Defense answers the bell in West Alabama win
CLINTON, Miss. – The University of West Alabama defense kept Mississippi College out of the end zone and held the Choctaws to 97 yards below their rushing average on the way to UWA's 24-3 Gulf South Conference football win Saturday at Robinson-Hale Stadium.
UWA (7-3 overall, 4-3 in GSC) now readies for its regular-season-ending showdown with West Florida, who eliminated the Tigers from the NCAA Division II Playoffs in the third round last year. Mississippi College drops to 3-6 and 1-5 in league play.
"Our defense did a heckuva job to hold them to three points," Tiger head coach Brett Gilliland said. "We played assignment football ... played hard and tough."
Mississippi College came into the game averaging 28.4 points per game but could not score after taking a 3-0 lead on a 25-yard field goal by Drake McCarter with 13:30 left in the second quarter.
Tiger defenders held Mississippi College twice on fourth down deep in Tiger territory in the fourth quarter and forced three turnovers. Abraham Wallace and Montell Dent had interceptions and Savon Parker recovered a fumble.
Parker led all tacklers with 11. Samuel had eight stops and Jordan Jones six. Levi Hammack recorded a sack for minus 8 yards, while Parker, Skylar Mosley and Jordan Graddy also recorded tackles for loss.
The Tigers came out of the gate firing, driving 72-yards on its opening drive in 18 plays, only to come up empty on a missed field goal. MC answered with a 13-play, 71-yard drive that led to its only points.
The Tigers answered with a seven-play, 69-yard drive for points. Harry Satterwhite found Christian Saulsberry for his 59th career touchdown pass, a 21-yarder with 10:58 left in the half. Jordan Bennett made a 37-yard field goal with 2:28 left in the second period to stretch the UWA lead to 10-7. UWA stretched the lead to 17-3 when Satterwhite found Qua Boyd for a 15-yard scoring pass and his 60thcareer TD with 2:22 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers put the game away with a 5-yard scoring run by Tyler with 54 seconds left. The touchdown was Rogers' 28th career. Rogers score was set up by Dent's interception that he returned 22 yards to the Choctaw 9-yard line. Rogers scored two plays later.
Satterwhite was 20-of-27 for 168 yards and the two scores. He was not intercepted and was sacked once, the only sack allowed by the Tiger offensive line in the last three games.
"When you play these guys you are not going to get the ball many times, so you have to capitalize when you have it," Satterwhite said. "They are good in the red zone, but we have to refocus on finishing drives. We had a couple today where we didn't."
Boyd caught six passes for 66 yards to lead UWA receivers, followed by Saulsberry with five for 43.
Rogers rushed for 82 yards on nine carries, giving him 1,903 career yards. Derrick Underwood chipped in 44 yards on 15 trips.
MC quarterback Detric Hawthorn gained 83 yards on 19 carries before leaving the game in the fourth quarter. He was 6-of-14 passing for 45 yards. Cole Rotenberry and Ja'Mox Mark each had two receptions for MC for 13 yards.