ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T concluded its non-conference schedule on a winning note Saturday and now turns its focus to Great Lakes Valley Conference play as it heads to Bolivar, Mo., to face Southwest Baptist Saturday at 1 p.m.
While it will be the GLVC opener for the Miners, who improved to 3-1 on the season following a hard-fought 16-7 win at Tuskegee, the Bearcats will be playing their second conference contest Saturday in their home opener. The Bearcats have dropped all three of their contests on the year, including a 28-13 loss at Lincoln last week in their first GLVC matchup of the season.
The Miners defeated the Bearcats in a thriller last October in Rolla, winning 41-38 after trailing by 21 points late in the first half.
ABOUT THE MINERS: Missouri S&T's defense and special teams came up big as the Miners recorded a 16-7 win at Tuskegee. S&T's defense allowed just one score and made three stops on fourth downs as well as coming up with two turnovers in the contest. One of the turnovers, a fumble forced by GLVC defensive player of the week
Bo Brooks (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo), led to an S&T field goal and
Stefan Camplin (Raytown, MO/Raytown) halted another Golden Tiger drive with an interception in the end zone.
The Miners got on the scoreboard when
Roderick Chapman (Los Angeles, CA/Jefferson) returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown, marking the second straight week in which Chapman returned a kick for a score. Chapman is currently eighth in NCAA Division II with an average of 32.2 yards per kickoff return and is also averaging 13.7 yards per punt return while leading the secondary with six pass breakups.
Brooks, who had nine tackles, four sacks and the forced fumble to help him win the GLVC's weekly award, leads the Miners with 33 tackles from his linebacker position. He also leads the Miners with eight tackles for a loss and 4.5 sacks on the year, while
Tershawn Wharton (University City, MO/University City) has seven stops behind the line of scrimmage and 3.5 sacks among his 25 tackles.
S&T's
Landon Compton (Lamar, MO/Lamar) has been in on 28 stops with three for a loss, while
Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington) has made 18 tackles on the season. The S&T defense has made 39 tackles for a loss over the first four weeks and has recorded 18 quarterback sacks after getting six at Tuskegee; the Miners rank fifth in Division II in sacks and 11
th in tackles for a loss.
Miner quarterback
Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson) has completed 61 percent of his passes for 737 yards and seven touchdowns on the season, with
Braxton Graham (Seneca, MO/Seneca) heading the receiving corps with a GLVC-high 25 catches for 278 yards and three scores.
Josh Brown (Gainesville, FL/North Marion HS) has made 11 receptions on the year for 144 yards, while
Justin Vaughn (Houston, TX/George Bush) has 10 catches and
Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur) and
Logan Armontrout (Centralia, MO/Centralia) have nine apiece.
Deshawn Jones (Olympia Fields, IL/Rich Central), who had 69 yards on the ground in Saturday's win, leads the Miner rushing attack with 224 yards. The Miners are averaging 289.2 yards per game and are allowing 300 a contest, but have given up just 245 per game against their three opponents from the Division II ranks thus far.
ABOUT SOUTHWEST BAPTIST: The Bearcats opened their GLVC schedule Saturday on a losing note, falling 28-13 at Lincoln in a game where they were held to 251 yards of total offense. SBU fell behind 14-0 in the second quarter and by a 28-7 margin in the third period as it fell to 0-3 overall on the year, as it lost non-conference games at Houston Baptist and Mississippi College prior to Saturday's setback.
Bryse Salik got his first career start at quarterback for SBU and completed 22-of-44 passes for 208 yards; he has been good on 53 percent of his throws for 327 yards and has thrown a pair of scoring passes. The Bearcats have averaged 161.7 yards per game through the air, but have averaged just 90.3 on the ground after only gaining a net 43 yards Saturday.
Eric Knight leads the Bearcats with 115 yards rushing and has the Bearcats' lone touchdown on the ground this season.
Connor Ratcliff, who has both of SBU's touchdown receptions, has caught 13 passes for 116 yards while Matt Lechuga has made 11 receptions for 92 yards.
Linebacker Tyler Curts, one of the career tackle leaders in GLVC history along with S&T's
Landon Compton (Lamar, MO/Lamar), has a team-high 38 on the season while De'shawn Tone has made 20 stops from his defensive end position with a team-best three sacks. Quincy Jones also had 20 tackles, but the Bearcats -- who have allowed an average of 406.3 yards per game -- have forced just one turnover in three contests.
