ROLLA, Mo. – A key matchup in Great Lakes Valley Conference play takes place Saturday at Allgood-Bailey Stadium, as the two teams currently tied for second place -- Missouri S&T and McKendree -- face off in the Miners' Homecoming contest. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
Both teams come into the game at 3-1 in league play and at worst the winner will stay one game in back of league leader Indianapolis. The two squads are also coming off wins in their most recent GLVC outing on Saturday.
The Miners defeated Lincoln by a count of 40-23 in Jefferson City, whike McKendree also claimed a road victory with a 29-10 win at Saint Joseph's.
ABOUT THE MINERS: Missouri S&T broke open a close game at Lincoln late in the first half and over the first 20 minutes after intermission in its 40-23 win, as it raised its record to 3-3 on the year.
Up 14-7 in the final minute of the half, an interception by
Isaac Williams (St. Louis, Mo./DeSmet Jesuit) set up a touchdown pass from
Lamar Wilkes (Maryland Heights, Mo./Pattonville) to
Braxton Graham (Seneca, Mo./Seneca) on the final play to extend the lead.
While the Miner defense was holding down Lincoln's offense -- just 38 yards in the first 20 minutes -- S&T scored three touchdowns to take as much as a 31-point lead in the second half.
Linebacker
Austin Truvillion (Kansas City, Mo./Park Hill) led the Miner defense with eight tackles in the game and has a team-high 51 on the season, while
Landon Compton (Lamar, Mo./Lamar) has made 50 tackles.
Rob Cidlik (Eureka, Mo./Eureka) leads the team with eight tackles behind the line of scrimmage and is tied with
Josip Juric (West Des Moines, Iowa/Dowling Catholic) with three sacks, while S&T's unit has picked off six passes, two of them by Williams.
Offensively, Wilkes has completed 98-of-208 passes for 1,186 y ards and eight touchdowns after throwing for 204 a week ago. Graham and
Spencer Elrod (Lancaster, Calif./Eastside) have caught 26 passes apiece, with Elrod -- who had a scoring catch at Lincoln as well -- recording 407 yards and three scores.
Graham has 351 yards and two touchdowns and the duo has combined for 1,413 all-purpose yards on the season, ranking both among the top six in the GLVC.
Dalton Major (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara) has a team-high 242 yards on the ground, while
D'Luis West (Troup, Texas/Troup) has 180 yards and is fresh off a three-touchdown performance a week ago.
ABOUT McKENDREE: A year ago, McKendree started the year with six consecutive losses, but since then has rattled off 10 wins in 11 games and enters Saturday's contest at 5-1 overall.
The Bearcats, who beat the Miners 27-24 a year ago in Lebanon, Ill., suffered their only loss to league leader Indianapolis two weeks ago and come in as the GLVC's most proficient team offensively, averaging a league-best 34.8 points per game.
Quarterback Isaac Fisher is far and away the league leader in total offense, averaging 359.3 yards per game. Fisher has completed 65.6 percent of his passes for 1,688 yards and 14 touchdowns, while also leading the Bearcats in rushing with 466 yards and six more scores.
Fisher's top target has been Cameron James with 32 receptions for 424 yards and five scores, while Dustin Walls also has five scoring receptions out of his 27 catches for 350 yards. McKendree has four players with 21 or more catches on the year.
A.J. Wentland leads the Bearcat defense with a GLVC-high 86 tackles, while All-America defensive end Lucky Baar leads the league with eight sacks; Baar and Brett Pearman rank one-two in the conference in sacks with a combined 14.5 of the team's 22. McKendree ranks eighth in NCAA Division II in sacks and is the best team in the nation in terms of scoring in the red zone, getting points on 21 of their 22 trips inside the opponents' 20-yard line.
