A week after rushing for just 50 yards as a team in a 27-14 loss at Alabama A&M on Sept. 30, the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff's ground game got a much-needed jolt on Saturday with the return of KeShawn Williams.
The 5-10, 192-pound junior, who missed the game against Alabama A&M because of a hip injury, carried 13 times for a season-high 147 yards and scored 2 touchdowns in the Golden Lions' 38-31 loss to Mississippi Valley State on Saturday. Williams also had two catches for 42 yards for a UAPB offense that generated a season-high 490 yards, including 290 yards on the ground. Still, it wasn't enough to get them past the Delta Devils, but for Coach Monte Coleman, having Williams back in the lineup was a welcomed sight.
"He's the workhorse at this point," he said. "If he gets tired, we've got good backups in Christian [Jordan] and Dante [McDonald] and the other backs that can come in and relieve him. But we definitely want to keep KeShawn in as much as possible because he has the ability to take it to the house."
Williams, who is third in the SWAC in rushing at 72 yards per game, said he didn't feel any lingering pain from the hip pointer that sidelined him two weeks ago. He did take several solid hits, but the Pine Bluff native admitted he was never in any danger of leaving the game other than a quick breather or the usual substitution.
"I didn't feel anything at all because I took pain pills," Williams said with a laugh. "I was doped up so I really didn't feel anything. But I felt pretty good the whole game. I just hate we didn't come out with the victory."
Mississippi Valley State tried to mirror Alabama A&M's defensive scheme by crowding the line to stop UAPB's running game. The Golden Lions still had 10 runs of at least 12 yards, with Williams getting several of those. His 24-yard touchdown run came on a play where he cut back before sprinting to the end zone. On his 80-yard score, Williams was able to get to the left sideline and outrun the Delta Devils' secondary.
"Valley did exactly what we saw on film," Williams said. "They were crowding the box and had two high safeties, but they weren't blitzing a lot. So that gave me a lot of opportunities to get into the secondary."
Mississippi Valley State Coach Rick Comegy also was impressed with Williams, who didn't have a carry in last year's game between the teams.
"He's the truth," Comegy said. "That young man can roll. He's quick and is probably one of the better backs in the league."
For Williams, losing to a team that was previously winless put a damper on his return to the lineup.
"We got to go back to work," he said. "We had the win, but we let it slip out of our hands. We've got homecoming coming up so need to have a great week of practice, and let the bygones be bygones."
Old foe returns
There was a time during the 1980s and 1990s when opponents might have cringed when they saw Central State (Ohio) on their schedules.
Once a powerhouse, Central State (Ohio) went 54-24-2 from 1980-1986, with a 25.3 average margin of victory, as a member of NCAA Division II. The Marauders then moved to the NAIA in 1987 where they went 94-21-1 during a 10-year stint as an independent. Still, Central State (Ohio) had a 31-point margin-of-victory average and won three NAIA national championships in that timeframe. The Marauders also lost the 1991 national championship to the University of Central Arkansas.
Central State and UAPB split four meetings during the Marauders' 17-year period of dominance, and they will renew their series at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Pine Bluff. The most memorable of the teams' encounters came in the first round of the NAIA playoffs in 1994 when UAPB, seeded eighth, upset the top-ranked Marauders 21-14. Central State bounced back to win the NAIA championship the following season.
Central State finished 4-4 in 1996, but the school decided to drop football in 1997 because of financial problems. The university reinstated it in 2005, but the Marauders have yet to post a winning season since. They have gone 28-78, including 0-6 this year, but UAPB Coach Monte Coleman isn't about to let the Golden Lions look past the Marauders.
"Central State is a very good football team, very well-coached," Coleman said. "They do a lot of the things that [Mississippi] Valley does, as far as plays. They're going to throw the football the most on offense.
"They blitz some on defense, but they're gonna stay back and play some zone, play some man and try to make you make mistakes."
Un-special teams
UAPB has had its moments on special teams this season, but those have mostly been reserved for junior kicker Jamie Gillan, who leads the SWAC in punting and nailed a school-record 52-yard field goal last week against Mississippi Valley State. Outside of him, the Golden Lions' special teams -- specifically on returns --b= have been anything but special, according to Coach Monte Coleman.
"That's probably the most disappointing thing that came out of the game," he said. "The offense is playing well, the defense is holding, but we're not getting what we need out of our special teams. We've got some explosive return men, but we're not getting them the blocks they need to make plays."
UAPB is averaging 15.6 yards per kickoff return and 5.2 yards per punt return, which rank eighth and sixth in the SWAC, respectively. The Golden Lions' average starting field position following kickoffs last week was their own 20-yard line. Of the seven kickoffs, UAPB scored on the subsequent series just twice, with one of the touchdowns coming on an 80-yard run from junior running back KeShawn Williams on the drive's first play.
Conversely, UAPB is allowing 39.2 yards per kickoff return, which is third in the conference.
Patterson plays well
Backup quarterback LeEarl Patterson might have earned himself another start Saturday after a strong showing against Mississippi Valley State.
The junior completed 17 of 33 passes for 200 yards and 1 touchdown with 1 interception in the Golden Lions' 38-31 loss. Patterson also ran a team-high 14 times for 80 yards.
"He's such a competitor," UAPB Coach Monte Coleman said. "He hates to lose, he's tough, he's going to run with the football. ... He threw the ball extremely well, with the exception of the one turnover. He gave us a spark.
"We put up 31 points, and he did a great job for us."
Patterson saw extensive action in UAPB's victory over Jackson State two weeks ago, but he didn't play in a 13-point loss at Alabama A&M the following week. Coleman said he and the coaches later agreed that they probably should have played Patterson against the Bulldogs, considering the Golden Lions finished with a season-low 133 yards of offense.
Still in it
UAPB suffered its second SWAC loss last week, but the Golden Lions are not out of the race for the league title.
The Golden Lions are 1-2 in the conference and sit in fourth place in the West behind first-place Grambling State (3-0), Prairie View A&M (2-1) and Southern (1-1). UAPB has played its three conference games against teams from the East, and it won't play a team from the West until Oct. 28 when it faces Southern at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium. In fact, the team's final four SWAC games are against divisional foes.
"We still have a chance," UAPB Coach Monte Coleman said. "That's what we're preaching as coaches, and that's what I'm preaching as the head coach. We are not out of this thing yet."
Sports on 10/13/2017