Owls, Van Camp nip UAB 32-31

Florida Atlantic blocked a UAB field goal attempt on the last play of Thursday's college football game in Birmingham to preserve a 32-31 Owls' win.

The Owls trailed 28-12 in the third quarter and didn't lead until Alfred Morris, a Pine Forest High School product, scored on a bruising 38-yard run with 2:20 left in the game. A two-point conversion attempt failed.

Blazers quarterback David Isabelle set up UAB's potential game-winning field goal attempt with a 50-yard run. Florida Atlantic linebacker Michael Lockley stormed in from the outside to block Josh Zahn's 28-yard try and preserve the Owls' win.

Jeff Van Camp, a red-shirt senior from Gulf Breeze who played for Navarre, completed 14 of 24 passes for 254 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. The pick was his first since Nov. 7 last year in a 56-29 loss to UAB in Van Camp's first start for the Owls. The Blazers racked up 622 total yards of offense in the rout.

"We've been looking forward to this game ever since last year," Van Camp told the Palm Beach Post after the game. "We saw it as a revenge game. We had our eyes set on it throughout the whole summer."

The Owls didn't exactly shut the Blazers down last night, allowing 424 total yards. Isabelle, a sophomore, ran 22 times for 214 yards and three scores and completed 9 of 19 passes for 79 yards with one touchdown and an interception.

Morris, a junior, finished with 103 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries and senior Lester Jean emerged as Van Camp's favorite receiver with nine catches for 164 yards and two scores. Nobody else caught more than one pass for the Owls, but Willie Floyd took his grab 43 yards for a third-quarter touchdown.

The Owls, members of the Sun Belt Conference, are scheduled to play Michigan State at 11 a.m. Sept. 11 at Ford Field in Detroit.

The Blazers will play Conference USA rival Southern Methodist University at 7 p.m. Sept. 11 in Dallas, Texas.