LIVINGSTON, Ala. – Following a three-game homestretch at the end of September and first part of October, it seemed like the West Alabama football team has been on the road for quite some time. After trips to Georgia and Mississippi, the Tigers return home to host North Greenville this Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. for Homecoming at Tiger Stadium for a Gulf South Conference tilt.

Tickets are $15 for general admission, $30 for reserved, $5 for youth/student, while five and under are free. Purchase your tickets ahead of time on the Hometown Fan App. All forms of funds will be accepted on game day for tickets including cash, Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. Credit cards will incur a small processing fee. Make sure to find out all of the game day information by clicking here, which includes parking and other information.

Make sure to tune into SLY 104.9 at 30 minutes before kickoff for the game day coverage with Will Atkinson and Rob Pearson on the call. Click here to listed to SLY 104.9 online. There will also be a live stream that can be found here and live stats that can be found here.

UWA (4-3, 2-2 GSC) split those past two road games winning by three at Valdosta State and falling by 13 at Delta State. The Tigers stayed right with undefeated and nationally-ranked Delta State this past week, holding the Statesmen to just 20 points, their lowest total of the year.

With the score just 10-0 approaching halftime, UWA put together a strong 11 play, 58-yard drive that was capped off by a one-yard sneak by quarterback Tucker Melton to trim the deficit to three. Delta State would go on to score the only 10 points of the second half.

Melton completed 21-39 for 209 yards, while also rushing for 33 yards and a score. Bry Webb led the ground attack picking up 61 yards on 10 carries. John Hilbert caught six passes for 90 yards, while tight ends Caeleb Bass with three catches for 44 yards and Owen Harper with four catches for 32 yards made a big impact.

Michael Anderson and Davonchae Bryant led the defense with 12 tackles and each had a tackle for loss, with Bryant adding a sack. Trevon Stanford had 10 tackles, with three tackles for loss and a sack. De Mays and Steven White added interceptions.

UWA ranks in the top-50 nationally in several categories:

• -          13^th in third down conversion percentage on defense (27)
• -          22^nd in blocked kicks (3)
• -          45^th in kickoff return yards per game (22)
• -          21^st in passing yards allowed per game (161.6)
• -          13^th in red zone defense percentage (61.9)
• -          4^th in red zone offense percentage (94.7)
• -          24^th in scoring defense points allowed per game (16.6)
• -          29^th in tackles for loss allowed per game (4.71)
• -          13^th in team passing efficiency on defense (97.56)
• -          16^th in team sacks per game (3.29)
• -          13^th in team tackles for loss per game (8.6)
• -          44^th in total defense, yards allowed per game (313)

UWA leads the GSC or is tied for the lead in several categories:

• -          Third down conversion percentage on defense
• -          Blocked kicks
• -          Red zone defense percentage
• -          Red zone offense percentage
• -          Scoring defense, points per game allowed
• -          Team passing efficiency on defense
• -          Team sacks
• -          Team tackles for loss per game

Melton has completed 111-219 for 1,314 yards and 10 touchdowns. Webb has rushed 83 times for 482 yards and three touchdowns. Demetrius Battle has carried the ball 92 times for 390 yards and three touchdowns. Antonio Brown as 252 rushing yards on 42 carries and a score. Melton added a rushing score this past week. Hilbert has caught 27 passes for 380 yards and three touchdowns. Darius Nalls has 24 catches for 257 yards and two touchdowns. Caeleb Bass has 20 catches for 232 yards and a score, while Geordan Pollard has 10 catches for 141 yards and a score.

Anderson leads the defense with 63 tackles (45 solo), nine tackles for loss, three sacks and two quarterback hurries. Stanford has 40 tackles (28 solo), along with six tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and three pass breakups. Shamar Lewis has 31 tackles (26 solo), a tackle for loss and two interceptions. Davonchae Bryant has 28 tackles (17 solo), along with nine tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and three pass breakups. Jamal Ellis has 25 tackles (16 solo), 8.5 tackles for loss and five sacks. Mays now has two interceptions following his INT at Delta State.

On special teams, Gabriel Dunkle has gone 8-12 on field goals and is a perfect 18-18 on extra point tries. Trey Sullivan was big at Delta State with eight punts, placing five inside the 20 and four that went inside the 10. Dearrius Nelson has returned nine punts for 73 yards and also has nine kickoff returns for 227 yards. Webb has added seven kickoff returns for 158 yards.

Nationally, UWA has several players ranked in the top-50:

• -          Nelson is 46^th in combined kick return yards (329)
• -          Nelson is 36^th in kickoff return yards per game (25.2)
• -          Nelson is 18^th in punt return yards per game (10.2)
• -          Melton is 31^st in completions per game (18.5)
• -          Melton is 40^th in passing yards per game (219)
• -          Melton is 46^th in total offensive yards per game (233.5)
• -          Dunkle is 31^st in field goals per game (1)
• -          Ellis is 40^th in sacks per game (0.71)
• -          Anderson is 7^th in solo tackles per game (6.4)
• -          Anderson is 34^th in total tackles per game (9)

UWA is 2-3 against North Greenville since 2016 and the two meetings in Livingston have both come right down to the end. During the 2019 season, North Greenville tallied the 29-28 win securing the win on a late 34-yard field goal. UWA took the 28-17 lead in the third quarter before the Crusaders stormed back with the final 12 points. In the first meeting in Livingston in 2017, the Tigers held the 26-19 lead and after North Greenville tied the game, UWA used a fourth quarter field goal from 28-yards out to take the 29-26 victory.

Last year's game in Tigerville, S.C., had the biggest point separation of 17 with UWA taking the 31-14 victory. The Tigers dominated the game from start to finish taking a 24-0 halftime lead and eventually stretching the lead to 31-0 in the third quarter. Prior to last year's game, the point spread in the series has been: 2016-NGU, 24-23, 2017-UWA, 29-26, 2018-NGU, 20-16, 2019-NGU, 29-28.

North Greenville is 2-5 overall and 1-3 in conference play, but have been close in several games. The second game of the season, the Crusaders stayed right with nationally-ranked Newberry before falling by a touchdown. After two straight wins over Mississippi College (41-19) and Findlay (34-27), NGU played a tight three-point game to nationally-ranked West Florida before falling just short. Then after a 33-point loss to Delta State, NGU went right to the end with nationally-ranked West Georgia before also falling by a field goal.

Freshman quarterback Dylan Ramirez leads the Crusaders completing 115-188 for 1,502 yards and 11 touchdowns. He has also rushed for 122 yards and a pair of scores. Corey Watkins leads the rushing attack picking up 666 yards on 104 carries and two touchdowns. EJ Humphrey has carried the ball 25 times for 143 yards and a touchdown. Doug Washington has caught 36 passes for 512 yards and four touchdowns. Tyler Hamilton has 26 receptions for 249 yards and a touchdown, while Darius Young adds 20 catches for 241 yards and a score. Demetris McKelvey has a pair of receiving touchdowns, to go along with eight catches for 166 yards.

On defense, De'Iveon Donald has 52 tackles (27 solo), along with 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack, along with four quarterback hurries. Dantevian Byrd has 47 tackles (27 solo), three tackles for loss, a sack and three interceptions. Fred Billy adds 41 tackles (24 solo) and two pass breakups. Tremaine Epps has four tackles for loss and 36 total tackles. North Greenville has 10 interceptions and seven sacks on the season.

A look around the Gulf South Conference has Delta State ranked eighth in the nation and the only undefeated team in the league at 7-0 overall and 4-0 in GSC action. West Florida, ranked ninth this week, is 5-1 overall and 3-1 in conference play. Mississippi College is also 3-1 in GSC play and 4-3 overall. West Georgia, who held onto a top-25 ranking coming in right at 25^th, is 4-2 overall and 2-2 in GSC play. West Alabama is tied with the Wolves at 2-2 in conference play and 4-3 overall. Valdosta State and North Greenville are both 1-3 in conference play. VSU is 3-4 overall and NGU is 2-5 overall. Rounding out the conference standings is Shorter at 2-5 overall and 0-4 in conference play.

In GSC games this week, Delta State visits Shorter on a short week as the teams will play in Georgia later tonight (Thursday) with kickoff set for 6 p.m. Central. The other six teams will play on Saturday. Mississippi College will be at West Florida for a 4 p.m. Central time kick and then Valdosta State will visit in-state rival West Georgia at 5 p.m. Central time.

After hosting North Greenville, UWA will travel to Florida to face nationally-ranked West Florida next Saturday, Oct. 29 with a 4 p.m. kickoff time.

Game 8 Notes

• -          UWA has now won nine of their past 10 games away from Livingston that dated back to the shortened 2020 season and was at nine straight before last week's loss at Delta State
• -          The Tigers are 2-3 against North Greenville since the first meeting in 2016. Last year's 31-14 win for UWA snapped a two-game winning streak in the series for the Crusaders
• -          UWA blew last year's game open in a hurry, jumping out to the 31-0 lead early in the third quarter after holding the 24-0 halftime lead
• -          Returners in the backfield Bry Webb and Demetrius Battle combined for 151 yards, with Webb rushing for 79 yards. Jack McDaniels threw for 214 yards and three scores. Darius Nalls caught six passes for 52 yards and Caeleb Bass added three catches for 24 yards and a touchdown. Tyriq Martin had six catches for 79 yards and a score. Josh Hatcher led the defense with nine tackles. Shamar Lewis had six tackles and Jeremiah Boyd had two sacks and a fumble recovery
• -          UWA is 1-1 at home in the series with both games going down to the wire. The 2019 meeting was decided by a point (29-28) going to North Greenville and the 2017 meeting was decided by three points (29-26) with a Tiger victory
• -          UWA is 2-3 this season when the opponent scores first, coming back to win road games at Morehouse and Valdosta State. The one at the Blazers was even more impressive after falling behind by 14 points early before claiming the three-point win. The Tigers are 2-0 in games in which they score first (Miles, 31-0/Shorter, 37-14)
• -          Demetrius Battle is tied for eighth on the program list in career rushing touchdowns with 22. Following 24 more rushing yards this past week at Delta State, Battle is now at 1,652 for his career and leaves him just 51 rushing yards away from joining the top-10 list in program history
• -          While the rushing attack didn't go for over 300 yards for a third straight game this past week, the Tigers did pick up 132 yards on the ground and have now rushed for at least 100 yards in 15 of the last 18 games and have eclipsed the century mark five times this year
• -          UWA passed for 209 yards against Delta State which is the 37^th time in the last 38 games in which the Tigers have gone over 100 yards passing in a game
• -          The defensive pressure continued as UWA had both an interception and a sack once again at Delta State which means the Tigers have had either a sack or interception in 16 of the past 18 games. In 12 of those games, the Tigers have picked up both a sack and interception
• -          The UWA defense has limited opponents to under 100 yards rushing in three games and under in passing yards once (Miles College, 89 yards). The Tigers have kept six of the seven teams this season to under 200 passing yards, with the only one going slightly over was Valdosta State (215)
• -          UWA has remained consistent once they get in the red zone. In 19 trips this year, the Tigers have scored points in 18 trips and have collected a touchdown on 13 trips. On the flip side of that, the defense has held opponents to 13 scores in 21 trips inside the 20 and have only found the end zone seven times
• -          North Greenville has played several close games this season despite their 2-5 overall record. They lost by seven to nationally-ranked Newberry, and dropped a pair of three-point games to nationally-ranked West Florida and West Georgia