With time ticking in the fourth quarter, Chris Parson needed to make something happen.

In what had already been a wild back-and-forth affair, the Govs had just given up short field and a subsequent score to Central Arkansas. The Bears, armed with a 38-34 lead, had no intentions of surrendering that advantage after the Govs had already erased one 11-point deficit earlier in the game.

Parson, of course, had other ideas.

First: a blistering 15-yard strike to Kamari Maxwell. Then a nine-yard Kaden Williams carry to get the Govs into Central Arkansas territory – the longest run by a Gov not named Chris Parson in the second-half. Then Parson, keeping the play alive, found Jase Skoglund down the left sideline for 25 yards to put the Govs in the red zone.

Then it was time for some magic.

Parson faked the handoff to Williams and dropped back to pass. Central Arkansas, to their credit, had routinely adopted a scheme of putting a spy on Parson or, at the very least, dropping someone into short middle of the field coverage to reduce his playmaking opportunities on scrambles. That Parson finished the day with 73 rushing yards leaves one to decide for oneself how well this worked, but we're getting ahead of ourselves a bit.

Anyway. Out of the dropback, Parson plants his right foot and eyes his options downfield. Here they are:

• Nate Garnett Jr. streaking down the left flank, covered by a corner with safety help over the top.
• Coming up the seam, Maxwell is bracketed by a safety and a slot corner.
• Running a short out route toward the Austin Peay sideline is Shemar Kirk, the only of Austin Peay's wide receiver trio enjoying single coverage here. This didn't work all night – see Kirk's nine catches for 144 yards and a score – but the corner stayed glued to him here, nullifying him as an option for Parson until after the play was broken.
• Skoglund chips a pass rusher before coming across the middle and turning up toward the end zone, hoping to find space in the area vacated by Garnett. Unfortunately, a linebacker picks him up and is in his hip pocket almost immediately.
• Williams as a check-down option after picking up a blocker.
• Two linebackers stayed home on this play – after one follows Skoglund, the other steps forward to keep an eye on Parson and limit his running lanes.

In theory, at least.

The Bears choose only to send four to rush Parson, opting instead to try and minimize his options down the field and in the second level. While the Bears do a straight rush of Parson's blindside, Central Arkansas stunts with the edge and defensive tackle to Parson's right, showing a little eye-candy with the rush. Once the end finally crashes the pocket, Parson has been through his reads and can see there's not much there. It's time to improvise.

"I could have gone to my check-down right there," he admitted postgame. That probably would have moved the sticks, but it would not have made for nearly as exciting a story.

On the tuck, Parson already has two things working in his favor – the edge on his blindside is on the turf, opening a lane on that side if he can beat the linebacker, moving from the other side of the formation, to it.

It's a footrace, and credit to Central Arkansas linebacker Ashtyn Williams in his pursuit. Not many players are going to equal Parson in straight-line running, but Williams is there and seems to have him cut off for a modest, but not back-breaking, gain until Parson hits the brakes and Williams, so aggressive in his pursuit, can do nothing but grasp at air as he slides by.

A little shimmy at the 10-yard-line has Parson into the Bears' third level with blockers and just a couple of men to beat. An ankle-tackle at the five? That's not gonna do it. A defensive back going low at the goaline? Good try, but by this time Parson is airborne and bound for the end zone. Re-entry featured a love-tap from a dejected Central Arkansas safety, but by that point the damage was done, the lead re-taken for good and Parson's place in Austin Peay history secured anew with his program-record 12^th rushing score by a quarterback this season.

"They covered the post ball very well," Parson said. "But I'm a by-any-means guy, so when I saw a lane I took it and tried to get a first, but then I saw I had more room and just found a way into the end zone."

(Aside: the Govs have two guaranteed games left this season; Jay Bailey's single-season program-record 18 rushing scores might be out of reach – emphasis here on MIGHT – but becoming just the third player in program history with 15 or more rushing touchdowns in a season after Bailey and Chris Fletcher? That is absolutely in play.)

It was another in a series of spectacular plays for Parson this season, another highlight-worthy effort on the back of his guile and fearlessness. And when it came time to put the game away on the Govs' final drive, with Austin Peay facing fourth-and-one as time wound down, head coach Jeff Faris had no problem calling Parson's number again.

"It was an unbelievable play," Faris said of the scramble for six. "After you see a play like that, late in the game when it's fourth-and-one, and we could punt the ball and trust our defense, you look at him in the huddle and you just go 'Nope. That guy is going to get it done.'"

The Govs have one more opportunity to get it done at home this Saturday against Samford. One opportunity to achieve something pretty special—an unbeaten season at home, last accomplished at Austin Peay in 1964. And if the past few weeks have proven anything, it's this: with the game—and maybe the season—on the line, Chris Parson is exactly the guy you want holding the ball.