TUSKEGEE, Ala. – While Missouri S&T's offense has garnered most of the headlines over the last two seasons, the Miners' defense and special teams units sent a reminder Saturday afternoon that they are going to have a significant say as well in how the 2018 season progresses.

The defensive unit held Tuskegee to one score and made several key defensive stops throughout the day, while the Miners also got a touchdown and a blocked kick from the special teams group as it slugged out a 16-7 victory over the host Golden Tigers.

Saturday's win improved the Miners to 3-1 on the season and assured the Miners their first winning record outside of Great Lakes Valley Conference play since 2012 in the process.  The Miners will play within the confines of the GLVC for the next seven weeks, beginning with next Saturday's 1 p.m. contest at Southwest Baptist.

S&T got on the scoreboard right out of the gate, as Roderick Chapman (Los Angeles, CA/Jefferson) – who had a punt return for a touchdown on the final play of last week's game at Drake – brought back the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown.  The score on the return was the fourth of Chapman's career at S&T, which is one short of the record of five set by Ashton Gronewold.

From there, the defense took over matters while the Miner offense was struggling to gain traction against the Golden Tiger defense.  On Tuskegee's second drive, it drove to the Miner 17-yard line before getting backed up by a penalty, then the drive ended when Bo Brooks (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) forced a fumble on a sack of quarterback Ahmad Deramus.

Tershawn Wharton (University City, MO/University City) picked up the loose ball and returned it back to the Tuskegee 14-yard line, then a personal foul at the end of the play set up the Miners at the seven.  However, the Miners only got three points out of that possession as Ben Styron (Harrisonville, MO/Harrisonville) connected on a 33-yard field goal to up the S&T lead to 10-0.

Midway through the second quarter, the Miners went for it on fourth down at the Tuskegee 31, but S&T quarterback Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson) was sacked on the play to end the possession.  On the next play from scrimmage, Deramus connected with Javarrius Cheatham for a 62-yard scoring pass to get the Golden Tigers on the scoreboard.

That would turn out to be the only time Tuskegee would make it into the scoring column.   From that point on, the Miners stopped the Golden Tigers on downs three times, including once late in the first half after they reached the S&T 19 and twice more in the fourth quarter.

S&T also halted Tuskegee's opening drive of the second half as Huskic  Arnes' attempt to tie the game with a 38-yard field goal was blocked, as well as the following drive when Stefan Camplin (Raytown, MO/Raytown) picked off a pass after Tuskegee had reached the 12-yard line.

In all, the Miner defense recorded 10 tackles behind the line of scrimmage and a total of six sacks, including four by Bo Brooks (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) who finished the day with a team-high nine tackles.

The Miners were able to add onto their lead late in the fourth quarter with a four-minute, 56-yard touchdown drive that culminated with a one-yard scoring run by Swart with 3:03 remaining.  Swart, who threw for 132 yards on the day, had two key completions on that drive, one for 18 yards to Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur) on a third down play and another covering 26 yards to Braxton Graham (Seneca, MO/Seneca) to get the Miners to the TU seven-yard line.

Tuskegee (2-2) outgained the Miners by a 336-172 margin, with 294 of those yards coming through the air.  Deshawn Jones (Olympia Fields, IL/Rich Central) had 69 yards on the ground, while Graham caught seven passes for 62 yards.