The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Southern Miss
Golden Eagles Hang On To Beat Blazers
11/9/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov 9, 2002
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - James Walley scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard run with 11:27 left in the game and Southern Mississippi held on to beat UAB 20-13 Saturday.
Walley played in place of Derrick Nix, out with a leg injury, and ran for 100 yards on 27 carries to lead Southern Miss (6-3, 4-1 CUSA).
"It was another tough loss to these guys," said Blazer head coach Watson Brown. "I'm very proud of our players. That was absolutely all the effort they could give me. I give them (Southern Miss) credit. I think with about 11 minutes left, we were up three. We kicked it out of the endzone and from that point on, they made all the plays."
UAB (4-5, 3-2) trailed 10-0 early but came back to tie it at 10 at halftime. The Blazers took a 13-10 lead when Nick Hayes kicked a 29-yard field goal with 13:43 left in the game. Hayes, who this week was named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, has now made all 11 of his field goal attempts this season.
But Southern Miss, behind reserve quarterback Micky D'Angelo, came back to score on a five-play, 80-yard drive. D'Angelo completed two big passes in the drive, a 35-yarder to LeRoy Handy and a 37-yarder to Chris Johnson. Walley's 1-yard run put the Golden Eagles in front 17-13.
Late in the game, UAB punter Ross Stewart put Southern Miss in poor field position with a kick that went out of bounds at the Golden Eagles' 12.
But D'Angelo hit two key third-down passes, a 14-yarder to Bobby Garner and a 47-yarder to Johnson, that got Southern Miss out of trouble. The drive ended on a 25-yard field goal by Curt Jones, giving Southern Miss a 20-13 lead with 1:11 left.
UAB gave the Golden Eagles one last scare when quarterback Darrell Hackney threw a long pass to Willie Quinnie, who appeared to be open for a moment. But Southern Miss broke up the play at the 10-yard line and UAB was not able to threaten again.
Quinnie caught 12 passes for 159 yards two weeks ago against Army. But Southern Miss held him to two catches for 33 yards.
D'Angelo, who replaced starter Dustin Almond at the start of the second half, completed 4 of 8 passes for 133 yards. Johnson had four catches for 99 yards.
UAB now will look to regroup for next Saturday's final home game of the season as the Blazers play host to East Carolina (2:00 p.m. CT) at Legion Field.
