QUINCY, Ill. – After not forcing a turnover during the course of a three-game losing streak, Missouri S&T's defense forced two in the second half that led to scores and got two more stops in the fourth quarter to secure a season-ending 24-20 win over Quincy Saturday afternoon.

Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson) threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Ben Matthews (Platte City, MO/Platte County) following a fumble forced by defensive end Tershawn Wharton (University City, MO/University City) to give the Miners the lead with just over 12 minutes remaining, then the Miners got two pass breakups in the end zone from Jeremi Ross (Valencia, CA/Hollywood) – including on the final play of the game – to pick up the win and finish the season at 5-6 and 4-4 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

S&T got the ball on downs after the first end zone breakup by Ross and was able to burn over three minutes off the clock before giving it back to the Hawks on downs with 22 seconds left.

Quincy quarterback Robbie Kelley completed a 39-yard pass to Brandan Saak to get into S&T territory, then a pair of penalties on S&T moved the ball to the three-yard line with three seconds to go.  Kelley tried to hit Eric Poindexter on a slant pattern, but Ross broke up the play as time expired.

The Miners got on the scoreboard just 1:10 into play after Charles Bournes (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) returned the opening kickoff to the Miners' 48-yard line, setting up a 24-yard touchdown pass from Swart to Braxton Graham (Seneca, MO/Seneca) three plays later.  Graham accounted for all 52 yards of the drive on two pass receptions sandwiched around a 14-yard run.

After the S&T defense got a three-and-out on Quincy's opening possession, the Miners scored again after Swart completed a 60-yard pass to Logan Armontrout (Centralia, MO/Centralia) to reach the Hawks' five-yard line.  The drive stalled, however, so S&T had to settle for a 22-yard field goal from Ben Styron to make it 10-0.

The Miners had a shot at another three-and-out on Quincy's next possession, but Kelley completed a 28-yard pass to Eric Poindexter on third-and-11 to keep the ball.  Quincy continued moving the ball down the field – converting two more third down plays along the way – and reached the end zone on a 15-yard run by Chris Harris.

S&T came right back, as Bournes took the ensuing kickoff to the Quincy 29 and the Miners would eventually get back to the Hawks' five, but a fumbled snap led to a turnover that halted that chance late in the first quarter.

The Hawks grabbed the lead late in the half when Kelley completed a 44-yard pass to Kody Wood to set up his own nine-yard touchdown run on a quarterback keeper to put Quincy into the lead.  A bad snap on the extra point kept the score at 13-10.

Quincy had an opportunity to extend the lead when Kelley completed a pass down the middle of the field to D.J. Daughtry, but when he reached the five-yard line, Ross knocked the ball free and recovered the fumble in the end zone.

S&T took advantage of the turnover, moving 80 yards on five plays to regain the lead with just over six minutes to go in the third period.  Swart completed four of the five passes he threw on the drive, the last an eight-yard touchdown pass to Graham.

However, one play after the kickoff, Kelley threw a ball downfield that went off the hands of Dominique Bobo, but right to Jake Braskett for a 61-yard touchdown, putting Quincy back in front just 18 seconds after the Graham score.

But another turnover by the Hawks – which occurred when Wharton knocked the ball away from Kelley when he was rolling out of the pocket and recovered by Austin Truvillion (Kansas City, MO/Park Hill) – led to another go-ahead score for the Miners. After Swart completed a pass to Lamar Wilkes (Maryland Heights, MO/Pattonville) to the Hawk 15, Matthews caught a touchdown pass on the next play to give the advantage back to the Miners at 24-20.

The Miner defense got a big stop with under four minutes left, as after the Hawks moved to the S&T 36-yard line, Ross broke up a pass in the end zone on fourth down to force a turnover on downs. 

S&T finished the day with 381 yards of total offense, including a career-high 282 from Swart on 19-of-45 passing, while Graham caught nine passes for 118 yards to become the sixth player in Miner history to finish with at least 1,000 receiving yards in a season.   Graham ended the year with 1,029 yards.

Ross had three pass breakups in the contest to go with seven tackles, while Bo Brooks (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) led the way with 11 stops for S&T.  The Miners had three sacks Saturday -- including two by Wharton -- as the Miners recorded 12 tackles for a lost to finish with a total of 101, the second-most in a year in team history.

Quincy, who got 411 yards passing from Kelley, also finished the season at 5-6 and 3-5 in the GLVC.  The Hawks had 479 yards of total offense, but only 67 on the ground.