MONTICELLO, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech football team raced out to an early 17-0 lead on the road at Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday evening but saw that quick start falter over the remainder of the game as UAM battled back and eventually upended Tech by a score of 30-27.
The early success offensively saw the Wonder Boys would find the endzone on each of their first two possessions. The first drive was 8 plays over 69 yards and was capped off on a 2-yard run by short yardage quarterback
Dominic Feliciano.
A quick defensive stand by the Wonder Boys got them the ball right back and they proceeded to march 75 yards down the field for their second-straight scoring drive. That drive ended with a 15-yard rushing touchdown from
Myles West, making it 14-0 Tech.
The Wonder Boys' defense then forced a three-and-out to get their third possession of the first quarter. That drive started right at midfield and leaked over to the second quarter where, on the first play of the second period,
Fernando Ventura made the first of his two field goals of the game, this one from 34 yards out.
UAM then got their feet under themselves offensively and put together a 10-play, 71-yard touchdown drive to make it 17-7. The Boll Weevils then forced a quick three-and-out and subsequent punt by the Wonder Boys to get the ball right back. They would then have a long drive that ended with a 25-yard field goal.
With under two minutes left in the first half, the Wonder Boys quickly found themselves in UAM territory on a screen pass from
Carter Hensley to
Tracy Daniels that went for 53 yards on the first play of the drive. The Wonder Boys then got the ball inside the UAM 10-yardline but were forced to settle for a 23-yard field goal try from Ventura right at the end of the half.
Ventura was good on the chip shot and gave the Wonder Boys a 10-point lead at halftime, 20-10.
The second half started with the Wonder Boys forcing a punt by the Boll Weevils. On the subsequent offensive drive, the Wonder Boys went for it on 4
th-and-1 from midfield, but were denied the yard they needed. The Boll Weevils turned that momentum into points as they scored a touchdown eight plays later to pull back within three points of Tech's lead 20-17.
UAM's defense continued to ride the momentum of that turnover on downs and came away with a pair of interceptions and forced Tech to punt twice. During that stretch, the Boll Weevils scored a touchdown and kicked a pair of field goals to take their first lead and make it a two-possession game with 3:34 left in the fourth quarter.
Needing a quick scoring drive, the Wonder Boys would get just that as Hensley connected with
JD DeCausmaker for a 66-yard touchdown. That made it a 30-27 game with 2:15 left. The Wonder Boys were unsuccessful on their onside kick attempt and needed a defensive stand to get one more offensive possession.
UAM would do what they needed to do in that drive and picked up a pair of first downs to secure the win.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for a second-straight road game coming up next Saturday as they will be at Southeastern Oklahoma. Kick-off for the game is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Durant.
