Box Score ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T entered Saturday's game with Urbana ranked among the top scoring teams in NCAA Division II – averaging 42.3 points per game – but it was the Miners' defense that came up big on a day when points were tough to come by, as S&T won a defensive battle over the Blue Knights 13-12 at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The Miners scored on their first two possessions of the afternoon to take a 13-0 lead, but couldn't break into the scoring column against the Urbana defense for the rest of the contest.  But the Miner defense, ranked 15^th in the nation in total defense, was up to the challenge itself, holding the Blue Knights down for much of the game and forcing them into a long field goal attempt on their final possession that was off the mark with two seconds remaining.

S&T drove 68 yards on nine plays to take the lead on the game's opening drive, which culminated in a 25-yard scoring pass from Josh Firm (Lancaster, Calif./Quartz Hill) to Smook Thomas (Quincy, Fla./East Gadsden).  Urbana moved the ball to the Miners' 40-yard line on its first trip down the field, but on a fourth-and-six play, Chris Horn (Tulsa, Okla./Booker T. Washington) intercepted a D.J. Mendenhall pass and returned it to the Blue Knights' 37 to set up the Miners' second score.

That came seven plays into the drive, as Firm connected with Joseph Hyman (Los Angeles, Calif./Palisades) in the back of the end zone for a five-yard touchdown pass that gave S&T a 13-0 lead; the Miners missed the extra point on the Thomas touchdown.

On Urbana's next possession and faced with third-and-11, Mendenhall threw a ball up for grabs between two Miner defenders and wideout Sanders Sius, with Sius coming away with it just beyond midfield and taking the rest of the way for an 80-yard score that brought Urbana to within seven, as kicker Marshall Newsome missed the extra point.

Following the Sius score, the game turned into a defensive battle for the remainder of the afternoon.

The Miners had a scoring opportunity as they drove to the Urbana 12-yard line in the latter part of the second quarter, but fumbled the ball away to end that chance.  Urbana drove back down the field, getting a 41-yard pass from Mendenhall to Joe Webb to reach the Miners' 18 right before the half ended, but Freddy Dugard (Queens Village, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) got a piece of Newsome's 36-yard field goal attempt to end the half.

Mendenhall had three passes intercepted in the game, one by Naeem Forrester (Los Angeles, Calif./Venice) in the second quarter and two by Horn, who picked off a pass at the S&T five on the Blue Knights' first drive of the second half.  Later in the quarter, S&T reached the Urbana 12 again, but David Druse (Coal City, Ill./Coal City HS)'s field goal attempt from 28 yards was blocked by Perry Jenkins.

In the fourth quarter, with the Miners going into the wind, the Blue Knights started two drives in Miner territory but both ended on three-and-outs thanks to a sack by Dugard to end one of the possessions and Dan Mauszycki (Gardner, Kan./Gardner-Edgerton HS)'s tackle of Jeffvon Gill for a loss on fourth-and-one at the S&T 39.

After the stop by Mauszycki, the Miners put together a drive that reached the Urbana 11-yard line, but the Miners again lost a fumble in the red zone that gave Urbana a chance to tie the game.  Mendenhall completed eight of the 10 passes he threw on a 92-yard scoring drive that ended with a five-yard scoring pass to Nate Wilburn-Ogletree that appeared was going to draw the Blue Knights even with 2:04 to play.

However, Newsome, who kicked his first extra point wide to the right, was wide to the left on this one, leaving the Miners with a one-point lead.

Urbana got one more chance after getting the ball back after a Miner punt – the Blue Knights used all three of their timeouts after S&T recovered the onside kick – and moved from its own 19 with 1:41 to play to the Miner 31 with 12 seconds to go.  Newsome had a chance from 48 yards away to win it for the Blue Knights, but his kick went wide to the right to end Urbana's final chance.

The Blue Knights finished with a 422-to-340 advantage in yardage, mostly through the air as Mendenhall was 31-of-58 for 373 yards and the two touchdowns.  S&T held Urbana to just 49 yards on the ground, in part due to five quarterback sacks that allowed the Miners to break their single-season record for sacks as it now has 39 for the year.

Curterris Golden (Chicago, Ill./John Hope) rushed for a career-high 137 yards on 27 carries to lead the Miner rushing attack, which finished with 162 for the day.  Firm was 24-of-36 for 178 yards and completed eight passes to Thomas and five to Hyman.

Chris Emesih (Houston, Texas/Westfield) had 15 tackles to pace the Miners in that department, while Dugard had two of the Miners' five sacks.

The victory was the first for the Miners in a game in which they scored fewer than 14 points since a 13-7 win over Central Missouri in 1991 and moves to S&T to 8-1 (6-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) on the year, the first eight-win season for the Miners since 1983.    Only five previous Miner teams have reached the eight-win plateau in a season.  Urbana dropped to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the GLVC.

The Miners will play their last two games away from home, beginning next Saturday in Rensselaer, Ind., against Saint Joseph's College.  Kickoff will be at noon.