin 3-1.

PASSING: GSU, Dillon 17-30-195-2; PB, Boudreaux 11-18-167-1, Dean 1-1-18-0.

RECEIVING: GSU, Warren 5-25, Phillips 2-19, Batiste 2-19, Spivey 2-2, Donnell 1-45, Jones 1-22, Cheek 1-20, Allen 1-16, Pippen 1-12, Thompson 1-5; PB, Webber 4-33, Gay 3-69, Evans 3-55, Eckwood 2-28.

Print this story   |   Email this story