ROLLA, Mo. – Records fell across the board Saturday as Missouri S&T closed out its 2017 football season by routing Quincy 63-16 at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.
The victory gave the Miners their first season with at least seven wins since 2012 and also allowed them to finish in a tie for second place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, thanks to Truman State's 17-14 victory over McKendree. S&T ended up at 7-4 overall and 5-2 in the GLVC after a dominating performance, particularly in the first half.
The Miners took control of matters right from the outset, scoring on their third offensive play and posting touchdowns on each of their first six offensive possessions.
After the Miners got a three-and-out on Quincy's opening possession of the game, the Miners scored on three plays to take the early lead.
Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson) completed a 37-yard pass to Justin Vaughn to the Hawks' 27-yard line, setting up a touchdown run by
Deshawn Jones (Olympia Fields, IL/Rich Central) on the very next play.
The touchdown run was the first of a school record five for Jones in the opening half, as he scored again on a two-yard run less than three minutes later and got his third score with just under five minutes to go in the first quarter on a five-yard run.
D'Luis West (Troup, TX/Troup) got into the scoring column with a five-yard touchdown run late in a period in which the Miners outgained Quincy 232-38, then Jones scored his fourth touchdown of the day on a one-yard run in the early stages of the second quarter.
S&T's defense got a score of its own following the fourth Jones touchdown when linebacker
Leshawn Lampkins (Vallejo, CA/Vallejo), one of 18 seniors playing in their last contest Saturday, picked off a Trey Mosley pass and brought it back 46 yards for a score to make it 42-0.
Quincy got on the scoreboard midway through the second quarter when Owen Schoenenberger caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Rund, but Jones got his record-breaking fifth touchdown run when he raced 73 yards to the end zone to complete the first half scoring.
The Miners also got second half touchdowns from their two quarterbacks, as Swart scored on a one-yard run and
Brennan Simms (Punta Gorda, FL/Charlotte) reached the end zone on a seven-yard run in the fourth quarter.
Missouri S&T, the top-ranked offensive team in the GLVC throughout the 2017 season, racked up 514 yards on the final day of the year and had a season-high 343 on the ground, the eighth-most in a game in school history. S&T got 314 of those yards from their two running backs, as Jones ran for 191 to close out a spectacular sophomore season and West posted a career-high 123.
Jones ended the year with 1,579 rushing yards, the most in school history and most in an 11-game GLVC season; his mark is second over a full year – playoffs included – in conference history. Jones also broke the program's single-year mark with 16 touchdowns and became the first player in GLVC history to rush for least 100 yards against every conference opponent in a season.
Swart, who broke the Miners' all-time passing yardage record last week, topped the career mark for total offense with 175 yards on Saturday, including 171 through the air to complete the year as the third Miner with at least 3,000 passing yards. Swart had 3,165 for the season and 5,860 during his time as a Miner.
Jones and Swart were not the only Miners to etch their names into the record book Saturday, as defensive end
Tershawn Wharton (University City, MO/University City) had three tackles for a loss to finish the year with 21 and kicker
Ben Styron (Harrisonville, MO/Harrisonville) converted the extra point on all nine S&T touchdowns to close with a record 47.
Styron had already broken the single-season mark for points by a kicker and he ended up with 86 and had already tied the record for field goals made with 13.
The eight rushing touchdowns were also the most in a game in school history as the Miners cleared the 400-point mark for just the fourth season in school history. Missouri S&T scored 410 points during the 2017 campaign.
Nate Brown (Webb City, MO/Webb City) led the Miner defense, which held Quincy to 277 yards and forced four turnovers with 12 tackles, while
Landon Compton (Lamar, MO/Lamar) and
Bret Curtis (Lombard, IL/Glenbard South) had seven stops apiece. The Miner defense recorded five sacks in the game and also got an interception from Roderick Chapman along with the pick-six from Lampkins.
