ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T will seek its first 3-0 start in conference play as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Saturday when it heads to Liberty, Mo., to take on William Jewell College. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. at Steele Stadium on the WJC campus.
The Miners led from start to finish last Saturday in a 39-27 win over Saint Joseph's at Allgood-Bailey Stadium. S&T recorded its highest offensive output in three years in the win with 569 yards of total offense, while holding the Pumas to 276 in the contest. Missouri S&T is 2-2 overall heading into Saturday's game.
William Jewell, meanwhile, is seeking its first win of the 2015 season as it will come in at 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the GLVC. The Cardinals lost 41-23 to McKendree Saturday, as they allowed 34 unanswered points to the Bearcats after tying the score at seven midway through the first quarter.
ABOUT THE MINERS: Missouri S&T had its best offensive night since 2012 Saturday when it rolled up 569 total yards on 98 plays from scrimmage – one short of the S&T single game record – in their 39-27 win over Saint Joseph's. The Miners got a big night from quarterback
Lamar Wilkes (Maryland Heights, Mo./Pattonville) and his skill position mates, as the sophomore signalcaller completed 23-of-39 passes for a career-high 354 yards.
Wilkes also accounted for four touchdowns, three of them through the air and the fourth on the ground as he finished with 386 total yards. S&T also got 120 rushing from
Dalton Major (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara), while
Spencer Elrod (Lancaster, Calif./Eastside) and
Braxton Graham (Seneca, Mo./Seneca) also cleared the 100-yard mark in receiving, as Elrod had 129 and Graham finished with 101 as part of a night where he accumulated 208 all-purpose yards.
The Miners are averaging 161 yards per game on the ground, which ranks second in the GLVC and are led by Major with 215 on the season. Graham has caught 18 passes for 205 yards and Elrod has 17 receptions for 262 yards that included a 75-yard scoring catch against the Pumas. Wilkes has completed 48.9 percent of his throws for 787 yards and four touchdowns on the season.
Not to be outdone, the Miner defense also got into the scoring column Saturday by recording a safety on the Pumas' first play from scrimmage and holding them to 276 for the game. Linebacker
Landon Compton (Lamar, Mo./Lamar) became the second Miner in as many weeks to earn the GLVC's "Player of the Week" award as he had nine tackles, including a sack, 3.5 stops for a loss and two pass breakups.
Austin Truvillion (Kansas City, Mo./Park Hill), who won the GLVC's weekly honor the previous week, leads S&T in tackles with 34 while Compton has 31 on the year. Cornerback
Jeremi Ross (Valencia, Calif./Hollywood) has 27 stops with three pass breakups and
Nate Brown (Webb City, Mo./Webb City) has also been in on 27 tackles. Safety
Albert Yemitan (Houston, Texas/Western Illinois Univ.) leads the Miners with five pass breakups on the year.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS: William Jewell, who handed Indianapolis its first-ever GLVC loss on the final day of the 2014 season, comes into Saturday's game looking for its first win in 2015. The Cardinals lost 41-23 to McKendree last week despite having offensive numbers that almost matched those of the Bearcats with 391 yards of total offense, including 306 through the air.
Quarterback Nick West has completed 55.8 percent of his pass attempts for 883 yards and three touchdowns, with 19 of those completions going to Anthony Mullins for 284 yards. Mullins leads the GLVC in all-purpose yards with 175.8 per game and has a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to his credit this season.
Thomas Cook has been the Cardinals' leading rusher through four games with 171 yards and is averaging 5.5 yards per carry.
Defensively, William Jewell has been paced by linebacker Nick Messer with 38 tackles, including four for a loss and two sacks. Safety Isaac Dozier has 32 tackles on the year, while defensive end Robert Hurd has 4.5 tackles for a loss and leads the conference with 3.5 quarterback sacks. However, the Cardinals rank eighth in total defense in the GLVC as they have allowed 439 yards and 40.2 points per game.
