Box Score NCAA Division II Football Selection Show (4 p.m. Central, Sunday, Nov. 11)

RAPID CITY, S.D. – Missouri S&T wrapped up one of its most successful regular seasons in school history Saturday by dashing through the snow and wind to a 66-17 romp over South Dakota School of Mines – and now awaits the word to see if a bigger present – aka, an NCAA playoff berth – comes along with the 10-1 finish to the season.

The 20th-ranked Miners spotted the host Hardrockers a field goal in the opening quarter while they were going into a 20-mile per hour wind on an afternoon with snow falling and wind chills in the teens.  But when the quarter changed and the Miners got the wind at their backs, they took off by scoring 20 straight points and then busting the game open in the second half as they set the program's single-season scoring record in the process.

Saturday's win allowed the Miners to match their single-season mark for victories with 10, which was established in 1980 when that team finished undefeated and is the second-best winning percentage for a season in school history behind the undefeated squads of 1914 and 1980.

Curterris Golden (Chicago, Ill./John Hope) scored four touchdowns for the Miners and Smook Thomas (Quincy, Fla./East Gadsden) scored three, including one on a punt return in the second half as the Miners put 46 points on the scoreboard after the intermission.

The game didn't start out quite so well for the Miners, who had two drives stall in Mines territory.  S&T was unable to convert on a fourth down play to end one drive and had another end with an interception by Jordan Bell that was returned to the Miners' 37-yard line.

The Hardrockers were unable to score on those two opportunities, but did get a 32-yard field goal from Kolten Jelden to grab the 3-0 lead they would carry into the second quarter.

As the teams switched ends at the quarter break, the Miners finally got their offense going as the period wore on.

Following a missed field goal that would have tied the score, S&T got the ball right back when Chris Emesih (Houston, Texas/Westfield) recovered a Chris Sawdey fumble and returned it to the Mines five-yard line.  Three plays later, Golden scored from the four to put the Miners in front.

S&T added to its lead after another Hardrocker fumble, which was returned to the Mines 15 by Mark Hopkins (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young), leading to another three-yard scoring run by Golden.  The Miners added another score right before halftime on a four-yard touchdown pass from Reed Brown (Rogers, Ark./Heritage HS) to Thomas to take a 20-3 lead to the locker room.

South Dakota put together its best drive of the afternoon to open the second half – an 11-play, 68-yard journey – that concluded with a five-yard touchdown run by Jahmal Rover.  However, the Miners answered right back as Golden opened the next series with a 35-yard run to set up Brown's 20-yard scoring pass to Thomas.

Later in the third quarter, Brown threw his third scoring pass of the day, a 13-yard toss to Danny Fishkind (Dallas, Texas/Plano West), then Golden scored for the third time near the end of the period on a 38-yard run.

That was followed by a pair of returns for touchdowns early in the final period, first a 44-yard punt return by Thomas and then a 51-yard interception runback by Jake Schneider (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North) that pushed the S&T lead to 51-10.

After the Hardrockers scored again on a one-yard run by Rover, the Miners put two more touchdowns on the board on a 25-yard run by Zenel Hudson (Bayshore, N.Y./Milford Academy) and Golden's fourth scoring run of the day, a four-yard run that allowed him to break the Miners' single-season record for rushing touchdowns on his 14^th of the year.

The Miners outgained the Hardrockers 502 to 187, which included a season-high 319 yards on the ground.  Golden ran for 140 yards on 20 carries to lead that ground attack.

Brown, who saw the bulk of the playing time at quarterback Saturday, completed 11-of-21 passes for 128 yards and the three scores, with Thomas catching eight balls for 61 yards to break another single-season mark for receptions, finishing the regular season with 92 catches.

As a team, the Miners scored 458 points over their 11 games.

On the defensive side, the Miners intercepted three passes, recovered two fumbles and recorded three quarterback sacks.  Hopkins, who had one of the fumble recoveries, had a team-high seven tackles while the sacks came from Eddie Rascon (Canutillo, Texas/Canutillo), Freddy Dugard (Queens Village, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) and Dan Mauszycki (Gardner, Kan./Gardner-Edgerton HS).