CONWAY — Central Arkansas Coach Steve Campbell asked senior quarterback Ryan Howard if he had fun Saturday night.
“Yes sir, it was great,” Howard told his coach.
Howard and the rest of the Bears certainly enjoyed themselves after their come-from-behind 26-24 victory over Tennessee-Martin in front of an announced crowd of 10,727 at Estes Stadium.
Howard, who replaced starter Taylor Reed with 3:20 remaining, engineered a 13-play, 80-yard drive in 2:09 and threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Courtney Whitehead with 1:11 remaining.
Bobby Watkins sealed the victory with an interception of Skyhawks quarterback Jarod Neal with 55 seconds left to give Campbell his first victory at UCA.
UCA (1-1) trailed 24-20 with no timeouts and 3:20 remaining when UCA’s first-year coach decided to replace Reed with Howard.
Howard found Damien Watts for a 17-yard completion on fourth and 15. The Bears originally had a fourth and 10 at the Skyhawks 38 but were called for a delay of game, which delighted Howard, who said that the fourth-down play was originally drawn up for Dezmin Lewis, but Tennessee-Martin’s defensive alignment changed the Bears’ plans.
“I didn’t panic,” Howard said. “I told Damien, ‘You better get to the sticks.’ I let him do the rest.”
Howard followed that up with a 12-yard pass to Willie Matthews, which set up a 14-yard touchdown pass to Whitehead. Denker’s extra-point attempt hit the right upright to leave the score 26-24.
Howard completed 8 of 12 passes for 79 yards on the Bears’ final drive and finished 10 of 17 overall for 94 yards.
“Ryan is as cool as a cucumber,” Campbell said. “He did a great job. He knew exactly where to go with the football. He made some big throws.”
The Bears, who were outgained 411-399, trailed 21-7 at halftime but scored on all four of their drives in the second half. They cut the Skyhawks’ lead to 21-14 early in the third quarter with a nine-play, 69-yard drive that culminated with Matthews’ 7-yard touchdown run. Denker made a 34-yard field goal later in the quarter to pull UCA to within 24-17.
Reed found Blake Veasley for a 6-yard touchdown pass to give the Bears a 7-0 lead with 8:40 remaining in the first quarter. But Tennessee-Martin scored the final 21 points of the half, including Neal’s 4-yard touchdown pass that gave the Skyhawks a 14-7 lead.
Campbell pointed to the Bears’ lack of emotion in the first half as the reason they trailed going into halftime.
“Guys played hard, but we didn’t play with emotion,” he said. “Our guys at halftime said we’d play harder.”
Reed completed 18 of 30 passes for 157 yards and 1 touchdown and rushed 10 times for 66 yards. Matthews had 42 yards on 13 carries and 1 touchdown.
Desmond Smith caught six passes for 56 yards to lead the Bears’ receiving corps. Lewis added 47 yards on five receptions.
Neal completed 20 of 28 passes for 276 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Kerrick caught 9 passes for 150 yards and 1 touchdown for Tennessee-Martin (0-2), which beat UCA 24-23 last season when Eddie Camara’s field goal was blocked on the final play.
UCA was coming off a 42-35 loss at Big 12 member Texas Tech last Saturday. The Bears had a chance to tie that game in the fourth quarter but failed to do so.
Whitehead said the Bears used the Texas Tech loss as motivation during the week.
“I feel like we have talented players that can beat any school,” he said. “We have to keep pushing, stay motivated and be positive.”