Box Score By Jim O'Hara

LIVINGSTON, Ala. – For most of the first half, the Shorter Hawks gave every indication that they weren't about to be intimidated.

West Alabama, however, had other plans as the host Tigers scored twice in the final minutes of the opening half and used that momentum to score on their first three series of the second half of play and go on to hand the Hawks a lop-sided 63-17 Gulf South Conference defeat Saturday night at Tiger Stadium.

The loss gives the Hawks, who played nearly half the game without junior quarterback Eric Dodson who left the game with an injury in the second quarter, a 1-9 overall record and an 0-6 GSC mark in their final conference tilt of the season heading into the regular-season finale next Thursday night in LaGrange against non-conference opponent Point University.

Against the Tigers, Shorter took the first lead of the game and was down 21-17 midway through the second quarter. But after Dodson – he has been the spearhead of the Hawks' offensive attack all season – the Hawks never recovered as West Alabama held Shorter to just 56 yards in the second half and 178 total yards for the game.

Junior quarterback Kyle Caldwell and sophomore running back Javae Swindle headed up UWA's offensive outburst, with Caldwell passing for 299 yards and three touchdowns – he also ran for another six points – while Swindle rushed for 182 yards and three touchdowns.

The win clinched a share of the GSC championship for the Tigers, now 7-4 overall and 5-1 in conference play.

Senior Bradley Moon was the lone highlight for the Hawks offensively as he gained 56 yards on 16 carries. Before he left the game with the injury, Dodson had rushed for 32 yards and a touchdown.

As they have for most of the season, the Hawks wasted little time putting points on the board when they took the opening kick-off 80 yards on just seven plays – the big gainer a 31-yard pass from Dodson to Roderick Jones – with Dodson breaking into the end-zone from a yard out.

West Alabama, however, answered with their own touchdown march on its first series of the night when Caldwell found Seth Roberts alone behind the Shorter defense for a 48-yard scoring pass and after forcing the Hawks to punt on their next series, took a 14-7 lead when Swindle broke loose for a 43-yard touchdown with 2:39 to go in the opening period.

But the Tigers were not done in the first quarter as the home team's third series of the game ended the same way as the first two, this time a 38-yard touchdown pass from Caldwell to Chad Toocheck as time expired in the period.

Shorter got a huge boost to begin the second stanza when Kirk Wilson returned the kick-off 82 yards to the West Alabama 9 where four plays later B.J. McCoy scored from two yards out. It was the freshman's first career six points.

The Hawks got their first break of the game on the ensuing series when Darius Sabbides sacked Caldwell and forced a fumble with Shorter's Josh White falling on the loose ball at the UWA 12, but the Hawks were unable to get any closer to the end zone – Dodson was injured on a third down sack – and with 9:46 remaining in the first half Guy Hunt split the uprights with a career-best 48-yard field goal to pull the Hawks to within four, 21-14.

Shorter found itself with the ball and deep in West Alabama territory minutes later when Zach Mann pounced on a bad punt snap at the UWA 15, but this time the Tigers stood their ground blocking a 25-yard field goal and immediately made the most of the momentum shift when they went 80 yards on four plays to assume a 28-17 advantage when Gary Johnston scored on a 2-yard run.

And with 32 seconds to go until the break, UWA added to its lead when the Tigers went 50 yards to score when Caldwell found Toocheck in the end zone for a 19-yard TD pass to give the home team a 35-17 halftime edge.

West Alabama picked up where they left off when the second half opened, setting up shop at its own 31 after the opening kick-off where the Tigers marched down the field on seven plays, the final one a 2-yard touchdown run by Swindle with just over three minutes elapsed in the third quarter.

Disaster hit the Hawks on their first snap of the second half when Zach Payne, who replaced Dodson, fumbled on a bad pitchout to give the Tigers the ball at the Shorter 19 and on the next play Caldwell scampered into the end zone to make it 49-17.

The third series of the third quarter for the Tigers had similar results when Swindle scored his third touchdown of the game, a 14-yard run with 5:52 to go in the period to expand the margin.

West Alabama added its last touchdown early in the final quarter when Johnston scored from 4 yards out.