FLORENCE, Ala. - For the first time since 2004, the UWG football team is bringing a victory home from Florence, Alabama as the Wolves won a 24-17 decision over the North Alabama Lions on Saturday at Braly Stadium. 

"I can't put into words how proud I am of this team," said head coach Joel Taylor following the victory. "All the hard work that's gone into this. A lot of people see the after effect, but these guys work hard, enjoy the process, they do it the right way. So, I'm happy for my team and I'm happy for my coaches. 

West Georgia (7-3, 4-3 UAC) pitched a second half shutout, holding North Alabama (2-8, 1-5 UAC) to 44 second half yards of total offense. On offense, UWG racked up 460 yards of total offense on their way to just the sixth victory all-time in Florence in the 36th meeting between the old rivals. 

"My hat goes off to UNA, I think they are a good ball club," Taylor added. "I hate they lost their quarterback, I think that made a difference, but I'm proud of our guys for finishing and finding a way to win even though it was ugly in a sense." 

Davin Wydner played arguably his best game in a UWG uniform, finishing 26-of-34 for 274 yards passing with two touchdowns and adding 40 yards on the ground.  

"We talked about building momentum and putting Davin in good situations, but tonight I thought he made a lot of good reads and checks, you know the touchdown run to Latrell, he checked it at the line, and sure enough it was the perfect call to get us in, and I thought he was on all night," Taylor said of Wydner's play.  

The Lions tried a trick play to start the game, and UWG sniffed it out for a big loss and quickly forced an early punt. The Wolves took over inside UNA territory, but only managed a field goal as Tommy Holden knocked through a 36-yard field goal. 

UNA then responded with a big play as Destin Wade hit Azariah Fletcher for a 75-yard touchdown pass to put the Lions up 7-3 with 8:48 remaining in the opening quarter. 

West Georgia was forced to punt on their next possession, setting up UNA to extend the lead, and the Lions did just that by driving 79 yards in six plays and scoring on an 11-yard rush by Wade. 

It took the Wolves just three plays to answer as Latrelle Murrell broke a 55-yard rush and took it to the house to make the UWG deficit just 14-10 with 2:54 left in the first quarter. 

The next score of the game didn't come until the 2:21 mark of the second period as UNA recovered a Wydner fumble and turned it into three points in the form of a 43-yard field by Ian Vachon, extending the lead to 17-10. 

A key interception by Jalen Burton late in the half, gave UWG the ball at their own five. The Wolves drove into UNA territory and attempted a field goal as time expired, but the field goal was wide right, and UWG would go into the halftime break down seven. 

West Georgia got the ball to open the second half and marched the ball 94 yards in six plays using a long rush by Murrell and the legs and arms of Wydner. The junior quarterback had two positive rushes before connecting with Devion Newson for 11 and then to Bryce Dickerson from 41 yards out for the score, tying the game at 17-17 with with 11:27 left in the third. 

"The halftime message was 'Hey guys, everything they've got, we gave to them," you know stupid penalites, the roughing the kicker and gave up the two deep balls," said Taylor, "So we felt like if we didn't have those mistakes they wouldn't have those 17 points, and we challenged the offense to come out and score, and they did." 

After two UNA punts sandwiched around a UWG punt, the Wolves took their first lead since Holden's field goal opened the scoring, capping off an 80-yard drive with a Wydner pass to Owen Dupree from 20 yards out, making it a 24-17 West Georgia advantage. 

The fourth quarter was a defensive battle as neither team scored and the Wolves and Lions combined for just 64 yards while punting a combined five times in the final stanza. The Wolves used a gutsy third down play call, running eight offensive lineman out and lead blocking for Davin Wydner which converted the first down and allowed the Wolves to run out the clock. 

The defense was led by Geoffrey Speight and Micah Thurman with six tackles each and racked up five sacks total as a unit. 

Murrell finished the game with 128 yards on 16 carries including the big 55-yard score. Bryce Dickerson led the receivers with 81 yards on five catches. Two other recivers had over 60 yards as DeAndre Buchannon had 63 yards on a team-high seven catches and Jordan Dees had 61 yards on just three catches. 

"We're a really good football team, and we still haven't really put it all together yet, and we're sitting here at 7-3 and we get one more shot to put it all together against a tough Utah Tech team," Taylor concluded. "And it's the last time with this group of guys, and I won't lie to you, I'll probably be a little emotional." 

West Georgia returns home next week for the season finale, hosting Utah Teach for a Senior Day contest at 2 p.m. on November 15. 

NOTABLE NUMBERS 
- Tommy Holden knocked through his 11th field goal of the season, claiming sole possession of 10th-most in single-season school history. 
- Jalen Burton picked off UNA's backup quarterback John Austin Wood late in the second quarter, giving UWG's defense a takeaway in all ten games this season and 11 straight dating back to last season. 
- UNA had just 80 yards of total offense following the injury to their starting quarterback Destin Wade. 
- Dupree's touchdown catch marked his fourth of the season which now leads the team. 
- Saturday's contest was the third consecutive game in the series in Florence to be decided by one possession.