MONTGOMERY, Ala. – It took awhile, and it may not have been a picture of beauty, but head coach Charlie Boren's Faulkner football team has its season back on track.

Just barely.

The Eagles battled back from a 25-point, first-half deficit and then held on for a 48-44 victory over Bethel here Saturday afternoon in a Mid-South Conference West Division battle in front of a boisterous Homecoming crowd at Billy D. Hilyer Stadium. And with the narrow win, Faulkner's faint hopes of making the NAIA Football Championship Series are still alive.

"We kept telling our guys it was early when we were behind and we just needed to keep our composure and stay calm," said Boren, whose team improved to 4-3 overall and 1-3 in the MSC West. "When we got back to within two scores by halftime, we felt pretty good about it. We came out in the second half and kept the momentum, and then our defense made enough plays to allow us to win."

Faulkner, which scored 34 straight points spanning midway of the second quarter to the first minute of the fourth, was just one spot out of the latest NAIA Top 25 and would need to move at least into the top 16 to have a chance at an at-large berth in the Football Championship Series. The Eagles are looking for their third consecutive bid to the 16-team post-season event.

Wideout A.J. Stevenson, back at full speed after suffering a knee injury in an early-season victory over Georgetown, had a breakout game for Boren's team. The senior from Birmingham had career highs in receptions and touchdowns, catching 13 throws from quarterback Clayton Nicholas for 133 yards and four scores. Joe Jones had a pair of touchdowns on the ground, finishing with 74 yards on 18 carries. Nicholas was 36-of-46 for 357 yards and five touchdowns, but did toss two interceptions – one of which was returned for a Bethel score. Jonathan McNair had 10 receptions for 92 yards, while Lockhart had 80 yards on six catches. Defensively, Ray Smith and Keylan Smith each had 16 total tackles, with Caleb Taylor adding 12. Dennis Thames and Carson Presley had 10 apiece for the Eagles, who surrendered 446 yards of offense while gaining 499 of their own.

The game started in a sleep-walk for the Eagles, who gave up a touchdown following a Nicholas interception and a pair of safeties in the first quarter to fall behind 11-0 after 15 minutes of play. Nicholas found Lockhart from 38 yards out, with the shifty wide receiver weaving through the defense into the end zone for the touchdown. Hunter Kennamer's kick was good to trim the deficit to 11-7 with 14:48 to left in the first half.

Three straight scores from the Wildcats - short runs from quarterback Kerry Sellers and wingback Quincy Walden sandwiched Joshua Burns' interception and 40-yard return for a touchdown - left Bethel on top 32-7 with 7:17 left before the break.

Faulkner then got its wake-up call, scoring twice before halftime to grab the momentum. Nicholas found Stevenson from 1 yard out and Jones powered in from the 2, with Kennamer's two point-afters cutting the Bethel lead to 32-21 at the break. The Eagles picked up right where they left off in the second half, as Nicholas connected with Stevenson twice in the third quarter for touchdowns. The first came from 21 yards out and second from the 2, the latter giving Faulkner its first lead of the game. Kennamer's kick was blocked, but with 5:57 left in the game the Eagles led 34-32.

After Faulkner's Quan Latham blocked a short Bethel field goal late in the quarter to preserve the Eagles' advantage, Faulkner marched 82 yards to pad the lead. Jones raced in from the 10-yard line, and Kennamer kicked it to 41-32 with 14 minutes still to play.

Both teams then swapped scores, with Stevenson catching his fourth touchdown pass on a slant from the 1 for the Eagles and Vonta Owens grabbing a deflected pass from Sellers and sprinting 59 yards for a touchdown. A missed extra point left Faulkner ahead 48-38.

The Wildcats marched 66 yards to pull close in the final five minutes, with Sellers racing into the corner of the end zone for a touchdown. The extra point was again missed to leave the margin at four, and the Wildcats got the ball back with 1:50 left with a chance to win it. The Faulkner defense, however, allowed no yards on four straight plays to take over on downs. The Wildcats got it back in the closing seconds, but a desperation play was stopped short of midfield to end the game.

"We've got three games left and we know we have to win them all," Boren said. "I'm proud of the way our guys showed the character needed to come back today. It's kind of a reversal of how things have been for us the past few weeks. We've been the team that has lost the big lead. Today it was us that came back from a big deficit. I think it shows that our guys still have a lot of fight in them."

Faulkner travels to Grayston, Ky., next week to face MSC West Division foe Kentucky Christian. The game kicks off at 12:30 p.m. central time.