Box Score

ALVA, Okla. – Missouri S&T's last-ditch drive to pull out a victory Saturday came up short as Northwestern Oklahoma State held on for a 22-17 victory over the Miners.

S&T got the ball on its own four-yard line with 54 seconds to play, but a 25-yard completion by Josh Firm (Lancaster, Calif./Quartz Hill) to Kevin Dillon (Plano, Texas/Plano East) and a 32-yard reception by Smook Thomas (Quincy, Fla./East Gadsden) got the Miners to the Rangers' 33-yard line with 25 seconds remaining.  However, the Miners saw four pass attempts fall incomplete, the last two in the end zone, to see their opportunity to ruin the host's Homecoming go by the wayside.

The Miners broke on top in the opening quarter after forcing a turnover on NWOSU's opening possession.  Ranger quarterback Kyle Jech completed a third down pass to Kent McDonald that would have been good for a first down, but Sean Martin (South Holland, Ill./Seton Academy) knocked the ball free near midfield and Edwin Scott (Alpadena, Calif./LaSalle) returned it to the Ranger 36-yard line.

Six plays after the turnover, Firm threw a 24-yard scoring pass to Thomas to give S&T a 7-0 lead exactly midway through the first quarter.

The Rangers answered right back, as a 66-yard drive culminated in a four-yard scoring pass from Jech to Keith Barefield.  S&T's Jimmy Barnhart (Union, Mo./Union) blocked the extra point, keeping the score at 7-6 and it remained that way to the intermission.

But after a first half with only the two aforementioned scores, the second half saw the game suddenly become more wide open.

Aided by a personal foul penalty, the Rangers moved to the S&T four-yard line before settling for a 21-yard field goal by Edgar Colmenares to take a 9-7 lead.  The Miners answered back immediately, as Curterris Golden (Chicago, Ill./John Hope) raced 48 yards to the NWOSU 24-yard line to set up a scoring run by Ryan Taylor (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike) on the next play that put S&T back in front.

The Rangers responded to the Miners' quick score by getting a 38-yard kickoff return from Jared Jackson to open the next series in S&T territory.  After a pair of incompletions, Jech hit McDonald for 16 yards on third down and finished the drive two plays later with a 17-yard scoring pass to Andrew King.

S&T regained the lead early in the fourth quarter, moments after converting a fourth down play to keep the drive going.  Firm hit Dillon along the sideline on that play to move the Miners to the NWOSU 15-yard line, then S&T advanced to the three-yard line.   However, the Miners were stopped short of the goal line on two plays from the one-yard line and ended up settling for a 17-yard field goal by Adam Peden (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) to retake the lead at 17-16.

But after that score, the Rangers returned a short kickoff into S&T territory to set up the eventual winning drive.  A 26-yard run by Jemril Martin got the Rangers to the Miners' two, then Jech scored on a quarterback sneak with 11:13 remaining to put Northwestern back in front.

The Miners were stopped two yards short of a first down on a fourth down play with 3:19 to go, but the defense got a three-and-out to get the ball back.  P.J. Stimson's punt died on the four-yard line, leaving the Miners 96 yards and 54 seconds to try and win it.

S&T got to the Rangers' 33 after the completion to Thomas, but Firm had passes into the end zone to Dillon on third down and Nick Taylor (Wichita, Kan./Southeast HS) on fourth broken up to preserve the win.

The Miners finished the afternoon with a season-high 376 yards, including 186 on the ground.  Golden ended up with 92 yards on 20 carries, while Ryan Taylor (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike) had 83 on 13 carries.

Firm completed 16-of-33 passes for 190 yards, with Thomas catching five passes for 94 yards and Dillon and Jake Drallmeier (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) catching three balls apiece.

Northwestern Oklahoma State finished the afternoon with 260 yards of total offense; Jech threw for 172 and McDonald caught seven passes for 132 yards.

The Miners, 2-3 on the season, will play their Homecoming game next Saturday as they host South Dakota School of Mines in a 1 p.m. game at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.  Next week's game will mark the 1,000th game in the history of the Miner football program.