ROLLA, Mo. -- Missouri S&T will seek its first victory of the 2017 season Saturday as it plays at Allgood-Bailey Stadium for the second week in succession, hosting Northwood University from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in a 7 p.m. contest.

Both teams got their seasons underway last Saturday, with the Miners dropping a tough 20-16 decision to West Florida here in Rolla, while the Timberwolves opened their campaign by taking a 38-7 road decision over Siena Heights.

Saturday's game is the first-ever meeting between the schools, who will play again next September in Midland, Mich.  S&T is facing a team from the GLIAC for the first time since taking on Michigan Tech to open the 1994 season.

ABOUT THE MINERS: The Miners were on the cusp of pulling out a victory in the final minute last Saturday, but a fumble near the goal line was recovered by West Florida and the Argonauts held on for the 20-16 win.

Even though they fell short on the scoreboard, the Miners outgained West Florida by a 422-265 margin and had solid performances on both sides of the ball in the contest.

Quarterback Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson) threw for a career-high 357 yards, completing 11 of those passes to Spencer Elrod (Lancaster, CA/Eastside) -- a career-high in that department -- and 10 more to Braxton Graham (Seneca, MO/Seneca) for 206 yards and a touchdown.

The 206 receiving yards compiled by Graham in the game was the second-most in a single game by a Miner in school history and fell just a yard short of the top 10 in Great Lakes Valley Conference history.

Deshawn Jones (Olympia Fields, IL/Rich Central) added another 80 yards on the ground for S&T in the opener.

On the defensive side of the ball, Landon Compton (Lamar, MO/Lamar) -- S&T's top tackler a year ago -- led the Miners with 11 tackles while Ryan Kirkendall (Silsbee, TX/Silsbee) recorded eight stops.  Kirkendall also had a pair of pass breakups, while Bo Brooks (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) finished the game with three breakups.

The Miners also had two sacks in the game, one by Bret Curtis (Lombard, IL/Glenbard South) and a combined sack by Eli Thomas (Valdosta, GA/Valdosta) and Tershawn Wharton (University City, MO/University City).

S&T's defense held West Florida to just 51 total yards of total offense in the second half of last week's game.

ABOUT NORTHWOOD:  Northwood, which went 3-8 a year ago and was picked to finish eighth in the GLIAC this season, got out of the gate quickly with a 38-7 win over host Siena Heights last Saturday.

The Timberwolves had one of the youngest offensive units in NCAA Division II last season with a number of redshirt freshmen in its starting lineup.  One of them, quarterback Joe Garbarino, had a big game in the opening game win for Northwood.

Garbarino, who was his team's second-leading rusher last fall, ran for three scores in the second quarter a week ago to break the game open and finished with a team-high 65 yards in the game.

Garbarino completed 42.6 percent of his passes last season for 1,088 yards and five touchdowns, but lost his top receiver from a year ago in Theron Wilson.  John Hall is the top returner at that position in terms of receptions, as he hauled in 18 passes for 274 yards a year ago.

Northwood's defense, meanwhile, held Siena Heights to just 92 yards of total offense, including just 22 on the ground.

On the defensive side, the Timberwolves brought back six starters, headed by safety Nick Tripp, who was second on the team with 60 tackles and also had a pair of interceptions in 2016.  Defensive end Charles Williams had 52 stops last season that included six behind the line of scrimmage; he had five tackles in the win last week.

Linebacker Travis Wiltjer had a team-high seven stops to lead the Timberwolves in the season opener.