ARLINGTON HEIGHTS – Roosevelt's fourth-quarter comeback fell just short as the Lakers were on the wrong side of a 40-34 contest Saturday afternoon at Morris Field against Southwest Baptist.

The Lakers entered the fourth quarter down 40-14, but rose to the occasion over the final 15 minutes with three scoring drives led by Zach Zella. The senior quarterback finished with 325 yards and four touchdowns, including the toss to Jack Young Jr. with 15 seconds left that gave Roosevelt (1-1) one final attempt.

However, the Lakers fell into the massive hole because of their lack of success on third downs on both sides of the ball. The Bearcats converted nine of their first 11 third-down attempts while the Lakers were just 2 of 11 on third down until the final few drives. Complicating matters was how well Roosevelt performed on first and second downs to force Southwest Baptist into third-and-long situations only for the Bearcats to convert.

Southwest Baptist's first three drives all lasted more than 10 plays and ended in touchdowns, but the Lakers made a pair of big special teams plays by blocking two of the three extra point attempts. After scoring on its first drive, Roosevelt didn't score again until midway through the third quarter with four punts and a turnover on downs in between.

After the Bearcats marched down the field to score on the game's first drive, the Lakers were quick to respond. Zella captained a 10-play, 65-yard drive, highlighted by a fourth-down screen pass that Norbert Espadron took 34 yards down to the Southwest Baptist 1-yard line. Cam Davis punched in the score on his eighth carry of the drive to tie the game.

Roosevelt's running game struggled to find much footing in the game with Davis finishing with 21 carries for 38 yards. However, Zella provided a boost with his legs and added 57 yards on eight keepers while absorbing big contact on the plays.

The first time it felt like the momentum swung in the Lakers' direction came in the middle of the third quarter when Kamal Mukarram forced and fell on a fumble inside Southwest Baptist territory. Zella connected with Norion Espadron on the next play for a 38-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 33-14. However, Southwest Baptist scored on its next drive then stuffed the Lakers at the goal line at the end of the period to protect its lead.

Never ones to give up, however, Roosevelt made the Bearcats sweat out the final 15 minutes. A three-and-out quickly led to a deep pass to Young followed by a shovel pass to
CJ Hood for another Roosevelt score. The Lakers then stopped the Bearcats on fourth down and proceeded to drive down the field on the back of two long Zella runs for the Lakers to again score on the shovel pass to Hood.

Roosevelt attempted an onside kick, but held Southwest Baptist to a punt right before the two-minute timeout. Zella marched down the field with long throws to Chris Lindo and Hood before finding Young for the touchdown with 15 seconds left.

Norion Espadron caught five passes for 92 yards and his brother, Norbert, added three catches for 80 yards. Young made three receptions for 53 yards and Hood gained 51 yards on four catches. Payton Orth led the Roosevelt defense with 13 stops and the Lakers made seven tackles-for-loss in the game.

UP NEXT: The Lakers hit the road for the first time this season next week when Roosevelt heads to Wisconsin Oshkosh with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m. in Wisconsin.