By: John Kean, Sports Information Director
On Homecoming, Oct. 8, the Missouri S&T Miners football team will take the field for a game for the 1,000th time. (The game with South Dakota School of Mines & Technology begins at 1 p.m. at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.) During this era of Miner football – which dates back to the first game in 1893 – fans have witnessed many memorable moments.
Over the next two weeks leading into the historic contest, we will take a look at 100 games in the history of Miner football, broken down into 10 categories of 10 games each from all eras. While each game noted is listed just once, a number of them – for instance, the 1950 Homecoming game win over Missouri State – could be candidates for multiple categories. However, each game has its own legacy as part of the first 1,000 games played by the Miners.
Today's sixth part looks at 10 Homecoming games hosted by the Miners.
Nov. 4, 1921 – Rose Poly 7, Miners 3 – The Miners' first Homecoming game was spoiled by Rose Poly, as the visitors scored in the latter stages of the contest to take the victory.
Nov. 3, 1928 – Miners 18, Kirksville Osteopaths 0 – MSM won on Homecoming for the first time, getting the go-ahead score on a touchdown pass from Milburn Hassler to Lester Simonton.
Nov. 9, 1946 – Miners 0, Pittsburg State 0 – The 1946 Homecoming game between the Miners and Pittsburg State is the only one of the schools' 83 contests to end in a scoreless tie.
Oct. 27, 1957 – Miners 27, Emporia State 14 – This wasn't even the scheduled Homecoming opponent for the Miners in 1957 – Southeast Missouri State was to fill that role -- but flu epidemics at Southeast and Fort Hays State (Emporia's scheduled opponent that week) brought the two schools together for the contest. The Miners used a 328-yard day on the ground to beat the Hornets.
Oct. 9, 1965 – Miners 41, St. Mary (Kan.) 0 – The Miners ripped the visitors from Kansas to record their largest margin of victory in a Homecoming contest at that point. That mark would stand until 2008.
Oct. 18, 1980 – Miners 27, Missouri State 16 – In the final battle between the long time rivals for the permanent possession of the Powder Keg traveling trophy, the Miners kept their unbeaten season going with a win over the Bears before a capacity crowd at Jackling Field.
Oct. 19, 1985 – Miners 14, Central Missouri 9 – The Miners' 1985 win over Central Missouri extended their winning streak in Homecoming games to six, tying the record for most consecutive wins on Homecoming.
Oct. 2, 1993 – Miners 44, Southwest Baptist 8 – In the 100th season of Miner football and playing before many of the standouts in the program's history who were honored at halftime, the 1993 Miners put on a show of their own at Jackling Field in a rout of Southwest Baptist. Both Ernest Brown and Chris Williams eclipsed the 100-yard mark as the Miners ran for 436 yards, the second-most in a game in school history.
Oct. 21, 2006 – Miners 17, Southern Nazarene 14 – The win in the 1993 Homecoming game would be the last for the Miners until this day in 2006, when the Miners got two long touchdown passes from Joe Winters to end a 12-game skid on Homecoming with the win over a good Southern Nazarene team.
Oct. 18, 2008 – Miners 58, Kentucky Wesleyan 7 – The 2008 Homecoming game was a record-setting one for the Miners. Not only was it the largest margin of victory on Homecoming for S&T, but the Miners also racked up a record 697 yards of total offense and quarterbacks Jason Schlueter and Brad Guidry combined to complete 21 straight passes to begin the game.
