RENSSELAER, Ind. – For the second straight year, a missed extra point became the decisive play to allow Missouri S&T to come away with a 14-13 victory over Saint Joseph's, as the Miners picked up their second straight win in Great Lakes Valley Conference play Saturday afternoon.

Puma quarterback Tate Borlik scored on a 13-yard run with 3:20 to play to cut a seven-point Miner lead to one, but freshman linebacker Dillon Bowman (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt South) crashed through and blocked Gavin Voss' extra point attempt that would have tied the score to keep the Miners in front.

On a day when the two teams were playing in adverse conditions – with cold, rain and wind on a muddy field – the Miner defense still needed to get two stops following the blocked kick to preserve the win.

S&T forced the Pumas to surrender the ball on downs, then had to give it back to Saint Joseph's with 27 seconds to go.  After getting to near midfield, Borlik sent a pass downfield into the wind that was caught by EJ Woody eight yards short of the goal line as time expired.

Early in the contest, the Miners missed a couple of scoring chances with a field goal attempt that went wide to the right late in the opening quarter and another that fell short early in the second period of play.

S&T got the ball at midfield following a punt near the midway point of the second quarter, but Eric Heinzman intercepted a Lamar Wilkes (Maryland Heights, Mo./Pattonville) pass and brought it back into Miner territory.  But on the very next play, Braxton Shelton fumbled and safety Chris McKay (Flint, Mich./Carman-Ainsworth HS) returned it 47 yards for the game's first touchdown.

The Miner defense was able to keep the Pumas in check as the  second half began, as the hosts did not run a play in S&T territory until late in the third period.  S&T took that 7-0 lead into the fourth quarter, but a bad snap on a punt gave the Pumas the ball at the S&T 32-yard line.

Five plays later, Borlik connected with Alphonso Hines for a 10-yard touchdown pass that tied the game at seven.

After averting disaster on another bad snap on a punt following its next possession, S&T forced a turnover that led to its go-ahead touchdown.  Josip Juric (West Des Moines, Iowa/Dowling HS) knocked the ball loose from Shelton, then recovered the fumble at the Pumas' 19-yard line.

Scott Hendricks (Kechi, Kan./Maize HS), who ran 22 times for 100 yards, carried the ball on three straight plays after the fumble.  The last of the three runs was a six-yard touchdown that gave the Miners the lead back, then Nolan Mannino (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) connected on a 25-yard extra point after a penalty to extend the lead to seven.

With 5:16 to play, the Pumas took over at their own 47 and picked up three first downs on the drive that culminated in the Borlik touchdown run from the 13.  But Bowman came in and blocked the extra point try that would have tied the game, keeping S&T in the lead with 3:20 to play.

The Miners finished with a 255-239 advantage in total yards and held the Pumas to just 132 yards on the ground, less than half of what they were averaging on the season heading into Saturday's game.  The Miners, meanwhile, finished with 135 yards rushing which included the 100 recorded by Hendricks.

Neither team was able to throw the ball effectively due to the conditions, as the Miners and Pumas combined to complete just 20-of-58 pass attempts.  Melvin Stovall (Los Angeles, Calif./Lancaster) and Nick Taylor (Wichita, Kan./Southeast HS) had four catches apiece to lead S&T, with Stovall accounting for 60 yards in receptions.  The Miner defense also finished with four sacks, two by Dan Mauszycki (Gardner, Kan./Gardner-Edgerton HS) and forced the two turnovers as well.

Zach Melber (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville), last week's "Defensive Player of the Week" in the GLVC, had 10 tackles and three of them for a loss, while Mauszycki and Will Brown (Hazelwood, Mo./Hazelwood West) had eight stops apiece.

A year ago, the Miners (2-3, 2-1 GLVC) beat the Pumas by the same 14-13 score in Rolla – and the difference in that game was also a missed extra point by Saint Joseph's in the first quarter of that contest.  Saturday's win marked the Miners' fifth straight victory over the Pumas (4-1, 1-1 GLVC), who received the most votes of any GLVC team in last week's AFCA national poll.

The Miners, who will play four of their final six games at home, will begin that stretch next Saturday when they host Lindenwood-Belleville at 1 p.m. at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.  Next week's contest will be the Miners' Hall of Fame Game.