LIVINGSTON- In a game that was very even, with UWA gaining 393 yards of total offense and Arkansas-Monticello gaining 363 yards, predictably the game came down to the wire, with UAM (1-3, 1-1 GSC) earning a 21-17 victory over West Alabama on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.

“We simply made too many mistakes, and took some bad penalties late in the game,” said McCorkle. “We did not lose because of lack of effort, we just made too many mistakes.”

The Boll Weevils wasted little time getting on the board. Following a 43-yard Von Mixon return on the opening kickoff, the Boll Weevils found the end zone six plays later when running back Matt Fryfogle rushed in from four yards out to give Arkansas-Monticello a 7-0 lead with 12:42 remaining in the opening quarter.

Twenty-six seconds later, the Tigers stormed right back as quarterback James Reiter scampered 70 yards for a touchdown on the team’s first play from scrimmage, knotting the score at 7-7.

After a defensive battle for the remainder of the first half, the Tigers headed into the locker room with a 10-7 advantage, following a 20-yard Mitch Warfield field goal with 0:57 remaining in the opening half, capping a 14-play, 88-yard drive that took 6:06 off of the clock.

The defensive battle continued for much of the second half, as well, with neither team putting points on the board during the third quarter. The Tigers did threaten in the quarter when they had the ball at the UAM 29 yard-line but a Reiter pass was intercepted, one of two interceptions he threw on the night.

UAM grabbed the lead back midway through the fourth quarter when quarterback Anthony Rodriguez found receiver Tim Harris in the end-zone for a 17-yard strike, putting the Boll Weevils up 14-10 with 9:27 left in the game. The Tigers wasted little time responding, as Reiter found Chris Coach in the corner of the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown pass with 7:13 remaining.

After going three and out and punting the ball back to the Tigers, the Boll Weevil defense rose to the challenge and forced the Tiger offense to punt the ball right back and the Boll Weevil offense took over deep in their own territory at their own nine-yard line with 2:53 left in regulation.

Fryfogle scampered 35 yards, to the UAM 44-yard line, on the first play of the series. Four plays later, Mixon took a hand-off and ran 12 yards to the UWA 36-yard line when he was hit late out of bounds, tacking on 15 more yards with the penalty, placing the ball at the UWA 21-yard line.

Four plays later, Rodriguez connected with Harris in the end zone once again, this time from six yards out, putting UAM on top with 0:20 left.

Coach took the ensuing kickoff and returned it 44 yards, to the UAM 46-yard line. The Tigers gave it one final shot when Reiter lofted a pass to the end zone that was intercepted by DeMathus Ledet, giving UAM the victory.

Offensively, Reiter led the ground attack with 145 yards rushing on only 13 carries with one touchdown. He also completed 6-of-14 passes for 121 yards. Jerin Wright also carried the ball 16 times for 66 yards, while Andre Epps caught three passes for 45 yards.

Lewis Thompson led the defensive attack, as he totaled a team-best 12 tackles, while Kidane McBride finished with eight tackles on the night.

Fryfogle led the UAM ground attack with 163 yards on 29 carries, while Rodriguez completed 7-of-21 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns.

The Boll Weevil defense was led by Jeremy Brown, who recorded 13 total tackles (2 solo, 11 assists), while Corrie Ross and DeMathus Ledet, each finished with eight.

“Our players never gave up,” closed McCorkle. “Now we just have to get ready to play Arkansas Tech, and the coaching staff must find a way to fix the problems.”

The Tigers will take the field again this Saturday when they travel to Russellville, Ark., to take on Arkansas Tech with kickoff set for 6:00 p.m.