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Head Coach Terry Bowden walked onto the center of the football

field Saturday night with his face drained of color. The Lions had

just experienced a game of many firsts.

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The Nov. 6 contest featured the first time that UNA trailed in a

game by 10 points this season. They would eventually trail by

20. 

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The 16-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Lee Chapple to receiver

Jarmon Fortson near the beginning of the fourth quarter was the

first time that the Lions had scored a touchdown at home since the

third quarter of the Arkansas Tech game Oct. 2. 

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UNA had gone eight-straight quarters at home without a touchdown up

to that point. 

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The Lions’ fourth-quarter comeback, however, was the first time

that UNA overcame a 20-point deficit all season. 

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“I’ve coached at a lot of places and I don’t have many victories

that came from such a bleak game that everything was going wrong

in,” said Bowden. 

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Everything that could go wrong for the Lions did in the first three

quarters of the contest. Chapple threw three interceptions, the

Lions lost two fumbles, and their only touchdown of the first half

was called back due to a holding penalty. The game clock even

stopped working 

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before halftime, forcing the officials to keep time on the

field. 

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The only points of the half for UNA came on a 24-yard field goal by

kicker Josh Montgomery, but this came after the touchdown was

called back.  

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“We couldn’t do a thing right,” said Bowden. “We kept shooting

ourselves in the foot over and over and over again.”

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On the flipside, everything was going well for West Alabama. They

took a 16-3 lead into halftime and extended their lead by 10 points

in the third quarter. 

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While they had a few turnovers of their own, the only other miscue

the Tigers had was a blocked point after attempt that occurred

after their first touchdown of the night. 

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“Everything for us that could have went wrong did,” UNA receiver

Tim Hawthorne said. “We turned the ball over and we had a few

penalties that hurt us on drives.” 

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Everything was going well for the Tigers, that is, until the fourth

quarter. Just 10 seconds into the final 15 minutes of the game, UWA

receiver Wes Mounger muffed a punt that was recovered by UNA safety

John Ware at the Tigers’ 28-yard line. 

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Four plays later Chapple hit Fortson for a 16-yard touchdown

strike. Finally the UNA offense had found some life.

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“Those guys let me know they believed in me,” said Chapple, “It’s a

huge confidence booster when you’ve got guys behind you that say

‘Shrug it off man, we know you can come back.’”

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The defense came together as well, allowing West Alabama only one

first down and zero points in the fourth quarter. The Tigers’ next

drive after the UNA touchdown totaled negative two yards and the

Lions got the ball back after the punt. 

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Chapple threw a short pass to receiver Charles McClain on the next

play. McClain legged out 14 yards after the reception, bringing the

ball to the 50 yard line. 

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Three plays later, Hawthorne ran a steak down the left sideline.

Chapple floated a beautiful pass that hit Hawthorne in stride,

allowing him to take two more steps into the north end zone for the

Lions’ second touchdown of the quarter. 

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UNA now had cut the Tigers’ lead to a mere six points, with the

score at 23-17.

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“[UNA defensive lineman] Courtney Harris pulled me aside and said

‘I believe in you man, we can do this, and we can come all the way

back,’” said Chapple. “This team’s resilient, and we came back and

won a close one.”  

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The UNA defense held strong again as UWA gained only two yards

during its next drive and was forced to punt the ball away. 

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Four plays later, Chapple found Fortson again, this time for a

36-yard touchdown pass in the right corner of the north end zone.

UNA had overcome the 20-point deficit and taken the lead at

24-23.

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“In the fourth quarter we still believed we could win and that’s

what we did,” said Hawthorne. “What everyone was supposed to do,

they did to the best of their ability and we came out with the

win.” 

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The UNA defense allowed the Tigers only 18 yards and a first down

during their final drive, and the Lions were able to run out the

clock to preserve the fourth quarter come-from-behind win. UWA’s

only major miscue in the first three quarters, the blocked PAT,

ended up costing them the game.

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The Lions (8-2, 5-2) will travel to Searcy, Ark., to play their

final conference game of the season against Harding University Nov.

13.  

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“The stars haven’t always been aligned for us,” said Bowden. “We

just found a way to keep coming together. This only lasts for a day

or so because now we gotta go play Harding at Harding and they are

a very, very good team that has put in the triple option and are

beating a lot of teams. 

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We’re going to take what we had tonight, savor this victory and

appreciate it, and then come back and work tomorrow.”