LEBANON, Ill. – A furious fourth quarter rally by Missouri S&T fell short Saturday afternoon, as McKendree held onto what was once a 24-point lead for a 27-24 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory.

Trailing 24-0 entering the fourth quarter, the Miners started their rally when Peter Simpson (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) -- who entered the game at quarterback in relief of Lamar Wilkes (Maryland Heights, Mo./Pattonville), threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Melvin Stovall (Los Angeles, Calif./Lancaster).  The touchdown pass came right after a Bearcat interception was nullified by a pass interference penalty, as Stovall ran past the secondary down the middle of the field for his seventh touchdown reception of the season.

Stovall caught a 36-yard pass that put the Miners just shy of the end zone minutes later before Charles Bournes (Chicago, Ill./Morgan Park) took it in on the next play to cut the margin down to 10 with 8:44 to play.

S&T got the ball back with 7:38 remaining and caught a break on fourth down when the Bearcats were called for offsides on a play when the Miners threw an incompletion. Given a life, Simpson hit Leon Moody (St. Louis, Mo./DeSmet Jesuit HS) for 14 yards to the McKendree six-yard line and S&T got points on the drive when Nolan Mannino (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) kicked a 23-yard field goal with 3:56 to go, cutting the lead to seven.

However, the Bearcats – buoyed by two long runs – drove back deep into Miner territory and got a 39-yard field goal with 1:20 left from O'Block to make it a two-possession game.

Simpson drove the Miners back down the field and threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Leon Moody (St. Louis, Mo./DeSmet Jesuit HS) with nine seconds remaining to make it 27-24, but the Bearcats recovered the onside kick to hold onto the win.

The Miners got off to a slow start offensively and the Bearcats were able to take advantage of that, building a 17-0 lead by halftime.

McKendree broke in front on its opening possession, which ended with a 26-yard field goal by Steven O'Block.  Before the first quarter ended, the Bearcats scored again when quarterback Isaac Fisher crossed the goal line on a one-yard run.

The Bearcats made it 17-0 on another scoring run by Fisher, this one a two-yard run, to cap a drive where McKendree started at midfield.  S&T thwarted another scoring chance by the Bearcats in the final minute of the half when linebacker Dillon Bowman (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt South) picked off a Fisher pass at the goal line.

S&T had just 45 yards of total offense in the first half to 292 for the Bearcats, as Fisher was 24-of-32 for 210 yards in the first 30 minutes.

Things didn't begin well for S&T in the second half either, as quarterback Lamar Wilkes (Maryland Heights, Mo./Pattonville) was picked off twice in the first three minutes.  The Miners recovered a fumble immediately after the first interception when Dan Mauszycki (Gardner, Kan./Gardner-Edgerton HS) pounced on a loose ball after Daleroy Davey (Kansas City, Kan./Turner) sacked Fisher, but the second turnover followed shortly afterwards and the Bearcats turned that one into points.

A.J. Wentland stepped in front of Nick Taylor (Wichita, Kan./Southeast HS) to make the interception just inside of midfield, then the Bearcats were in the end zone eight plays later on a three-yard run by Myles Hammonds to extend the lead to 24-0.

McKendree finished with a 454-285 advantage in the yardage department, as the Miners accumulated 229 of those yards in the fourth quarter.  Simpson was 13-of-25 for 218 yards and the two scores, with Stovall and Moody both finishing with over 100 yards in receptions.

Stovall had 106 yards on his six catches, while Moody also caught six for 102 yards.

Bowman had 13 tackles to go along with the interception, while Jon Vance (Marshalltown, Iowa/Marshalltown) also had an interception for the Miners.

Fisher threw for 295 yards and ran for another 84 to finish with 379 total yards in the game, while completing passes to eight different receivers in going 34-of-49 through the air for the Bearcats (2-6, 2-3 GLVC).

The Miners, who dropped to 3-5 overall and 2-3 in GLVC contests, will play their final road game of the 2014 season next Saturday when they play a 1 p.m. game at Quincy.