Lenoir-Rhyne Stuns West Alabama to Advance in Football Playoffs

LIVINGSTON, ALA. -- The Lenoir-Rhyne Bears went to No. 3 seed West Alabama and overcame a 10-point second half deficit to stun the Tigers 37-34. Jake Brown's field goal 25-yard field goal with 4:46 left to play put LR on top and a last-second FG attempt by UWA as time expired fell short to send the Bears on to the next round. 

After a 61-yard TD scamper by Tigers QB Spencer Arceneaux made the score 34-24 with 9:42 left in the third quarter, the LR defense rallied and kept the high-powered Tigers off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Brown would hit from 38 to make it 34-27 and then Jalen Ferguson hit Adonis McDaniel for a 78-yard score to pull LR even. Brown's short field goal at the 4:46 mark capped an 8-play, 77-yard drive and gave LR the lead. 

West Alabama would be forced to punt on the ensuing drive but got the ball back with 1:41 to play. Arceneaux's first attempt on that drive was intercepted by Damien Savage to give the Bears the ball back. However, UWA used two timeouts and regained possession at their own 28 with 36 seconds to play. They would advance the ball all the way to LR's 27 but Elijah Guyton's field goal fell short as the snap from center was a little high and threw off the timing. 

Ferguson threw for 411 yards and three touchdowns as he hit 22 of his 40 attempts. McDaniel finished the game with seven grabs for 202 yars and two touchdowns. Songa Yates had five grabs for 107 yards. 

Jaelin Willis led the defense with 10 tackles and Tre'von Cooper had eight tackles and 1.5 sacks. 

The Bears, who are the reigning Super Region Two Champions, advance to play Virginia Union next weekend.

In other SAC action, Carson-Newman and Wingate suffered difficult losses. The Eagles went to 4-seed Miles and dropped a 14-13 decision on a late interception. Meanwhile, Wingate was the 2-seed in the region and lost to Virginia Union at home in overtime. Backup QB RJ Rosales scored from 1-yard out in OT to hand Wingate an upset loss. Brooks Bentley threw for 266 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the losing effort.