FLORENCE, Ala. (October 21, 2023) – Saturday night was a thriller at Braly Stadium — and the team that won happened to be wearing the scary black uniforms.
The University of North Alabama football team stopped a go-ahead two-point conversion with under a minute to go, winning a heart-pounding 31-30 battle over conference foe Utah Tech on Saturday night in Florence.
UNA took the lead on the opening drive and never trailed, but Utah Tech made it challenging with two-game tying drives in the second half. With 1:37 remaining and the game tied, the Lions took a 31-24 lead on a stunning 28-yard pass from quarterback
Noah Walters to
Dakota Warfield.
The Trailblazers stormed back down the field and scored with 31 seconds to go to make it 31-30. With momentum on its side, Utah Tech decided to go for two. The Lions called a timeout to regroup, and UT elected to stick with the original plan of 'win or go home.'
Enter
Gregory Reddick.
The redshirt junior safety covered Rickie Johnson — the top target for Utah Tech — and broke up the go-ahead two-point conversion pass in the back of the end zone. The ensuing onside kick failed, and UNA was able to dial up the victory formation to seal a tight victory.
In a game that took both teams and fans on an emotional rollercoaster, the Lions were able to celebrate its first United Athletic Conference victory. The Lions are now 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the league, while Utah Tech falls to 2-5 and 1-1 in the UAC.
A pair of Lions scored their first career rushing touchdowns, including redshirt senior H-back
Jakob Cummings and true freshman
Dennis Moody. Cummings spent five seasons on UNA's defense before moving to offense this season, punching it in for the first time 55 games into his career. Meanwhile, Moody scored in the third quarter and had a career-high 52 yards.
Tonight marked the first time since 2011 that UNA sported black football uniforms and just the third time ever. The Lions won two of those three games — all three of which where one possession thrillers and were decided by a combined eight points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST QUARTER
North Alabama 7, Utah Tech 0: UNA started with the ball as Utah Tech deferred to the second half. On the opening drive, the Lions utilized the run and got a 45 yard run from
Demarcus Lacey for the first third down conversion of the night. This later led to a 20 yard run by
Jakob Cummings on a powerful fullback dive, running over a linebacker and staying on his feet en route to his first career touchdown. The
Sam Contorno extra point made it 7-0.
SECOND QUARTER
North Alabama 10, Utah Tech 0: UNA enjoyed its second-longest scoring drive of the season play-wise and time-wise as Contorno nailed a 36 yard field goal to end a 16-play, 79-yard drive that spanned 6:03 of game time. This made it 10-0 early in the second frame.
North Alabama 10, Utah Tech 7: A 47 yard punt by
Adam Watford pinned Utah Tech at its own two yard line, then a holding penalty added one more yard to force the Trailblazers to start at their own one. This did not deter the visitors, as Utah Tech drove 99 yards on 10 plays to score on a 17 yard pass from Kobe Tracy to Rickie Johnson. This came after a review on a play where UNA's
Jaylen Powell nearly intercepted a pass in the end zone, but it was deemed incomplete after review.
North Alabama 17, Utah Tech 7: UNA took back over with 4:28 left in the half and got a big spark from quarterback
Noah Walters, who sprinted 37 yards on a designed run to flip field position. Later, a pass interference put UNA in the red zone and allowed Lacey to cut one in from the left for an 18 yard touchdown run.
North Alabama 17, Utah Tech 10: Utah Tech took back over with 2:31 remaining after the UNA score and drove down near the red zone, as Connor Brooksby successfully made a 32 yard field goal to end the half.
THIRD QUARTER
North Alabama 17, Utah Tech 17: An unlikely start to the second half, Utah Tech muffed the kickoff at the one yard line and proceeded to go on another 99 yard drive — their second such drive of the game. The tying touchdown came on a one yard run by Ronnie Walker Jr.
North Alabama 24, Utah Tech 17: UNA proved Utah Tech wasn't the only team that could go on long drives, as the Lions went 81 yards on 15 plays near the end of the third quarter. The drive was capped with a one yard run by
Dennis Moody on a toss to the left. Moody joined Cummings as first time touchdown scorers tonight, with Moody's score extending the lead with 2:34 left in the third quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER
North Alabama 24, Utah Tech 24: Midway through the fourth quarter, following another punt inside the 20 by Watford, Utah Tech went on another long drive to tie the game at 24-24 with 6:11 to go. The 10 play, 86 yard drive ended with a four-yard catch by Beau Sparks.
North Alabama 31, Utah Tech 24: The Lions took back over with just over six minutes to go and executed a strong go-ahead drive that included five carries by Moody, a clutch fourth down conversion on a bootleg run by Walters in enemy territory and a 27 yard run by
Kaden Cooper after the conversion. The big play of the drive came on a 28 yard lob from Walters to Warfield, who caught it in traffic, hit the brakes and lost both his defenders en route to the end zone. The extra point made it 31-24 with 1:37 to go. The first eight plays of the drive were run plays, setting up the ninth and final one to be an explosive pass play.
North Alabama 31, Utah Tech 30: With limited time and just one timeout, Utah Tech stormed back down the field with a number of out of bounds plays. The drive ended with another connection from Tracy to Sparks. Utah Tech coach Paul Peterson took the gamble and went for the win instead of the tie, but the Purple Swarm defense stepped up to stop the conversion — even in their black uniforms. The onside kick was recovered by UNA's
JJ Evans, ending the game.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- The Lions were outgained 505-420, but out-rushed Utah Tech by a 302-108 margin and won the time of possession battle by nearly two minutes.
- In two of UNA's three wins, the Lions were outgained by the opponent.
- Neither team committed a turnover tonight, although UNA nearly had a pair of interceptions that went to the monitor but were deemed incomplete upon review.
- UNA converted all four of its fourth down conversions, one of which sparked the go-ahead touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.
- All 30 of Utah Tech's points were scored in the red zone. Meanwhile, UNA scored 24 of its 31 points in the red zone with the exception of Warfield's go-ahead touchdown catch.
- All 10 scoring drives totaled at least 60 yards. Five of the 10 went over 80 yards. A rare feat to accomplish just one time, Utah Tech had not one, but two 99 yard scoring drives. UNA's longest drive was the opening drive that went 82 yards and ended with a power run from Cummings.
- Walters went 13-for-19 passing for 118 yards and a touchdown in a light passing day, but made a huge impact with a team-high and career-high 105 rushing yards. Walters' longest run was 37 yards — a career long. He averaged 8.8 yards per attempt.
- Leading the running backs was sophomore Demarcus Lacey with 85 yards on nine carries, including a long of 45 yards. He averaged 9.4 yards per carry. Meanwhile, Moody took the bulk of the carries to finish with a career-high 18 attempts and 52 yards.
- For the first time in four home games this season, someone other than Takairee Kenebrew scored UNA's first touchdown. This time, it was Cummings for his first career touchdown after 55 career games.
- Eight Lions caught at least one pass tonight, led by David Florence with three catches for 24 yards. Warfield caught two passes for 35 yards. Kaden Cooper added 49 all-purpose yards on to catches and two rushes.
- Reddick led the defense with six tackles, including four solo. His lone pass breakup was the game-saving play.
- Rush Lansdell, Philjae Bien-Aime, Shaun Myers and Philip Ossai all totaled five tackles. All five of Bien-Aime's were solo stops. Bien-Aime also added a pass breakup, while KJ Trujillo had two.
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Freshman Jyheam Ingram and sophomore Kaleb Brown combined for their first career sack.
- The last time UNA won a game by a score of 31-30 was in 2012, as the Lions defeated Miles College at historic Legion Field in the first game of the second stint under Bobby Wallace.
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The Lions now have an all-time record of 483-303-16.
- UNA also improves to a 277-128-8 record at Braly Stadium, including a 2-2 record this season with a win over nationally-ranked Chattanooga in the home opener.
COMING UP NEXT
Next Saturday, the Lions are back on the road with a short trek across the state line to Austin Peay. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. in Clarksville, Tenn.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
