Hall passed for two touchdowns and ran for two more as Bowie State rang up 439 total yards to 351 for West Alabama.
Bowie State improved to 10-2 with the first playoff win in school history. West Alabama ends its season 8-4 after making its fifth playoff appearance since 2009. The Bulldogs will travel to No. 1 seed Valdosta State next week for the second round.
Down 17-14 at the half, West Alabama trailed 27-21 after three quarters. A BSU pick six seemingly put the game out of reach at 41-28 with 9:09 left in the game.
West Alabama cut the score to the final margin. Then a drive to the Bulldog 23-yard-line stopped by turning the ball over on downs with 1:14 left.
West Alabama had just one timeout, so Bowie State ran the clock to ensure the win.
Playoffs play by play
West Alabama opened the scoring with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Tyriq Martin from Harry Satterwhite on the opening drive of the game for the Tigers. The drive covered 78 yards on seven plays in 2:06.
Amir Hall connected with Jordan Crockett on a 9-yard TD pass with 10:00 left in the first half. The TD pass was the 100th of Hall’s career at Bowie State.
Bowie State took a 14-7 lead on a 3-yard run by Hall that capped a 98-yard, nine-play drive.
West Alabama tied the game at 14-14 on a 38-yard TD pass from Satterwhite to Jonnas Spiveywith 3:03 left in the first half.
Gene Carson gave Bowie State a 17-14 lead with 57 seconds left in the second quarter by drilling an 18-yard field goal.
Carson extended Bowie State’s lead to 20-14 with a 33-yard field goal with 9:08 left in the third quarter.
Down To The Wire
Bryan Ellis scored on a 3-yard run with 7:34 left in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 27-14. The TD was set up by an interception returned to the Tigers’ 3-yard-line by Roger Richardson.
Tyler Rogers rambled untouched for a 14-yard TD run with 1:51 left in third quarter to cut the Bulldogs lead to 27-21. The 14-play, 75-yard drive was kept alive when BSU had too many on the field on a UWA punt.
Satterwhite and Christian Saulsberry connected on a 17-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter. UWA led 28-27 with 14:55 left to play.
It took Bowie State just over three minutes to retake the lead, with Hall scrambling for a 5-yard TD run and a 34-28 fourth-quarter lead.
Roger Richardson’s second interception of the game goes for 64 yards and a touchdown, giving Bowie State a 41-28 lead with 9:09 to play.
West Alabama cut the lead to the final 41-35 margin on a 2-yard TD run by Rogers with 5:09 left in the game.