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The University of West Georgia Wolves headed out to face the University of North Alabama Lions on Saturday and fell to the #3 ranked team, 55-7.
Despite the loss, Yusuf Holloway had a huge running game, carrying for 94 yards through the game, averaging 7.2 yards per carry with 13 attempts through the game. Joey Harris and Brandon Brown delivered an average 6.4 and 6.2 yards per carry on a respective 8 and 5 attempts through the game.
The game opened up with the Wolves winning the coin toss and electing to kick. The Wolves defense gave strong effort from the open, however missed several key tackles and the Lions made their way through to score, giving them a 7-0 lead after a little over four minutes of play.
The Wolves first drive showed off some rushing from Yusuf Holloway, but they were forced to punt it away, leaving the Lions on their 21 yard line for their next possession. The Wolves defense kept strong for this drive and forced a punt from UNA.
The next Wolves drive started up from their 42. Holloway again delivered 11 rushing yards on the opening play, and got a first down. Sean Gray then rushed through for 12 yards on third down, opening things up for an Adi Brkic field goal attempt that went sour with a fumbled snap.
The UNA Lions kept trucking on, managing to get their players to keep dodging tackles from the Wolves and putting up another 7 on the board to take the score to 14-0.
The Wolves could not get much yardage on the possession, and were again forced to punt. Waylon Kimble suffered an injury during the drive, but managed to walk off the field on his own power. The Lions were left on their own 35 as the first quarter ended.
The Lions kept going though the second quarter, and moved steadily down the field. The Wolves defense kept them at bay, forcing the Lions to accept a field goal, the game going to 17-0.
The next Wolves drive started on the UWG 36 with just under 12 minutes left in the half, but they could not get through the tight North Alabama defense. UNA took the punt and played it for a 55-yard pass on first down that put them in position to open the score up further with another field goal, to 20-0.
Malcolm Johnson returned the kick for some great field position, which gave Yusuf Holloway the chance he needed for a big run of 26 yards. The Wolves kept the chains rolling and Holloway took it down to the one yard line, fumbled and Spencer Romero dove on the ball for the touchdown, putting the Wolves on the board, 20-7.
The Lions kick return took them to good field position on the 50 yard line, which they intended to use as a springboard for a big offensive drive, but the Wolves defense locked them in place, and forced a punt.
George Summerset took fair catch on the 21 yard line, but the Wolves drive got stopped quickly by the Lions, and Brkic kicked it high and short down to the UNA 44 with five minutes left in the half. The Wolves defense, however, proved to be up to the challenge and stopped their advance yet again.
UNA’s defense again kept pressure hard on the Wolves, forcing a punt attempt which they blocked and took in for a touchdown, taking things to 27-7 with 2:14 left in the half.
Malcolm Johnson took the kick to the 27 yard line, and Yusuf Holloway took passes and rushes on down the field to keep the chains going deep into UNA territory. With just three seconds left, Brkic attempted a field goal that was blocked and picked up by the Lions, but an offsides call on UNA and personal foul call gave the Wolves another chance to start off from the UNA 9, but they could not capitalize on it and went into halftime with 27-7 on the board.
Yusuf Holloway made a good carry early in the 2nd half, but the ball was stripped from his hands while he was making extra effort for yardage and taken in for a UNA touchdown to bring the game to 34-7 with just over 14 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.
The next drive was marked with incomplete passes the entire time, and the Wolves punted it once more, leaving the Lions on their 36. The Wolves defense held strong yet again and UNA punted it, but the Wolves could not capitalize and were forced to punt.
UNA drove down to score once more with a series of rushes and a short pass ending in a 15 yard pass to take it to 41-7.
The Wolves started their next drive off on their 24, and a big carry by Joey Harris moved things up to the UWG 40. However, the Wolves could not keep the chains going up the field and were forced to punt once more with 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.
The Wolves defense prevented UNA from scoring again, and took possession of the ball on their 32 with 5:30 left in the 3rd, but a fumble opened up another scoring chance for the Lions, who took it in for a touchdown to take it to 48-7 with under a minute left in the 3rd quarter.
The Wolves kept possession into the 4th quarter, starting off on the UNA 49, and managed to get it in down to the UNA 11 for a field goal attempt, but Brkic’s kick missed and kept things at 48-7 with 12 minutes left in the game.
UNA took possession from there, and the Lions kept the chains rolling on the drive and then pulled off a 41-yar pass play followed by an 18 yard rush to grab another touchdown to open the score further to 55-7.
UWG started off on the 29 for the next drive with eight minutes left and could not get down the field, and Brkic punted it away for 18 yards, letting UNA start on the 50 yard line with 5:25 left.
The UWG defense got cranked up at this point, pushing them back and forcing UNA to field 2nd and 40, from which they could not recover and were forced to punt. UWG started off on their 23 with just over three minutes remaining, Brandon Brown rushed twice for 11 yards each, D.J. Jones carried for another 5 yards, and though Brown went for it with a carry on 4th down he stopped just short of the first down and the ball turned over to UNA to end the game 55-7.
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