Box Score

ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T struggled to slow down a feisty William Jewell team in the second half Saturday, but got a stop on a two-point conversion with 1:37 to play to escape with a hard-fought 28-26 win at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The Cardinals got a 12-yard touchdown pass from Sean Shelton to Jon Molzen to cut the Miner lead to two and after a timeout, lined up in a swinging gate formation for the two-point conversion.  Shelton threw a quick pass out to running back Chris Stuart, but S&T cornerback Sean Martin (South Holland, Ill./Seton Academy) met him immediately to stop the conversion attempt and keep the Miners in the lead.

Jake Drallmeier (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) secured the onside kick that followed to lock up the Miners' third consecutive victory and fourth in their last five contests.

It was the Cardinals who got the early jump in the contest, taking advantage of the second of two Miner turnovers within the first four minutes of the contest.  S&T moved into William Jewell territory on its opening possession, but Josh Firm (Lancaster, Calif./Quartz Hill) had a pass intercepted by Kurt Webster to halt that drive.

The Miner defense stopped the Cardinals on three plays, but on the ensuing punt, Smook Thomas (Quincy, Fla./East Gadsden) fumbled the ball and WJC's Quinlan Riser recovered it at the Miners' 19-yard line.  Five plays later, Shelton threw a three-yard scoring toss to Molzen to give William Jewell the lead.

S&T tied the score late in the first quarter, as Ryan Taylor (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike) ran for 37 yards on four consecutive carries to the WJC 13, then Firm threw a touchdown pass to Kevin Dillon (Plano, Texas/Plano East) in the back of the end zone to knot the score.

The Cardinals regained the lead on a 20-yard field goal by Warren Frevert – after having first-and-goal at the S&T one-yard line – but the Miners took their first lead of the afternoon on a possession that started at the WJC 27 after a personal foul penalty on the end of a punt return.  The scoring drive ended when Firm connected with Joseph Hyman (Los Angeles, Calif./Palisades) on a 13-yard scoring pass.

S&T added to the lead late in the first half, driving 91 yards on 11 plays after getting the ball with 2:41 remaining in the half.  Firm completed a 27-yard pass to Dillon to get S&T into Cardinal territory, then Curterris Golden (Chicago, Ill./John Hope) closed the drive with a one-yard touchdown run with 10 seconds left to give S&T a 21-10 lead it would take to the locker room.

William Jewell trimmed the lead to four just past the midway point of the third quarter as Shelton – on a fourth-and-20 play – threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Molzen with two Miner defenders in the neighborhood. 

However, S&T would regain its 11-point advantage a few minutes later as a bad snap on a punt led to a seven-yard punt, giving the ball to the Miners on the Cardinals' 35-yard line.  On the next play, Taylor went untouched to the end zone to make it 28-17.

William Jewell moved back to within a score when Frevert drilled a 37-yard field goal with 8:37 to go, then the Miners had to give the ball back to the Cardinals on downs after starting at the WJC 37 following a 63-yard kickoff return by Mike Wilson (Valrico, Fla./King).

The Cardinals converted two third-and-long plays and a fourth-and-seven to keep the drive alive, then after Shelton connected with Molzen for a first down to the S&T 12, hit him again on a slant pattern to make it a two-point game.  William Jewell needed the two-point conversion for the tie, but Martin brought down Stuart for a loss to keep S&T in front.

Missouri S&T finished the game with 325 yards of total offense in the game – one less than the Cardinals ended with – with 164 of them coming on the ground.  Taylor finished with 83 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown, while Golden also scored as he compiled 63 yards on 16 carries.

Firm completed 13-of-20 passes for 161 yards and the two touchdowns, with Dillon catching nine balls for 92 yards.

Shelton was 22-of-42 for 224 yards in defeat for William Jewell (1-6), with Molzen catching all three of his touchdown passes among his eight catches.  The Miner defense, however, recorded a season-high six sacks of Shelton as Freddy Dugard (Queens Village, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) and Jimmy Barnhart (Union, Mo./Union) had two apiece.  Chris Emesih (Houston, Texas/Westfield) had 14 tackles to lead S&T.

Missouri S&T, who improved to 5-3 with the victory, will face Urbana next Saturday in Urbana, Ohio in a noon contest (Eastern time).