LIVINGSTON, Ala. – Trailing Cumberland 8-7 at the half, West Alabama came to life in the final 30 minutes to take a 34-8 college football victory over the visiting NAIA Bulldogs Thursday at Tiger Stadium.
 
The win improved West Alabama to 2-0, while Cumberland dropped to 1-1.
 
With the offense struggling in the first half, the West Alabama defense continued to play well, limiting the Bulldogs to just 19 rushing yards in the first half, a meager 15 for the game.
 
"The defense kept us alive and thank goodness they did. I can't say enough about that front seven," UWA head coach Brett Gilliland said. "We didn't show up to play offensively in the first half and it certainly showed."
 
Quentin Harton led all West Alabama tacklers with 10, including one for loss. Felix Woods had six stops and a sack, while Izauea Lanier and Terry Samuel each recorded five stops. In all, 23 different Tiger defenders made at least one tackle. Lanier blocked a punt and Jared Washington a field goal.
 
"We are just trying to get more vicious than vicious every week," Harton said. "We didn't think they would come out like they did, but they got after us and we had to get back to our game."
 
 "We challenged our offense at the half to bow up and fight through adversity," Gilliland said. "We asked them who was going to stand up and stop the bleeding."
 
Dezmon Huntley answered Gilliland's call.
 
Taking over for a banged up Trent Thompson in the second half, the redshirt freshman from Mableton, Georgia, rushed for 85 yards and a touchdown while completing 4-of-4 passes for 100 yards and two more scores.
 
With Huntley at the controls, West Alabama rang up 342 of its 401 total yards in the second half while UWA defenders held the Bulldogs to just 173 total yards for the game and no points in the second half.
 
"Coach came to me at the half and said just go do what you need to do," Huntley said. "We started running things the way we do in practice and the offensive line did what they knew they had to do. Coach G (Gilliland) gave me a chance, but it was the whole team that stepped up."
 
"Dez was a great spark for us, but it wasn't like Trent wasn't playing well. He is banged up and it was limiting some of the things he could do," Gilliland said. "We just decided to play in the second half. Dezmon is a special player but this wasn't a one-man show."
In two games, UWA has allowed just 17 points, but four of those have come off safeties. Cumberland blocked a punt through the back of the endzone for a two-pointer and Stillman sacked Thompson in the end zone last week.
 
Sophomore receiver Randy Satterfield continued to put up good numbers for the Tigers, catching two more touchdown passes, one from Thompson and one from Huntley, to give him four after the first two games.
 
Thompson and Satterfield connected from 19 yards out for the first points of the game at the 9:48 mark of the first quarter. Huntley found the Jemison, Alabama product for the final score of the night, a 25-yarder with 5:16 left to play.
 
CU's lone touchdown came on a 5-yard scoring pass from Justin Snyder to Trevon Jones late in the first quarter. Nathan Anderson blocked the punt that led to a safety for the Bulldogs.
 
Tyler Rogers scored on a 26-yard run with 8:30 left in the third quarter to give UWA the lead for good. Huntley found the end zone on a 38-yard run with 2:32 left in the third period and then closed out the scoring by connecting with Tyreek Hill on a 68-yard shuffle pass for a TD with 14:01 left in the final quarter.
 
"It all starts with the guys up front when they start getting a push and the holes start opening up," Rogers said. "When one person scores we all score."
 
Hill finished with 200 all-purpose yards, 28 rushing, 96 receiving and 76 on returns. He led the Tigers with five receptions, while Satterfield had three for 57 yards.
 
Both teams return to action Sept. 19. West Alabama travels to Miles College and Cumberland travels to the University of the Cumberlands.