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CONWAY, Arkansas - Central Arkansas got off to a fast start with 21 points in both the first and second quarters to deal HBU a 56-13 defeat in the season and Southland Conference opener Thursday night at Estes Stadium.
 
Junior linebacker Garrett Dolan picked up where he left off, tying his school record of 18 tackles set against Incarnate Word in last season's finale, then added a fumble recovery late in the game to lead HBU (0-1, 0-1 SLC) defensively. Senior linebacker Dorrin Turner made 13 stops and junior linebacker Cody Moncure added nine.
 
Junior wide receiver Isaiah Hall had career highs with eight catches for 90 yards, and sophomore wide receiver David Racine made two catches for 35 yards, including his first career touchdown. Junior running back Terrance Peters rushed 14 times for 65 yards. Senior quarterback Tony Dawson started the game, completing 10-of-27 passes for 127 yards, but was credited for a fumble on a lateral pass, which was returned for a touchdown. Junior quarterback Max Staver finished off the game, completing 8-of-13 passes for 85 yards and a touchdown.
 
Sophomore kicker Alec Chadwick was 2-for-3 on field goal attempts in his Huskies debut, making from 26 and 32 yards and having a 54-yard attempt blocked. Junior punter Christian Guzman returned from the knee injury that cut short his 2015 season and punted 10 times for a 38.8-yard average.
 
Hayden Hildebrand completed 17-of-21 passes for 238 yards and a pair of touchdowns and added 52 yards and a touchdown on the ground for UCA (1-0, 1-0). Jatavious Wilson caught six passes for 100 yards, while Desmond Smith caught six for 78 yards and a touchdown. Carlos Blackman carried 15 times for 98 yards and Keshawn Ledet had a rushing touchdown.
 
Roy Sutton led the Bears with seven tackles and George Odum made six tackles.
 
The Bears outgained the Huskies, 283-30, on the ground, and 271-212 through the air. HBU could not take advantage of its plus-one differential in takeaways. UCA had 28 first downs to HBU's 17 and it was a relatively clean game with the two teams combining for only nine penalties for 86 yards.
 
In the first quarter, Smith caught a three-yard TD pass from Hildebrand, which was set up by a 41-yard run by the quarterback. Kelton Warren added a 14-yard touchdowns, then Hildebrand punched in a quarterback sneak to put UCA ahead, 21-0.
 
HBU began to move the ball in the second quarter, but Chadwick's 54-yard attempt was blocked and returned for a touchdown by Tyler Williams. Hildebrand hit Brandon Cox for a 37-yard TD, then Devin Spurlock recovered a fumble, a lateral by Dawson, and returned it two yards for a score. Chadwick made a 26-yard field goal for the Huskies to make the score 42-3 heading into halftime.
 
Antwon Wells had a two-yard TD and Keshawn Ledet punched it in from 13 yards out for the Bears' scores in the third quarter. Chadwick hit a 32-yard field goal for HBU.
 
Racine had the only score of the fourth quarter, hauling in a 31-yard pass from Staver.
 
The Huskies return to Houston for three-straight home games, beginning with next week's matchup with crosstown rival Texas Southern Saturday at 7 p.m. at Husky Stadium.

Head Coach Vic Shealy's Postgame Quotes:
"I thought the second half, defensively, we continued to show some improved toughness and I thought, by and large, with the quality of skill kids Central Arkansas had, I thought our tackling was fairly good in space. Our receivers caught the ball well today and made some tough catches and that was an area where we needed to play better than we had practiced."
 
"Our ball security issues have been something that has kind of haunted us. The one really poor pitch we had on an option play with Tony (Dawson), was a mistake you hope as a senior Tony will make a better decision next time, which I do believe he will. It was a decision where he was just trying to make something happen, but that doesn't necessarily make it the right decision. I thought we were clean in some of the areas there, we had a contact fumble with a running back we were fortunate we didn't lose, so I think we have to be better there. It's a complicated game, there are a lot of moving parts, it demands and asks a lot of the quarterback, we just have to keep on coaching and working to get better."
 
"We'll come back in and I think there is a measure of the speed of the game that I don't know that we have emulated some of the speed we saw tonight in practice. Whether we can, or whether we're just not practicing fast enough, I'm not sure, but some of the kind of catching up to the angles you have to take, some of the decisions you make relative to the speed of the team, I don't know that we adjusted well tonight, but I think it does help us get better. At the end of the day, your special teams and in all areas, we can evaluate that personnel – we played a lot of folks tonight – we'll make improvement from Week 1 to Week 2, you always do, and we have to make sure we're asking the guys on the field to do what their greatest talent is. There are some areas tonight where we need to be a little sharper with the roles we've put guys in."