Monticello, Ark. – The University of Arkansas at Monticello football team struggled to hold off the East Central University offense in their tenth game of the season Saturday. The Weevils fell behind early and were unable to recover falling 35-10 to the Tigers in their final home game of the season.
UAM moves to 4-6 on the season after the loss while ECU moves to 5-5.
The Tigers opening drive didn’t go how they hoped. Being forced to punt in four straight downs. UAM looked strong as the offense came onto the field, but couldn’t break through the ECU defense, being forced to punt as well.
The Tigers returned the punt 37 yards down the field to the UAM 30 yard line. Though the Weevils held them to 3rd down twice, ECU found a way to score a touchdown, earning the first points of the game. The two teams would each have a pair of possessions throughout the remainder of the quarter.
A second touchdown for ECU was not how the Weevils wanted to start the second quarter, as the Tigers would take a 14-0 lead.
Demilon Brown couldn’t find any answers as the Weevils were forced to punt again on their next drive. East Central followed with an attack of their own, scoring their third touchdown of the game giving the Tigers a 21-0 lead.
The Weevils didn’t give up though, as they would drive the ball 66 yards down the field. UAM looked like an unstoppable force until the ball was fumbled at the ECU 1 yard line. The ball was recovered by the Tigers and the half would come to an end with no other scoring done.
The third quarter started out strong for the Weevil offense as they drove the ball 65 yards down the field for a touchdown on their very first possession. The next two possessions were a defensive battle as no team could get enough momentum. That was until Kaytron Allen would intercept an ECU pass, lighting a spark in the Weevils energy.
The Weevils would push the ball down the field for most of the second half of the quarter. They weren’t able to get another touchdown, but they kicked a field goal. Closing the gap, the quarter would come to a close to a 21-10 game.
The fourth quarter would be won by the Tigers in points, as they would score two more touchdowns. The Weevil offense just wasn’t enough to take back the lead from ECU.
UAM ultimately fell 35-10 to move to 4-5 on the season.
Brown carried the load for the UAM offense posting 177 yards of total offense (124 passing / 53 rushing). His favorite targets on the evening were De’Andre Washington and C.J. Parham. Washington finished with seven catches for 60 yards and Parham finished with three catches, 47 yards.
Defensively, Justin Legier led the Weevils in tackles with 6 tackles.
The Weevils head to Magnolia, Arkansas to take on Southern Arkansas University Saturday Nov. 13 for their final regular season game. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.