ROLLA, Mo. – After letting a 21-point halftime lead slip out of its grasp, Missouri S&T got the lead back late in the fourth quarter and held off a game-winning two-point conversion attempt on the final play of the game to come away with a 51-50 victory over McKendree at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The win moved the Miners to 7-4 overall and closed their Great Lakes Valley Conference season with a 4-3 mark, while the Bearcats finished at 5-6 and 3-4 in conference play.   With the victory, S&T has now recorded three consecutive seasons with at least seven wins for the first time since doing so in a four-year stretch from 1977-80.

McKendree overcame a 35-14 halftime deficit to tie the contest at 44 with just under seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but Luke Hertzler (St. Louis, MO/Parkway North) connected on a 47-yard scoring pass to Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur) with 3:47 to play to give the lead back to the Miners.

Aided by a pass interference penalty that wiped out a Miner interception on the ensuing drive, the Bearcats drove down the field and reached the end zone as time expired when Turner Pulllen scored on a quarterback sneak from inside the one-yard line.  The Bearcats elected to go for two and the win, but Matt Cole was unable to hang onto Pullen's pass at the goal line.

In a game that featured 101 points and 967 total yards between the two teams, the Miners grabbed the early lead after they got the ball following a fumbled snap on a punt attempt on McKendree's opening possession.  Starting from the McKendree 20, Deshawn Jones (Olympia Fields, IL/Rich Central) – who became the Miners' all-time leading rusher on the strength of a 147-yard day on the ground – carried the ball on all three plays and scored on the third from a yard out to give S&T the early advantage.

McKendree answered with an 18-play, 83-yard march down the field that culminated with a seven-yard touchdown run by Jace Franklin, but the Miners responded quickly to regain the lead.  McAlister returned the kickoff 45 yard into McKendree territory, then closed the drive by making a leaping 33-yard touchdown reception on a throw from Brennan Simms (Punta Gorda, FL/Charlotte).

However, the Bearcats had a quick response of their own when Steven Towns caught a pass up the sideline on the first play following the ensuing kickoff and weaved through the S&T secondary for a 75-yard scoring play to even things up again.

S&T took the lead back early in the second quarter on Jones' second touchdown run of the day that covered four yards, then the Miners got the ball back when Justin Onwugbufor (Maize, KS/Northwest) ripped the ball out of Cole's grasp after a completion and recovered the fumble.  Aaron Moya (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) did most of the heavy lifting on the next drive and moments after a catch by Aundray Henley (Miami, FL/Flanagan) that put S&T deep into Bearcat territory, Moya crossed the goal line from a yard out to give the Miners a two-touchdown lead.

The Miners would extend that lead to 35-14 before halftime with a little razzle dazzle, as wide receiver Logan Armontrout (Centralia, MO/Centralia) came around on what appeared to be a reverse and instead threw a pass to a wide open Austin Griffin (West Palm Beach, FL/Oxbridge Academy) for a 40-yard touchdown pass.  The scoring drive was the Miners' fifth in as many first half possessions that ended with a touchdown and 10^th straight first half drive for a touchdown against the Bearcats over the last two seasons.

McKendree began cutting into the margin on its first possession after the intermission, as Cole returned an S&T punt to the four-yard line to lead to a three-yard touchdown run by Pullen.  S&T answered back with a drive that culminated with a 33-yard field goal by Ben Styron (Harrisonville, MO/Harrisonville), but the Bearcats scored again just over three minutes later on a four-yard run by Mitchell Jay.

The Miners put some space between themselves and the Bearcats as Jones scored on a five-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter, but a high snap on the extra point attempt led to an intercepted pass that Michael Smith returned for two points – turning what could have been a three-possession game into a 14-point contest.

The Bearcats cut that margin in half with 10:54 to play on a 23-yard scoring pass from Pullen to Cole, then tied the contest on their next trip down the field as Jace Franklin raced 12 yards to the end zone to knot the score.

S&T caught a big break on what turned out to be its game-winning drive as the Bearcats were called for holding on a third down play that resulted in an incompletion.  The penalty gave the Miners a first down, then following two runs by Jones and a completion for a first down to McAlister, Hertzler connected with McAlister down the sideline by the S&T bench and bolted to the end zone for the go-ahead score with 3:47 remaining.

Pullen drove the Bearcats into S&T territory before being called for intentional grounding to back them up onto their own side of the 50-yard line.  On the next play, Pullen's throw was intercepted by Zach Gallina (Vista, CA/Rancho Buena Vista) – but S&T was called for pass interference on the play as the Bearcats were able to retain possession.

Given the extra life, Jay ran 30 yards on the next play to the S&T six-yard line, then the Bearcats moved to just outside the goal line before calling timeout with two seconds remaining.  Pullen crashed over for the touchdown as time expired to cut the lead to one and McKendree elected to go for the win, but Cole was unable to hang onto the pass in the flat and the Miners came away with the victory.

S&T finished the afternoon with 510 yards of total offense, running for 224 and throwing for 286.  Hertzler, seeing his first significant playing time as a Miner after Simms left the game due an injury in the first half, completed 11-of-18 throws for 132 yards; Simms threw for 90 on six completions while he was in the contest.

McAlister caught five of those throws for 130 yards and a pair of scores while finishing with a career-high 330 all-purpose yards in the contest, the third-most in a game in Miner history. McAlister's performance complimented the 147 yards Jones picked up on the ground that allowed him to pass Terry Ryan on the school's all-time rushing list, as the senior running back finished the afternoon with a total of 3,493 rushing yards and extended his record total of touchdowns on the ground to 39.

Onwugbufor had 10 tackles to lead the Miners, while Tershawn Wharton (University City, MO/University City) had two sacks among his nine stops on the afternoon.

In five home games during the 2019 season, Missouri S&T scored 234 points – an average of 46.8 points per game – and surpassed the 400-point mark overall for the third consecutive season as they moved their total to 403.