ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T will look to win away from home for the fourth consecutive week – something that has never happened in school history – when it heads to Joliet, Ill., Saturday for a matchup with the University of Saint Francis. The contest, which is the first-ever meeting between the schools, kicks off at 1 p.m.
The Miners have not posted a four-game winning streak since capturing the final six contests of the 2012 campaign, but will look to do so this weekend against a Saint team that won for the first time this year last weekend when it beat Saint Ambrose 42-19. Saint Francis, a member of the NAIA ranks, is 1-3 on the season.
Missouri S&T enters its final non-conference game of the season sporting a 3-2 record following its 27-17 victory at William Jewell, thanks to a strong performance by the defense in the second half as the unit kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard to allow the Miners to rally for the win.
ABOUT THE MINERS: Missouri S&T blanked William Jewell in the second half Saturday – the second straight game the Miners held their opponent scoreless in the second half – and came from behind to record the victory over the Cardinals.
S&T held William Jewell to 123 yards of total offense in the second half and comes into Saturday's game with the second-ranked defense in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, as it is holding opponents to 309.4 yards per game. Much of that is due to its run defense, which has held foes to league-low 97 yards per game, the 19
th-best mark in NCAA Division II.
Austin Truvillion (Kansas City, MO/Park Hill) leads the Miners with 42 tackles on the season, while
Tershawn Wharton (University City, MO/University City) has made 36 stops and
Landon Compton (Lamar, MO/Lamar) has 32. Wharton and Compton are among the GLVC leaders in tackles for a loss and sacks, as Wharton has a league-high nine stops behind the line and 4.5 sacks and Compton has recorded 8.5 stops for a loss and four sacks.
Meanwhile,
Ryan Kirkendall (Silsbee, TX/Silsbee) is tied for the national lead in passes defended, including a league-high 10 pass breakups.
On the offensive side, the Miners continue to lead the GLVC in total offense with an average of 466.8 yards per game and has the nation's eighth-ranked passing attack led by quarterback
Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson), who has thrown for a GLVC-best 1,654 yards and 10 touchdowns on the year. Swart is currently ranked fourth in NCAA Division II in passing yards as he has completed 65.9 percent of his throws.
S&T is one of two teams in NCAA Division II that has the conference leader in passing yards (Swart), receiving yards (
Braxton Graham (Seneca, MO/Seneca), with 36 catches for 603 yards) and rushing yards with
Deshawn Jones (Olympia Fields, IL/Rich Central), who has ran for 511 yards after recording his third straight 100-yard game over the weekend.
Graham is joined in the receiving department by
Justin Vaughn (Houston, TX/George Bush) with 17 catches for 293 yards and
Logan Armontrout (Centralia, MO/Centralia) with 16 receptions for 297 yards after posting a career-high 120 yards in receptions Saturday.
ABOUT SAINT FRANCIS: The Saints, 1-3 on the season, have been much like the Miners on the offensive side of the ball as they have thrown for an average of 327.8 yards per game out of the team's average of 450.1 yards a contest.
Quarterback Aaron Ellis, making his first career start last week, completed 17-of-28 passes for 322 yards and four scores in the win over Saint Ambrose and earned the Mid-States Football Association's player of the week award. His top target Saturday was tight end Re'John Williams, who had nine receptions and is part of a balanced receiving corps for the Saints.
Ray Vollot leads USF with 16 receptions for 237 yards, while Lexus Jackson has 15 receptions for 263 yards as five different Saint receivers have at least 10 catches this year. Jordon Smith leads the running attack with 256 yards.
Linebacker Mason Delong leads Saint Francis' defense with 34 tackles on the year, while safeties Dekota Doerr and Josh Woodard have made 33 and 32 stops, respectively. Defensive end Alex Zlomie, who was also a MSFA player of the week award recipient this week, has a team-high six tackles for a loss and three sacks.
Defensively, the Saints have allowed an average of 467.3 yards per game and opposing teams have converted on third down 52 percent of the time.
