CARROLLTON, Ga. - For the second straight week, the UWG football team sent the fans home happy as the 22nd-ranked Wolves opened United Athletic Conference play with a 33-12 victory over Eastern Kentucky at University Stadium on Saturday night.
West Georgia (4-0, 1-0 UAC) trailed momentarily early in Saturday night's contest, but led 21-12 at the break and pitched a second half shutout to send EKU (1-3, 0-1 UAC) home with back-to-back road losses.
The Wolves maybe didn't have their best night in the stat sheet, putting up just 242 yards of offense, but UWG won the turnover battle and the defense scored on a fumble return to propel the Wolves to a fifth straight win dating back to the final game of 2024.
EKU got on the board first, booting through a 27-yarder from Buzz Flabiano, but UWG responded with points on their next drive going 55 yards after an electric return from DeAndre Buchannon. The Wolves drove those 55 yards in six plays with Davin Wydner connecting with Jordan Dees for a 31-yard touchdown.
The Wolves' defense got in on the scoring in the second quarter as Festus Davies scooped up a fumble and raced 53 yards to the endzone to make it a 14-3 lead at the 12:19 mark.
At the 5:02 mark of the opening half, EKU's Buzz Flabiano made it 14-6 with his second field goal of the night, this one good from 41 yards out.
The Colonels used a big 45-yard rush to make it a14-12 game after a missed two-point conversion with 1:15 to go in the half. UWG got it back with 1:08 to play and rather than run the clock out, the Wolves engineered a seven-play, 66-yard drive that took 57 seconds and ended with Wydner to Dees once again and resulted in a 21-12 halftime lead.
West Georgia scored the lone touchdown of the third quarter as TJ Lester found the endzone from four yards out at the 4:07 mark of the period, extending the lead to 28-12.
With EKU pinned deep in their own territory, Festus Davies continued his stellar night by breaking through the EKU line of scrimmage on a blitz, crushing the Colonels' QB in the endzone to record the first UWG safety of the season.
Off the ensuing EKU punt, Christian Hanson returned his first kick down to the visitors' 36, dragging defenders with him to gain extra yardage.
With the Wolves' drive starting from Eastern Kentucky's side of the field, UWG handed the ball off to TJ Lester multiple times, inching the ball closer into field goal range. Tommy Holden capped the short UWG drive off by knocking in a field goal from 47 yards, marking the third game the senior made a kick from 45 yards or more this year.
Holding a 33-12 lead with under seven minutes remaining, UWG cruised to a big conference win in front of a home crowd.
Wydner threw just 14 time on the night, completing eight passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Jordan Dees had both of the touchdown catches and caught five of the eight completions for UWG for 84 yards. Lester finished the night with 18 carries for 108 yards.
The defense was led by Joenel Figueroa and Jay Carter who each had five tackles. Festus Davies had two sacks on the night while Geoffrey Speight also recorded a sack.
The Wolves are now on the road for two straight weeks, beginning with a cross country trek to Cedar City, Utah next week for a conference clash at Southern Utah. The Wolves and Thunderbirds square off at 8:30 p.m. ET next Saturday, September 27.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Dees' touchdown catch in the opening quarter was the first of his career. Dees was not done yet, in the following quarter, Wydner found the wide out streaking down the field for a 28-yard touchdown, his second of the night.
- For the first time in his young career, Lester recorded over 100 rushing yards, tallying 108 yards off 18 carries for an average of eight yards per carry. UWG has had a back rush for 100 yards in all four games this season.
- West Georgia is now 6-0 under head coach Joel Taylor when leading at halftime.
- Tonight's win put the Wolves at 4-0, the best start for UWG since 2021. The victory also marks the first home UAC win in program history.
- Currently, the Wolves are riding a five-game winning streak dating back to last season.
