FLORENCE
-- The third ranked North Alabama Lions used
three long plays in the second quarter to
break a 7-7 tie and rout Ouachita Baptist
40-7 at Braly Municipal Stadium.
UNA, now 5-0
overall and 4-0 in the Gulf South
Conference, trailed 7-0 early after Ouachita
Baptist scored a first quarter TD on a
26-yard run by Willie Hopson. But the Lions
tied the game near the end of the quarter,
then added three second quarter scores for a
26-7 halftime lead. First came a 78-yard
touchdown pass from A.J. Milwee to Reggie
Hubbard on a tipped ball. Then Ed Gant raced
down the sideline for a 74-yard TD off a
pass from Milwee. Neal Mitchell, Jr., closed
the first half scoring with a 91-yard fumble
return for a touchdown.
North Alabama
held Ouachita Baptist scoreless in the
second half and eased to the 40-7 win.
It was UNA's
17th straight regular-season win and 12th
straight regular-season win at home. The
Lions also extened their winning streak
against Arkansas schools to 12 straight and
it was their third straight win against the
Tigers.
UNA finished
with 499 total yards, picking up 215 on the
ground and 284 through the air. The Tigers
had just 232 total yards, were forced to
punt nine times and lost two fumbles.
Milwee was
13-of-20 passing for 284 yards and two TDs.
Lion senior
Jason Messing of Knoxville, Tenn., had two
catches for 32 yards and in doing so set a
school record with at least one pass
reception in 29 consecutive games.
Hopson's TD run
opened the scoring at 8:10 of the first
quarter and Zach Wright's kick made it 7-0.
UNA tied the game at 1:32 of the first
quarter on a two-yard TD run by Brandenn
Pickett. Scott Shurden added the PAT.
Hubbard's TD
reception came at 5:35 of the second period
and Shurden's PAT made it 14-7. Following
Gant's TD catch at 1:47 of the second
period, Shurden missed the PAT and UNA led
20-7. With Ouachita Baptist on the verge of
scoring late in the half, Mitchell's fumble
return acme with 18 seconds left and
extended UNA's lead to 26-7.
The only
scoring in the second half came on a
three-yard TD run by David McCants with
10:30 left in the third quarter, and a
six-yard TD run by Pickett with 5:39 left in
the third.
UNA plays at
Arkansas-Monticello next Saturday.
Printable Game
Statistics - Game 5 - Ouachita Baptist
