UAPB's reign at an end

By Mike Marzelli/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas-Pine Bluff's swan song as champions of the Southwestern Athletic Conference's Western Division was likely sung following Saturday's Delta Classic for Literacy.

With five games remaining on their conference schedule, UAPB is now 1-3 in SWAC play and four games behind Grambling for first place when the tiebreaker is factored in. That means the Golden Lions would need to win all five of their remaining games and have the Tigers lose four of their remaining five while also getting losses from Southern and Prairie View to win the division.

Not likely.

So what does that mean for UAPB going forward? Fourth-year head coach Mo Forte summed it up in one word in the home locker room of War Memorial Stadium following the game.

“Pride,” he said. “It's all about pride right now, pride and getting better. These kids have a lot of pride and they're going to continue to come out and play to win. They need to maintain their pride and our pride as a football team, that's all I'm telling them.”

The bad news for the Lions is that things won't be getting any easier. They have just entered what Forte has called the toughest stretch of any schedule he's had as a head coach, with a SWAC Championship rematch at Alabama A&M looming on Thursday with just two full days of practice to prepare for it.

Following that the Lions will travel to Jackson State for the Tigers' homecoming before returning home to close out the season against PVU, Southern and Texas Southern.

“We're a struggling football team that's just trying to find itself and that's all we can do the rest of the way is try to get better,” Forte said. “We're still very inconsistent and we just can't seem to get anything sustained and heading in the right direction but we're going to need to to maintain that pride against the good team we still have left to play.”

Moore hurt

Quarterback Johnathan Moore was icing his injured right throwing hand on the sideline after he left the game in the fourth quarter.

The injury did not appear to be serious and Moore will be reevaluated today.

Meanwhile, reigning Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year Chris Wallace was efficient in relief in nearly leading the Lions to a comeback win.

“Chris came in and found open receivers and delivered the ball where he had to to really get us two touchdowns,” Forte said. “Our kids all fought back hard and he led the charge.”

Blown opportunities

Twice UAPB found itself knocking on the door inside the Grambling 10-yard line. The difference in the eventual final score may have been tied directly into the fact that the two trips produced a total of three points.

Midway through the second quarter Moore found Demetrice Beverly for a 33-yard reception down to the Grambling 5-yard line, but a 15-yard penalty to guard Patrick Kapuniai on the Lions' next play pushed the ball back to the Grambling 20-yard line and UAPB eventually kicked a field goal.

Late in the third quarter, Moore hit Raymond Webber for 46 yards down to the Grambling 12-yard line, but after UAPB moved down to the Tigers' 6, Moore threw into quadruple coverage and was intercepted in the end zone.