Corey Rucker hauled in nine catches on Saturday night, but none bigger than a catch in the back of the end zone with three seconds left to lift the Arkansas State football team to a 34-31 season-opening win over Central Arkansas at Centennial Bank Stadium.
Rucker’s nine receptions amounted to 179 yards receiving to lead A-State (1-0) past the Bears (0-1), who took a 31-27 lead with 55 seconds left in the contest. A-State quarterback Jaylen Raynor then guided the offense 63 yards in 52 seconds before finding Rucker, who logged his eighth career 100-yard receiving outing and moved to sixth in program history in career receiving yards (2,163).
The Red Wolves outgained UCA 457-432 and held a 24-19 lead in first downs, while converting 11 of 22 third-down opportunities.
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Raynor completed 24 of 47 passes for 317 yards, and also rushed 15 times for 49 yards and a score. Zak Wallace scored twice on the ground, rushing for 41 yards. Defensively, Dontay Joyner tallied a career-high 8 tackles (5 solo), while Jayden Jones had a sack.
UCA’s Will McElvain completed 15 of 28 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown, while ShunDerrick Powell ran for 176 yards and two touchdowns on 15 attempts. Jace Benesch led all players with 14 tackles for UCA.
A-State scored on its opening drive as Clune Van Andel connected on a 44-yard field goal and added three more with 2:20 left in the opening quarter when he hit a 23-yarder to cap a 7-minute, 23-second drive. Wallace later scored from 1-yard out with 37 seconds left in the half to give the Red Wolves a 13-0 lead at intermission.
UCA got on the board with its opening drive of the second half, scoring on a 42-yard field goal by Jake Gaster. Following an A-State punt, the Bears pulled within three on a 23-yard rushing score by Powell, making it 13-10 with 10:36 left in the third.
A-State answered on the ensuing drive on another Wallace touchdown run, this time from 2 yards out to push its lead back out to 20-10 – a lead that would stand through three quarters.
The Red Wolves expanded the margin to 27-10 with 14:15 to go on a 5-yard keeper by Raynor, but UCA punched right back on an 81-yard run by Powell to pull back within 10. The Bears then cut it to 27-24 at the 10:33 mark on a 23-yard pass from McElvain to Tyion Berry.
Then, with 55 seconds remaining, Darius Hale put the visitors ahead 31-27 with a 4-yard rush, giving the Red Wolves possession with under a minute to go.
On second down, Raynor found Rucker for completions of 6 and 42 yards before a five-yard loss set up 2nd and 15 with 12 ticks left. Ja’Quez Cross then caught a pass for 20 yards to set up 1st and goal on the seven after a timeout. Then, Rucker caught a pass from Raynor with one foot in the end zone, but the pass was originally ruled incomplete. After review, the call was reversed, resulting in Rucker’s 17th career scoring grab.
A-State remains at home for its second game of the season, hosting Tulsa (1-0) at 6 p.m. on Sept. 7, at Centennial Bank Stadium.
