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CONWAY — With seven seconds left left in Saturday night's game, a young University of Central Arkansas fan climbed onto a storage box fronting fellow students huddled on the east side of Estes Stadium in Conway. The Bears were clinging to 30-point tie with Stephen F. Austin.

As the Lumberjacks' kicker took the field to prepare for a game-winning, 35-yard field goal, the fan stood before all, and exhorted the boys in purple to block the attempt.

Facing the field, his arms extended, he gently started fluttering as the players lined up. Fly, my Bears, fly, his wing-like motions seemed to say.

Then — the snap. It might well have been his hope. The leaping UCA defenders watched the football sail above them, through the uprights, sealing a 30-33 loss.

The young man, still standing high above the quieted fans, slumped, head down, and stood in silence for a minute. On a day in which Razorbacks were also heartbroken by a late field goal, he embodied emotions felt statewide.

It was, after all, UCA's fourth loss in 32 home games stretching back five years — which have featured a run of success and student support unprecedented in the school's history.

The story begins after the 1999 season, when then Louisiana Tech Offensive Coordinator Clint Conque had finished leading an offense ranking first in passing offense and second in total offense nationwide.

His team had beaten eventual SEC champion Alabama, and had finished with a 7-1 Western Athletic Conference record.

Other offensive coordinator offers came, but it was a head coaching job at the University of Central Arkansas that stood out despite a perceived step down from hisDivision IA position in Ruston, La.

"Some questioned why I would leave that kind of program to take over a Division II, but I saw the potential here too .... and the rich tradition that it had a small college level," Conque said.

"I thought there was real commitment here to winning."

In the last decade, UCA Head Coach Clint Conque has helped gild that tradition extending back to 1908, when UCA's predecessor, the Arkansas Normal School, first fielded a football team. Before Bears became the mascot in 1920, team names included Pedagogues, Pea-Pickers and Normalites, school archives report.

Normalcy doesn't describe Conque's tenure at UCA so far. After six seasons in Division II, in 2006 he helped guide UCA into Division 1-AA football, now known as the Football Championship Subdivision. The Bears are in the last year of a four-year reclassification process before becoming eligible for conference championships and postseason play in 2010. Still, UCA went 10-2 last year, securing first place in the Southland Conference and a #12 FCS ranking in national polls.

This team, ranked #8 before Saturday night, is 4-2 this season.

The 2009 season has already proved historic, with UCA beating Western Kentucky 28-7 in its second game. It was the first time the program had defeated a Division 1A — or Football Bowl Subdivision - team. While the 0-6 WKU Hilltoppers may be the valley-dwellers of the Sun Belt Conference, UCA nearly secured

a more quality FBS conquest, losing 20-25 at Hawaii in the season opener.

The move to Division I has been a success, UCA Athletic Director Brad Teague said.

For one, the school can increase exposure and pad its coffers by tussling with Division I big boys in non-conference games. It will earn $225,000 playing Tulsa in 2010, $350,000 playing Oklahoma State in 2011, $375,000 playing Ole Miss in 2012 and $390,000 playing Colorado in 2013, Teague said. Division II games netted $30,000 apiece.

Also, the move means more scholarship players, which means better players on the field and in classroom.

Under Division II guidelines, the program could only allot 36 scholarships in 2004, according to the UCA Sports Information office. In 2009, it allotted 63 scholarships, the maximum under Division I — FCS guidelines.

"We're recruiting a better student-athlete because the academic standards for Division I athletes are much more stringent than they were when were Division II,"Conque said. And a rising academic reputation, along with continued on-field success, helps build the school's reputation.

"As our recruiting continues to improve you will have more youngsters go on to the next level," Conque said, noting "two or three" have a shot at the NFL in his senior class, including defensive end Larry Hart and safety Pieri Feazell, Conque said. NFL teams have drafted six UCA players, the most recent being Jacob Ford in 2007 (Tennessee selected him with the 204th pick).

Sixteen others have also played in the NFL.

Excitement about the team's success in recent years has spilled into

the surrounding Conway community, shattering attendance records at UCA's Estes Stadium at a dizzying pace. All Top 10 attendance records have happened in the last three seasons.

“As much as we've accomplished on the field, the thing that I'm probably most proud of is that we have had a hand in changing the culture of how football is looked at here at the university," Conque said.

Expanded tailgating, a hype band, and face-painted fans donning purple wigs gave UCA's Saturday night game a nice vibe.

Also, an entertaining twist foreign to Razorback games: a couple of student emcees who provided wry speaker-amplified commentary for the audience, while lobbing a few verbal grenades at Lumberjacks standing nearby on the sidelines.