he UNA football team defeated the University of West Alabama 30-27 in overtime  during their Nov. 2 game.

The win leaves the Lions in position to win at least a share of the Gulf South Conference championship when they play Florida  Institute of Technology on Nov. 9.

“It’s complicated right now,” said Head Coach Bobby Wallace.  “But if we win next week, we know we’ll be conference champions.”

Offensive coordinator Cody Gross was the starting quarterback for the Lions when they won three consecutive national championships in the mid-1990s.

Gross showed up to the offensive meeting on Friday, Nov. 1 with his hand in his jacket. Gross had the five rings he had won as a player and coach on his hand.

“I never bring them out, but I did then,” Gross said.  “After I got done talking, I pulled my hand out of my pocket and showed them my rings. I told them, let’s get started on my other hand.”

The team celebrated after the UWA victory, but Wallace did not want his team to lose focus and “drop an egg” against Florida Tech, he said.

 “We took a big step tonight,” Wallace said.  “But we gotta finish it off next week.”

The Panthers are 3-6 this season and average 338.1 yards per game on offense. Florida Tech has outscored an average of 31.7 to 23.0 each game this season.

UNA is currently 6-2 overall and 5-1 in conference play after starting the season 1-2.

“Nobody was pointing fingers at each other when things didn’t go our way,” Gross said. “The defense didn’t point fingers at us when we struggled and we haven’t pointed our fingers at them when they struggled.”

Gross contributes the teamwork to the way the team feels about each other, he said.

“Coaches love each other, players love each other, coaches and players love each other,” Gross said.  “It sounds weird in football, but it works.”

UWA took a 24 -10 lead into the half of the Nov. 2 game. Tiger running back Javae Swindle finished the game with 232 yards on 30 carries.

“(Swindle) was hard to contain,” defensive coordinator Chris Willis said.  “We didn’t want to give him the edge, but he got it anyway.”

The Lions defense did not give up a score of any kind in the second half.  Tavarius Wilson intercepted two passes inside the 10-yard line in the second half.

“We’ve been a second half defense all year long,” Willis said.

The Lions finished with 480 yards of total offense.  

The game was played in front of near packed Munipal Braly Stadium, with a crowd of 12, 526 people in attendance.

Wallace had not seen a crowd like that since they won the national championship in 1995, he said.