ROLLA, Mo. – Behind a five-touchdown performance by sophomore quarterback Max Conard (Blue Springs, MO/Blue Springs South), Missouri S&T snapped a three-game losing streak Saturday by knocking off William Jewell 37-16 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

Conard, starting for the second time in his S&T career, threw four of his scoring passes in the first half to four different receivers to help the Miners (3-4, 1-2 GLVC) bolt out to a 30-9 lead by the intermission and threw his fifth touchdown pass in the fourth quarter after the Cardinals (0-7, 0-3 GLVC) had drawn to within two scores.

It was William Jewell, however, that took the initial lead in the game as it drove 75 yards on the opening possession of the game and got a 19-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Pritzel to Livingston Benoit to close the drive.  However, S&T blocked the extra point to keep the score at 6-0 before the Miners got the ball for the first time.

The Miners' first possession also ended with a touchdown, as S&T drove 69 yards to get even on the scoreboard.  Conard connected with tight end Trevor Anthony (Elsberry, MO/Clopton) for 29 yards to get the Miners deep into Jewell territory and then finished the drive with the first of his scoring strikes, hitting Tate Nickleberry (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge) on a 12-yard pass in the corner of the end zone.  Zach Glaess' (Queen Creek, AZ/Queen Creek) extra point gave the Miners the lead that they would not relinquish.

Conard threw a 43-yard scoring pass to a wide open Josh Brown (Gainesville, FL/North Marion HS) less than five minutes later before the Cardinals got on the board again, as a 45-yard completion to Marquis Whitmire set up a 41-yard field goal by Josh Click.  Conard threw an interception deep in Jewell territory when the Miners got the ball back, but S&T's defense recorded a pair of sacks to back the Cardinals to their one-yard line and force a punt.  Mitchell Miller (Frisco, TX/Liberty) got in and blocked Brady Monks' punt out of the end zone for a safety to extend the Miner lead.

The Miners found the end zone two more times before halftime, first when Conard connected with Breon Michel (Colorado Springs, CO/Vista Ridge) for an 11-yard scoring pass and then took advantage of a CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) interception that was returned to the Jewell 15-yard line as Conard hit Blaize Klossner (Rolla, MO/Rolla) for a 15-yard touchdown pass.

The second half was relatively quiet from the scoring front.  The Cardinals scored midway through the fourth quarter on a 25-yard scoring pass from Bart Harris to Jalik Jaggwe, but tried an onside kick with 6:33 to play that Dontay White (Florissant, MO/Hazelwood Central) recovered and ran back to the Jewell 36.  S&T didn't score on that possession, but did when they got the ball back as Michel caught his second touchdown pass of the afternoon and 11^th for the season on an 18-yard reception.

Conard finished the day with 21 completions in his 35 attempts for 249 yards, with Michel hauling in seven of those throws for 67 yards and Brown collecting 61 yards on his four catches.  Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur) led the ground game with 46 yards, as the Miners had just 43 net yards rushing and 292 total yards for the game.

The Miner defense held the Cardinals to 231 total yards and recorded a season-high nine sacks, 2.5 of them coming from Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington), who led the Miners with 12 tackles and added onto his GLVC-leading totals of sacks and tackles for a loss.

Justin Onwugbufor (Wichita, KS/Northwest) had seven tackles and Hedgepeth finished with six to go along with his interceptions.  Sohl Gafa (San Pedro, CA/San Pedro) and Jake Versemann (St. Peters, MO/Lutheran St. Charles) had 1.5 sacks apiece.

Missouri S&T will head to the road next week to face McKendree in Lebanon, Ill., at 1 p.m.