ROLLA, Mo. – Big nights on both sides of the football and on special teams proved to be instrumental as Missouri S&T won its second straight Great Lakes Valley Conference contest Saturday night, blanking William Jewell 26-0 on Miner Hall of Fame Night at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

S&T's defensive unit tied a GLVC record by intercepting five Cardinal passes – including one that was returned for a touchdown – while freshman placekicker Ben Styron set a league mark with four field goals.  And while the Miner offense was only able to reach the end zone once, it did pile up 445 yards of total offense and got big games from three individuals along the way.

After the Miner defense got a three-and-out on the Cardinals' opening series of the game, Braxton Graham (Seneca, MO/Seneca) returned the punt 26 yards to the Miner 45-yard line to set up the S&T touchdown drive.  Seven plays after the getting the ball, Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson) completed a nine-yard scoring pass to Ray Mullen (Palm Springs, CA/Palm Springs) in the back corner of the end zone to give the Miners the early lead.

S&T scored again on its next possession, thanks in part to a 63-yard completion to Graham that set up a 42-yard field goal by Ben Styron, the first of four he would make in the contest to become the fifth player in school history to make four in a game.

Styron would kick two more field goals before the half ended, making attempts from 32 and 37 yards to give S&T a 16-0 lead that it would take to halftime.  He would kick another 32-yard field goal early in the second half to extend the lead to 19, right before the defense got in on the scoring.

On the first play following the ensuing kickoff, Shaun Williams (St. Louis, MO/DeSmet Jesuit) picked off a Collin Rugg pass and took it down the sideline for a 35-yard touchdown return to add to the S&T advantage.

The Miners, who were a co-holder of the league's single game interception mark of five which they recorded in a 2012 win at Arkansas Tech, also got interceptions from Jeremi Ross (Valencia, CA/Hollywood) and Landon Compton (Lamar, MO/Lamar) in the first half Saturday and from Bret Curtis (Lombard, IL/Glenbard South) and Isaac Williams (St. Louis, MO/DeSmet Jesuit) in the final 30 minutes.

Besides the interception, Curtis was in on a team-high 10 tackles in the game and recorded two and a half sacks and five stops for losses totaling 19 yards to help the Miners post their first shutout since beating McKendree 31-0 in their first-ever GLVC contest in 2012.

S&T, which made 13 tackles for losses in the game that included a season-high six sacks, held the Cardinals to 209 yards of total offense.

Swart completed 20-of-36 passes in the contest for 256 yards and the one touchdown; he completed 15 of those throws to Graham – one short of the school record – for a career-best 186 yards.  Including the punt return that preceded S&T's first score of the night, Graham finished with 212 all-purpose yards Saturday.

Not to be outdone, Charles Bournes (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) recorded his first career 100-yard performance as he finished with 116 yards on 15 carries.  His 56-yard run in the second quarter set up the second of Styron's four field goals.

Missouri S&T improved to 3-2 with Saturday's win and to 2-1 in the GLVC, while the Cardinals dropped to 0-5 and 0-3 in the GLVC.

The Miners will step outside of conference play next week as they face Kennesaw State (3-1) in Kennesaw, Ga.; kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. (Eastern time).