CONWAY, Ark. – A couple of early miscues gave momentum to Central Arkansas and the Bears never looked back on the way to a 64-29 win over the Lions at Estes Stadium.
 
UCA held a 19-0 advantage before the Lions got on the scoreboard, and UNA trailed 33-7 at the half.
 
With the loss, North Alabama is 1-7 overall and 0-4 in ASUN Conference play, Central Arkansas improved to 4-4 overall and 3-0 in conference play.
 
With 159 rushing yards in the game, UNA sophomore running back ShunDerrick Powell became the Lions' first 1,000-yard rusher in  season since Lamonte Thompson did it in 2015. Powell is just the second Lion to break the 1,000-yard barrier since 1997. That performance also gave him his fifth game of the season with 100+ rushing yards.
 
Powell now has 1,115 yards on the season, tying with Kenyatta Jones for the fifth most rushing yards in a season in school history.
 
UNA gained 392 yards on offense but surrendered a school-record 733 yards on defense.
 
It was also the second-most points allowed by UNA, second only to 66 scored by BYU in 2020.
 
Central Arkansas got the game's first score on a 24-yard field goal by Hayden Ray at 8:18 of the first quarter.
 
The Lions snapped the ball out of the end zone on a punt attempt on their next possession to make it 5-0 and the Bears' Christian Richmond returned the ensuing kickoff after the safety 82 yards for a touchdown to make it 12-0 at 6:55 of the first quarter.
 
North Alabama put together an 11-play drive on its next possession but turned the ball over on a lost fumble at UCA's 18-yard-line.
 
The Bears responded with an 81-yard TD pass from Will McElvain to Myles Butler to push the UCA advantage to 19-0 with 12:19 left in the second quarter.
 
North Alabama finally got on the board with 9:15 remaining in the half when Demarcus Lacey scored on a 22-yard pass from Noah Walters. Sam Contorno's PAT made it 19-7.
 
Darius Hale scored on a six-yard run with 4:54 left in the half to make it 26-7 and McElvain scored on a 12-yard run to make it 33-7 at intermission.
 
North Alabama took the second half kickoff and marched 75 yards for a touchdown. A 28-yard pass completion to Cortez Hall and another 17-yarder to Corson Swan moved the Lions deep into UCA territory. Powell then scored his 14^th touchdown of the season on a one-yard run on a fourth-and-one call. Contorno's kick made it 33-14 at 10:37 of the third quarter.
 
After two stops by the UNA defense, Hale scored on a 64-yard run to push UCA to a 40-14 lead with 4:30 left in the third quarter.
 
A 21-yard TD run by Kylin Jones at 2:30 of the third quarter and a 32-yard pass from McElvain to Jarrod Barnes with 1:24 left in the third made it 54-14.
 
Ray's 24-yard field goal with 10:21 left in the game gave the Bears a 57-14 advantage.
 
Powell scored his second TD of the game on a 64-yard run with 9:26 left in the game to make it 57-21. It was his fifth TD run of the season from 50 yards or more. 
 
A two-yard Clifton McDowell TD run with 2:14 left in the game made it 64-21.
 
Back-up quarterback Ben Harris entered the game on UNA's final drive and led the Lions to the end zone. He hit Dakota Warfield with a six-yard touchdown pass with 29 seconds left in the game, then passed to Justin Luke for a two-point conversion to make the final score 64-29.