CONWAY, Ark. - Facing the 13th-ranked team in America, the University of West Georgia football team nearly completed a fourth-quarter comeback and an upset of the Central Arkansas Bears.

If it weren't for three first half turnovers, what a night it could have been as West Georgia (1-5, 0-5 UAC) put up 533 yards of offense and held Central Arkansas (5-2, 2-1 UAC), the top offense in the United Athletic Conference, to their season-low of 326 yards.

The Wolves trailed by as much 24 points in the second half and trailed by 14 going into the final quarter and came back to score what would be a game-tying touchdown with 27 seconds left, but the Wolves elected to go for two and win, but came up short in heart-breaking fashion, falling 34-33.

Of West Georgia's 533 yards, 418 came through the air with Davin Wydner throwing for 119 while Quincy Casey tossed for 299 yard and four touchdowns. The duo of Dylan Gary and Karmello English combined for 21 receptions and 281 yards.

West Georgia scored first for the second consecutive game, wrapping up their opening possession with a 46-yard field goal by Chance Gagnon.

The next score came from the Bears as Tyion Berry hauled in a 15-yard touchdown reception to give UCA a 7-3 lead. In the second quarter, UCA's Shunderrick Powell found pay dirt from the 19-yard line, extending the Bears' lead to 14-3.

Late in the half, Quincy Casey came on at quarterback and led the Wolves on a seven-play, 85-yard drive that ended with a 21-yard connection to Dylan Gary and made it a 14-10 deficit with under two minutes remaining in the half. 

After UWG's defense forced a quick three-and-out, the offense drove deep into Central Arkansas territory, but there third turnover of the half, an interception, was returned 89 yards by Dillon Williams for a touchdown to make it 21-10 with just 10 seconds left in the half.

The second half started out with fireworks from Central Arkansas as they scored twice in the opening five minutes of the third quarter. First it was a 48-yard strike to Arlie Lee and then Powell struck for a 71-yard rush that set up a one-yard touchdown rush by Darius Hale, and after one of the PATs sailing left, the Bears led, 34-10.

Gagnon added points at the 7:45 mark of the period, drilling a 50-yarder to make it a 34-13 deficit.

West Georgia would capitalize on solid field possession, driving 47 yards and scoring as Casey found Cedric Seabrough from the six-yard line for the tight end's first career touchdown at UWG. That score made it a 34-20 deficit for the Wolves and the the defense would force a three-and-out and then Casey would march the Wolves 62 yards on eight plays, connecting with Dylan Gary from 24 yards out to make it a one score game at 34-27 with 10:39 left in the fourth.

The defense, led by Jay Carter with seven tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss, continued to give the Wolves the chance, eventually giving the ball back to the offense with 1:43 remaining. The Wolves then went 76 yards in nine plays over 1:07 of game time to make it a 34-33 score, but the two-point conversion to pull off the road upset was unsuccessful. 

NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Chance Gagnon now has three field goals of over 40 yards this season, and the 50-yarder in the third quarter was his season-long.
- Gagnon's 50-yarder was the first field goal of 50-yards or more since an Omar Cervantes 50-yarder against Mississippi College on October 26, 2018.
- TJ Lockley extended his streak to 10 consecutive games with a reception, finishing with 79 yards on six catches.
- Both Dylan Gary and Karmello English had over 100 yards receiving, becoming the first UWG duo to eclipse that mark in the same game since Quan Harrison and Mechane Slade in 2021.
- Gary now has six receiving touchdowns on the season, and five of those have been delivered by the arm of Quincy Casey.
- English now has 100-plus yard performances in four of six games this season while Gary now has two this season.

UP NEXT
The Wolves now return home next week for a non-conference game against Shorter, hosting the Hawks for Homecoming 2024. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. from University Stadium.