ROLLA, Mo. – After falling behind 17-0 to McKendree in a clash of the co-holders of the second place spot in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, Missouri S&T used a series of big plays to turn the game in its favor and came away with a 34-27 win on Homecoming at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The Bearcats jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first nine minutes of play on a pair of short Isaac Fisher touchdown passes, covering three yards to Sean Dowling and five yards to Darius Crochrell.  McKendree looked to add to the lead on its next trip down the field, but Isaiah Hardy (San Jose, Calif./Sobrato) blocked Steven O'Block's 37-yard field goal attempt.

O'Block did make a field goal from 22 yards away on McKendree's next possession to extend the Bearcat lead to 17-0 nearly midway through the second quarter, but the momentum changed quickly when the Miners got the ball back.

Two plays following the ensuing kickoff, Lamar Wilkes (Maryland Heights, Mo./Pattonville) hit Braxton Graham (Seneca, Mo./Seneca) down the middle of field and Graham zig-zagged through the secondary before getting into the open field to go 70 yards for a touchdown to get the Miners on the scoreboard.

Then after forcing the Bearcats into the first punt of the day, S&T drove 78 yards for another touchdown to draw closer before halftime.  Wilkes hit Ray Mullen (Palm Springs, Calif./Palm Springs) for a 13-yard pickup on third-and-10 early in the drive, then a reverse by Spencer Elrod (Lancaster, Calif./Eastside) picked up another 30 yards to get the Miners into McKendree territory.

Late in the drive, after Wilkes picked up a first down on a third down play, Dalton Major (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara) finished the drive by plowing over from nine yards out to cut the lead to 17-14.

S&T got the ball to begin the second half and put together its longest drive of the day to take its first lead of the contest.

Starting on its own 13-yard line, the Miners were able to convert on a fourth-and-one near midfield when Major broke off a 17-yard run, then got a third down conversion when Wilkes hit tight end Cody Burgess (Cuba, Mo./Cuba HS) for a 22-yard gain to the Bearcats' six-yard line.

Two plays later, Wilkes kept the ball on an option play and scored from the five to put S&T in front.

The Miner defense got a three-and-out on the Bearcats after they had to start inside their own 10-yard line following the kickoff, then the special teams produced another big play when Graham fielded the punt at midfield and cut through the coverage for a touchdown to give S&T a 10-point advantage.

McKendree closed the gap to seven on a 41-yard field goal by O'Block, but S&T scored again on its next possession when Tyler Swart (Dickinson, Texas/Dickinson) – who entered the game at quarterback when Wilkes went down momentarily with an injury – scrambled out of the pocket and hit Elrod downfield, who in turn dragged a McKendree defender across the goal line to put the Miners up 34-20.

The Bearcats threatened to cut into the lead when they drove to the Miners' nine-yard line late in the third quarter, but a botched handoff was recovered by S&T's Dorian Yearby (DeSoto, Texas/DeSoto) to halt that opportunity.  It marked the second time in the game that the Bearcats had a drive in the opponent's red zone that did result in any points – after failing to do so just once in their first six games of the season.

McKendree did get to within seven when Fisher scored on a 13-yard run with 2:12 to play, then after S&T recovered the onside kick, the Bearcats were able to get the ball back with 45 seconds remaining.  However, the Miners stopped them on downs, getting a sack of Fisher from Bret Curtis (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard South) on the Bearcats' final play to lock up the win.

Following the slow start offensively, as S&T had only 42 yards of total offense in the first quarter to the Bearcats' 209, the Miners finished the day with 498 yards that included 235 on the ground. Major had his second game with over 100 yards as he finished with a career-high 144 and was one of three Miners with over 100 all-purpose yards.

Graham finished with 245 of them, which included 106 on four receptions, while Elrod had four catches for 93 yards and he finished with 123 overall.

Wilkes, who did return to the game after Swart's touchdown pass, completed 12-of-15 passes for 211 yards.

McKendree (5-2, 3-2 GLVC) finished with 504 yards of offense, most of it through Fisher who threw for 304 and ran for another 60.  The Miners did record four sacks of the GLVC leader in total offense with Josip Juric (West Des Moines, Iowa/Dowling Catholic) being in on two of them.

Nate Brown (Webb City, Mo./Webb City) had 11 tackles and Landon Compton (Lamar, Mo./Lamar) had 10 to pace the Miner defense, while the secondary broke up nine passes to help push S&T over the .500 mark for the first time this season at 4-3 overall.

The Miners, who improved to 4-1 in the GLVC with the win, will play at home again next Saturday as they host Southwest Baptist in a 1 p.m. contest at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.