ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T hits the road for the final time in the 2014 season Saturday as it takes on a hot Quincy squad in a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest in Quincy, Ill. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
The Miners will be looking to snap a two-game losing streak this weekend against a Hawk squad that has been victorious in each of its last three contests. Quincy, 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the GLVC, knocked off league co-leader William Jewell 42-28 Saturday, a week after the Cardinals had knocked off S&T in Rolla. The Miners saw their fourth quarter rally fall short in a 27-24 loss at McKendree to fall to 3-5 and 2-3 in GLVC play.
Peter Simpson (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) came off the bench for the Miners and completed 13-of-25 passes for 218 yards and a pair of touchdowns after entering the contest with S&T trailing 24-0. He fired a 40-yard scoring pass to
Melvin Stovall (Los Angeles, Calif./Lancaster) and another one late in the game to
Leon Moody (St. Louis, Mo./DeSmet Jesuit HS).
Stovall enters the game with 43 catches for 781 yards and seven touchdowns; he is currently ranked fourth in the GLVC in receptions and in yardage after posting his ninth career 100-yard game Saturday. Moody has hauled in 30 passes for 376 yards and
Nick Taylor (Wichita, Kan./Southeast HS) comes in with 29 catches for 262 yards.
Scott Hendricks (Kechi, Kan./Maize HS), who has missed the last two games with an injury, still leads S&T in rushing with 310 yards while
Charles Bournes (Chicago, Ill./Morgan Park), who had a touchdown run at McKendree, has 257 yards and a pair of scores this season.
Defensively, linebacker
Zach Melber (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) continues to lead the Miners in tackles with 51 and has a team-high 15 stops behind the line of scrimmage. The Miners are currently ranked second in NCAA Division II in quarterback sacks with 33, led by the 8.5 recorded by
Daleroy Davey (Kansas City, Kan./Turner).
S&T also has the GLVC's leader in interceptions in
Will Brown (Hazelwood, Mo./Hazelwood West) with four, as part of a secondary that has picked off seven passes in the last three weeks and shares the league lead with 11 on the season. They will be taking on a Quincy offense that has thrown a league-low three interceptions in the first eight weeks of the year behind quarterback Nick Lonergan, the reigning GLVC offensive "Player of the Week."
Lonergan ranks second in the conference with his average of 248.9 passing yards per game while completing 64.6 percent of his throws for 1,991 yards and 12 touchdowns. His three primary targets have been Eric Poindexter with 35 catches for 540 yards and five touchdowns, tight end Owen Schoenenberger with 27 receptions for 402 yards and Kody Wood, who has caught 25 balls for 353 yards.
The Hawks have also been aided by a solid running attack paced by Chris Harris, who ranks fourth in the GLVC with 794 yards after running for 122 in the win at William Jewell. Harris has also scored 15 touchdowns, the second-most in the conference this season and had a GLVC-record seven in Quincy's win over Southwest Baptist on Oct. 11. The Hawks are the third-highest scoring team in the GLVC with 32.4 points per game.
Meanwhile, Quincy's defense ranks second in the conference in yards allowed overall at 339.4 and has given up just 108.2 per game on the ground. Linebacker Ike Onike leads the way with 64 tackles, while Dan Camp has recorded 54 stops. Defensive ends Tanner Day and Andrew Smikle have a team-high five sacks apiece, while Day has also made five additional tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
Cornerback Jasus Harkins has three of the Hawks' ten interceptions this year.
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