2nd ROUND NCAA DIV. II PLAYOFFS
N. Alabama nips NC Central, 24-21
University of North Alabama senior Beau Tanner, who had not kicked a field goal all season, knocked through a 37-yarder as time expired to give the Lions a 24-21 win over CIAA champion North Carolina Central in a second round NCAA Div. II playoff game in Durham Saturday.
Tanner got his chance after freshman Yuta Fakuda missed two field goal attempts earlier. Head coach Rod Hudspeth said it was a "gut feeling" to turn to Tanner who lost his job to Fakuda after UNA's second game.
NCCU scored all of its points in the second quarter and took a 21-14 halftime lead as they rode the legs of RB Greg Pruitt (118 yards, 32 carries) and the play of QB Adrian Warren and back-up QB and WR Charles Futrell.
UNA struck first needing only four plays to score after the opening kickoff. But the Eagles came back to tie it at 7 when Futrell hauled in a nine-yard strike from Warren three plays into the second quarter.
UNA answered three plays later when star receiver Anthony Merritt took a short pass in the right flat and scampered 61 yards for the score. Fakuda's PAT put UNA up 14-7.
Futrell would again figure in the next Eagles' score, this time from the QB position as he kept the ball on an option play and ran around right end on a 39-yard scoring run. Brandon Gilbert's PAT tied the score at 14 9:53 before the half.
NCCU took its first lead of the game, 21-14, four-and-a-half minutes later after Warren hit WR Torey Ross with a four-yard TD pass. Just before the half, Gilbert had a chance to add to the lead but missed on a 32-yard field goal attempt.
The score held up as the teams exchanged punts in a scoreless third period.
Freshman A. J. Milwee, who had spelled starter Vinnie Saylor in running situations, took over at QB early in the fourth quarter and led the Lions on a game-tying 8-play 79-yard drive culminating in RB DeMarcus Blount's 23-yard scoring run with 8:27 left.
Milwee then directed the game-winning 12-play, 72-yard drive that set Tanner up at the NCCU 20.
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