Portions of this story courtesy of uiwcardinals.com

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Backed by a strong defensive effort, the No. 6/6 UIW Cardinals defeated Stephen F. Austin 27-20 to earn the Southland Conference Title and remain unbeaten in league play at 6-0. The Cardinals, who have also earned the Southland automatic qualifier (AQ), head to East Texas A&M next weekend before awaiting the NCAA FCS Playoff Selection Show airing on ESPNU on Sunday, November 24.

?The focus all season was controlling what they could control in their quest to return to the playoffs, and part of that was winning the conference title. 

Mission Accomplished. 

It is UIW's third title in the last four seasons and their fourth title overall. The Cardinals will return to the FCS Playoffs after shockingly being left out a season ago. It marks the third appearance for UIW in the last four seasons. 

The Cardinal defense finished the game with a season-high six sacks, while adding two interceptions from Darius Sanders, including the game-clinching pick.

Zach Calzada and Jalen Walthall each surpassed season milestones with Calzada eclipsing 3,000 yards of offense and Walthall reaching 1,000-plus receiving yards.

The Lumberjacks picked off UIW on the opening possession but a sack from Myron Warren and Dune Smith pushed back SFA's quarterback four yards on second-and-10 and the Lumberjacks settled for a field goal and the 3-0 lead.  

UIW went three and out but the Cardinal defense stood strong as UIW came back on the field at the 39-yard line. Lontrell Turner broke out for 51-yards setting up the Cardinals for the field goal and the tie game (3-3).

SFA tried to march down the field to answer, but a monster hit from Mason Chambers on third-and-9 stopped the Lumberjacks in their tracks.  Stephen F. Austin got the ball back and continued to push back on the Cardinal defense, but UIW stood strong, once again, forcing the Lumberjacks into a field goal (6-3) to the end the first quarter.

The Cardinals opened the second quarter, recovering a muffed SFA punt return to set themselves up on the SFA 23. Brack Peacock capped off the drive with a 38-yard field goal to tie the game once more, 6-6.

UIW took its first lead of the game and scored the first touchdown of the game between either team midway through the second as Dekalon Taylor ran straight up the middle, untouched, for the 13-6 Cardinal lead to end the half.

A pick from Darius Sander led to a Cardinal touchdown to start the third quarter. Josh Lorick rushed for 29 yards before Roy Alexander shot the gap into the end zone for the 20-9 advantage.

SFA had the chance to respond, setting themselves up just inside the red zone, but couldn't capitalize, knocking down their fourth field goal of the day (20-12).

The Cardinal defense led the charge once more as Dune Smith had back-to-back tackles for loss to stop SFA and bring the UIW offense back on field. Calzada found Logan Compton for total of 64 yards on two passes as Roy Alexander capped off the drive with his second touchdown of the day (27-12).

SFA drove the field and was able to reach the end zone on a 25-yd touchdown pass and convert the two-point play, to cut the Cardinal lead to one possession at 27-20.

In a nerve-racking turn of events, UIW was picked just outside its endzone with under two minutes left in the game, but the Cardinals poked the ball out from the Lumberjacks on the return and Jalen Walthall dove for the ball, handing the possession back to the Cardinals.

In heroic fashion, Darius Sanders picked off SFA in the final seconds, clinching the Southland Conference title for the Cardinals.