ROLLA, Mo. – Following consecutive victories in Great Lakes Valley Conference play, Missouri S&T will step outside of conference play for a week as it will head to Georgia to face Kennesaw State Saturday afternoon in a 1 p.m. (Eastern time) contest.
The Miners recorded their first shutout in over four years Saturday, holding William Jewell to 209 yards of total offense and tying a GLVC record with five interceptions in a 26-0 victory over the Cardinals at Allgood-Bailey Stadium. S&T, now 3-2 on the season, will look for its first three-game winning streak in two seasons on Saturday.
Its opponent, Kennesaw State from the NCAA Division I Football Championship Series (FCS) ranks, is on a three-game winning streak and knocked off Furman 52-42 Saturday to improve to 3-1 in its second season of play. The Owls have one of the top offenses in the FCS ranks, as they rank ninth in total offense and fifth in rushing at that level.
Kennesaw State is the first opponent from the NCAA Division I ranks that the Miners are facing in nearly five seasons.
ABOUT THE MINERS: Thanks to a big performance from the defensive unit, the Miners improved to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the GLVC with the 26-0 blanking of William Jewell Saturday night.
Bret Curtis (Lombard, IL/Glenbard South), named Monday as the GLVC's defensive player of the week, led the efforts of the defensive unit with 10 tackles, five for a loss, 2.5 sacks and one of S&T's GLVC record-tying five interceptions.
The Miners held the Cardinals to 209 yards of total offense, the fewest allowed by S&T in a conference game since the 2013 season finale and enter Saturday's game ranked seventh in NCAA Division II as they have allowed just 77.8 yards per game on the ground.
Linebacker
Landon Compton (Lamar, MO/Lamar) leads the S&T defense with 43 tackles and also had an interception in the contest, while Curtis has made 28 stops and leads the Miners with nine tackles for a loss, which is good for 11
th in NCAA Division II.
The Miners also got interceptions Saturday from
Jeremi Ross (Valencia, CA/Hollywood), Issac Williams and
Shaun Williams (St. Louis, MO/DeSmet Jesuit), who returned his 35 yards for a touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, quarterback
Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson) has completed 57.8 percent of his passes on the season for 1,147 yards and 11 touchdowns. He completed 15 throws Saturday to
Braxton Graham (Seneca, MO/Seneca) for a career-high 186 yards; Graham leads the Miner receivers with 34 catches for 539 yards and three touchdowns.
Ray Mullen (Palm Springs, CA/Palm Springs) has caught 17 passes for 252 yards and three scores, while
Logan Armontrout (Centralia, MO/Centralia) has 10 catches for 118 yards.
Charles Bournes (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) recorded the first 100-yard game of his Miner career with 116 on Saturday and leads S&T with 257 yards on the ground, while
Dalton Major (Bourbonnais, IL/Bishop McNamara) – who went over 100 yards a week earlier at Saint Joseph's – has 218 on the season. The Miners are averaging 138.8 rushing yards per game.
ABOUT KENNESAW STATE: The Owls have won three straight games since dropping their season opener in overtime to East Tennessee State and are averaging 45.7 points per game in that stretch; they are 12
th at the FCS level in scoring with an average of 38 points per game.
Quarterback Chandler Burks has completed 31-of-48 passes this season in the Owls' spread option attack for 468 yards and six touchdowns, while also ranking as the team's second-leading rusher with 202 yards and five scores. Burks accounted for four touchdowns in KSU's win last week at Furman as he ran for 103 of the team's 393 yards on the ground.
Micah Reed leads the Owls, who are averaging 282 yards per game rushing, with 240 on the year, while wideout Justin Sumpter has 25 receptions for an average of 117 yards per game, the sixth-best mark in NCAA FCS.
Defensively, the Owls are paced by linebacker Izzy Sam with 30 tackles on the season and defensive end Tonarious Portress with 22, including seven for a loss, while cornerback Dante Blackmon leads the FCS ranks in passes defended and is tied for the national lead with four interceptions.
