Box Score OWENSBORO, Ky. – After getting off to a slow start Saturday afternoon, Missouri S&T picked up the pace in the second quarter and its first Great Lakes Valley Conference win in the process, downing Kentucky Wesleyan 41-21 at Steele Stadium.

S&T trailed 14-7 late in the first quarter after Will Barnes scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak on fourth down.  But after the Barnes touchdown, the Miner defense settled in and S&T was able to outscore the Panthers 34-7 to up its record to 2-4 and even its GLVC mark at 1-1 in the final game of a three-game road stretch.

The Miners got a huge day from their ground game – even with leading rusher Zenel Hudson (Bayshore, N.Y./Milford Academy) sidelined due to an injury -- finishing with 271 yards rushing as part of a 551-yard day offensively.  Chris Kennard (Plano, Texas/Parish Episcopal) ran for a career-high 120 yards on 16 carries, while DeSoto Dickson (Florissant, Mo./Trinity Catholic) had 73 and Anthony Moore (Hazelwood, Mo./McCluer) added 39 and two scores.

Following the Barnes touchdown, the Miners put together a drive that reached the KWC two-yard line, but an illegal block penalty and a sack moved the ball back to the 20, where they had to then settle for a 37-yard field goal from Adam Peden (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington).  But the next time S&T got the football, it went right to its ground game to take the lead for good.

Beginning with an 11-yard carry by Dickson, the Miners ran the ball on all seven plays of the drive and had a carry of at least 10 yards on the possession from three different running backs.  Kennard finished the drive with a two-yard scoring run a little over four minutes into the second quarter to put the Miners in front 17-14.

The Miners would score again on their next possession, which followed an interception by Khalan King (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt East HS), when Moore completed a 54-yard drive with a five-yard run, then pushed their lead to 17 the first time they touched the ball in the second half.  Reed Brown (Rogers, Ark./Heritage HS) connected with Leon Moody (St. Louis, Mo./DeSmet Jesuit HS) for a 57-yard pass play on the first snap and Kennard scored his second touchdown of the day on a three-yard run.

Kentucky Wesleyan got its only points of the second half following the Kennard score, starting in S&T territory after a 33-yard kickoff return by Jeff Ward and a personal foul penalty that allowed it set up shop at the 42-yard line.  Barnes threw a touchdown pass on the next play to Xavier Mitchell to trim the margin to 10.

However, the Miner defense stiffened and set up the next S&T touchdown, as Mark Hopkins (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) picked off a Barnes pass and ran it back 30 yards to the KWC 16-yard line.  Brown fired a 19-yard scoring pass to Melvin Stovall (Los Angeles, Calif./Lancaster) to cap that series and restore the Miners' 17-point lead.

Peden tacked on a 35-yard field goal before the third quarter ended to close the scoring.

The Panthers drove deep into S&T territory twice in the fourth period, once reaching the one-yard line, but Barnes threw an incompletion on fourth down to halt that chance and after a Miner fumble at their own 25, Chris McKay (Flint, Mich./Carman-Ainsworth HS) broke up a fourth down pass to end the hosts' last good scoring chance.

S&T started the scoring in the game by driving 59 yards on its opening possession that ended with a three-yard scoring run by Moore.  The Panthers answered right back to tie the score on a six-yard scoring run by Ward, then following an S&T interception that was returned by to the Miners' seven-yard, KWC got the go-ahead score from Barnes.

The Panthers finished the contest with 241 yards of offense to the 551 posted by the Miners and most of it was through the air, as Barnes completed 21-of-41 throws for 255 yards.  S&T had seven sacks of Barnes in the game with eight different players having a hand in them and also picked off two passes.

Will Brown (Hazelwood, Mo./Hazelwood West), who had one of the seven sacks, led S&T with seven tackles.

Besides the big day on the ground, Brown completed 23-of-37 passes for 280 yards and Moody had eight receptions for a career-high 131 yards.  Moody, Stovall and Ben Matthews (Platte City, Mo./Platte County) combined for 20 of the 23 pass receptions.

The Miners will return to Allgood-Bailey Stadium for their first home game since Sept. 21 next week, hosting Saint Joseph's for Homecoming in a 1 p.m. contest.