ROLLA, Mo. -- With a winning season now assured, Missouri S&T will look to remain on the heels of the Great Lakes Valley Conference leaders as it hosts Lincoln University Saturday on Miner Athletic Hall of Fame Night at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.  Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Miners needed a big defensive stand to clinch that winning record, as Bo Brooks (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) recovered a fumble deep in Miner territory with 23 seconds remaining to secure a 20-13 win a week ago.  S&T enters Saturday's game at 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the GLVC, one game in back of Indianapolis and Truman State in the loss column and also received votes in this week's American Football Coaches Association poll for the first time in over five years.

Lincoln, who had won just one GLVC contest in its first four seasons as a associate member in football, won its second conference game of the year last week by downing William Jewell 23-14 behind a 230-yard afternoon on the ground.  The Blue Tigers are 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the GLVC.

The Hall of Fame class of 2018, which will be inducted at an on-campus ceremony Saturday afternoon, includes former Miner standout Ashton Gronewold, who resides as the school record holder in several offensive categories.  This year's class also includes Tyrone Smith, a three-time Olympian in track & field; Jack Pennuto, who was named as Academic All-America of the Year in swimming; and Jaime (Forsberg) Henderson, who helped lead a resurgence of the women's basketball program that peaked with a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2007-08 -- a team that is also being inducted this weekend.
 
ABOUT THE MINERS:  While the offense has gathered the bulk of the headlines for the Miners during the 2018 season, it was the defense that came to the forefront at a key time to help the Miners come away with a 20-13 win last week at Quincy.

The defensive unit got the first points of the night when Ryan Kirkendall (Silsbee, TX/Silsbee) took the first of his two interceptions back 36 yards for a touchdown, then the Miners held the Hawks scoreless in a first half which was capped by a blocked field goal attempt by Bo Brooks (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo).  Brooks had a hand in two key plays late in the game as well, helping to force an intentional grounding call and then a play later, picking up the fumble forced by Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington).

Brooks has 57 tackles on the season, which ranks second on the team, while leading S&T with 13 tackles for a loss and 6.5 sacks.  The Miner tackle leader is linebacker Landon Compton (Lamar, MO/Lamar), who has 67 on the year after posting a career-high 16 stops in last week's win, while Justin Onwugbufor (Maize, KS/Northwest) has 43 tackles.

On the other side of the ball, Deshawn Jones (Olympia Fields, IL/Rich Central) had his second straight 100-yard performance with a season-high 137 yards and now ranks fifth in the GLVC with 537 yards on the season and six touchdowns.

Quarterback Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson) has completed 63 percent of his passes for 1,832 yards and 16 touchdowns, with Braxton Graham (Seneca, MO/Seneca) leading the receiving corps with 39 catches for 627 yards and eight scores, one off the GLVC lead.  Justin Vaughn (Houston, TX/George Bush) and Logan Armontrout (Centralia, MO/Centralia) also have 25 catches apiece.

Kicker Ben Styron (Harrisonville, MO/Harrisonville), the career record holder for points scored by a kicker at Missouri S&T, broke another career mark last week by making his 34th career field goal.

ABOUT THE BLUE TIGERS: Lincoln used a strong rushing attack to record its second GLVC win of the year and third overall in a 23-14 victory at William Jewell last Saturday.  Kimbo Ferguson led the team's 230-yard effort on the ground with 112 yards.
 
Ferguson leads the Blue Tigers with 455 rushing yards and has two touchdowns, while Terry Hunter has reached the end zone four times on the ground as he has added 192 yards.
 
Quarterback Henry Ogala, who was an efficient 14-of-19 through the air a week ago, has completed 57.7 percent of his passes for 1,325 yards and eight touchdowns and just two interceptions.  His top target, Blake Tibbs, ranks among the GLVC receiving leaders with 35 receptions for 640 yards.
 
Lincoln's defense has been paced by linebacker Edwin Durassaint with 61 tackles and 10 quarterback hurries, while Amani Nelson has recorded 53 stops and Victor Williams has been in on 48 tackles.  The Blue Tiger defense ranks third overall in the GLVC, allowing just 332.5 yards per game after holding William Jewell to 233 last week.

The Blue Tigers have 10 quarterback sacks this year, led by Quan Mason's three.