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MONTICELLO, Ark. –
For the first time since 1992, the University of
West Alabama football team will have a winning season,
as the Tigers spoiled Arkansas-Monticello’s homecoming
with a 37-14 win Saturday in a Gulf South Conference
game at Leslie-Cotton Boll Stadium.
The Tigers (6-3
overall, 3-3 GSC) achieved their sixth victory of the
season with the win, breaking a mark of 14-straight
losing seasons. West Alabama’s last six-win season came
in 1991, where the Tigers went 6-5 under first-year
coach Lloyd Sisco. The victory also marked the first
time since 2003 that a West Alabama squad has won a Gulf
South Conference game on the road.
Against the Boll
Weevils, West Alabama racked up 229 yards on the ground
and finished with 414 total yards to
Arkansas-Monticello’s 235.
Senior tailback Jerin
Wright also had a big day, carrying the ball 26 times
for 116 yards, while moving into third place in the West
Alabama record books. Wright came into the contest
fourth on the rushing list and passed Jackie O’Neal’s
mark of 1,873. The senior tailback needs just 14 yards
to pass Ricky Austin and move into second place.
Also moving up in the
record book was junior quarterback James Reiter, who
moved into fifth place in total offense with 3,607
yards. Reiter was 8 of 18 passing for 185 yards and a
score in the air, while rushing 10 times for 47 yards.
Arkansas-Monticello
(1-8, 1-5) scored first as Jamie Dunn caught a 21-yard
pass from Lafayette Fredrick to put the Boll Weevils
ahead, 7-0, with 9:21 remaining in the opening quarter.
But the Tigers responded with a Reiter 5-yard touchdown
run to tie the game at 7 with 8:15 left.
Senior fullback A.J.
Holloway gave West Alabama a 14-7 lead on a 3-yard run
with 11:14 left in the second and the Tigers added to
the score on a 29-yard Mitch Warfield field goal with
5:01 remaining in the first half.
Warfield connected
again from 30-yards out to lift the Tigers to a 20-7
advantage with 10:41 left in the third. Reiter found
Chris Coach for a 47-yard touchdown pass to give West
Alabama a comfortable 27-7 lead with 59 seconds
remaining in the quarter.
Warfield hit his third
field goal of the day, a 26-yarder, to push the lead to
30-7 with 9:58 remaining, but Brandon Mayweather’s
45-yard fumble return with 1:41 left gave the Boll
Weevils their first points since the opening quarter and
cut the deficit to 30-14. The Tiger defense put a stop
to a possible late rally as Tim Kelley went 68 yards on
a fumble return to give West Alabama a 37-14 lead with
1:07 remaining.
Coach caught four
balls for 72 yards and Wright added a pair of catches
for 48 yards. Defensively for the Tigers, Lewis Thompson
and Kelley led the way with eight tackles each. Kelley
added a sack, while Jason Riles had five tackles and a
sack.
West Alabama, seeking
its first seven-win season since1975, travels Thursday
to Cleveland, Miss. for the Gulf South Conference
Television Game of the Week against No. 19 Delta State,
which played at West Georgia Saturday. Kickoff at Travis
E. Parker Field is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. and can be
seen on CSS and Mediacom Channel 8 and heard on WZNJ-FM
106.5. |
