ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T will close out its 2016 season Saturday afternoon when it heads to Quincy, Ill., to take on a Quincy University squad looking to finish with a winning record when the teams meet up on the QU campus in a 1 p.m. contest.
The Miners dropped to 4-6 on the season when they dropped a 16-6 decision to Indianapolis in their home finale last week at Allgood-Bailey Stadium and now will look to keep the 5-5 Hawks from finishing the season above .500 when they hook up Saturday.
It will be a matchup of two teams who will be looking to end the campaign on a high note, as both the Miners and Hawks have dropped their last three contests. Both teams are 3-4 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, so the winner will also finish at the break-even mark in league play.
ABOUT THE MINERS: Missouri S&T managed just 222 yards of total offense in Saturday's loss to Indianapolis, despite running for 145 in the game which was just over the Miners' seasonal average of 139.6 per game.
Charles Bournes (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park), who led S&T with 61 yards on Saturday, heads the Miner ground game with 518 on the season.
Braxton Graham (Seneca, MO/Seneca) continues to rank among the GLVC leaders in both receiving and all-purpose yards heading into the season finale. Graham has caught 59 passes for 911 yards – ranking him among the top five in the league in both categories – while sitting third in the all-purpose yards department with 1,557.
The all-purpose yardage number is the third-highest for a Miner in program history and also includes 255 yards in punt returns, which leads to an average of 18.2 yards per return that leads the conference heading into the final weekend of action. That punt return mark is also the third-best in NCAA Division II.
Quarterback
Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson) has completed 58.6 percent of his passes this season for 1,896 yards and 18 touchdowns, while
Lamar Wilkes (Maryland Heights, MO/Pattonville), who got the start at quarterback a week ago, has thrown for 196 and two scores.
Landon Compton (Lamar, MO/Lamar) leads the Miner defensive efforts with 85 tackles, including four sacks and 11.5 tackles for a loss.
Austin Truvillion (Kansas City, MO/Park Hill) has made 67 stops on the year and
Bo Brooks (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) has been in on 56 tackles.
Andrew Masters (Kearney, MO/Kearney), one of 15 seniors playing in their final game at S&T on Saturday, leads the team in sacks with 5.5 while fellow defensive end
Bret Curtis (Lombard, IL/Glenbard South) has a team-high 13.5 tackles for a loss.
ABOUT QUINCY: The Hawks were 5-2 after knocking off Indianapolis on Oct. 15, but have dropped three straight games since to bring a 5-5 record into its final game of the year on Saturday. Quincy was knocked off by McKendree by a count of 35-17 on Saturday for its third straight setback.
The Hawks have one of the GLVC's top offensive threats in wide receiver Eric Poindexter, who leads the GLVC with 1,218 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns – on 61 receptions – as well as in all-purpose yards with 1,892 yards. That total includes a league-high 375 that Poindexter accumulated in a win last month over William Jewell.
Quarterback Robbie Kelley has a 58 percent completion rate this season for 2,290 yards and 22 touchdowns, while redshirt freshman Jaylan James has paced a running game that is averaging 163.4 yards per game with 735 yards; he ranks third in the conference in rushing on the year.
Quincy has the GLVC's top-ranked defense, allowing just 317.2 yards per contest and is also tops in pass defense at 171.6 yards per game. Linebacker Cody Leonard has a team-high 70 tackles, while T.J. Daniels and Shane Barrett have made 63 stops apiece; cornerback Adahkeem Brown is second in the GLVC with five interceptions.
